Maybe I've mentioned this before, but artist and writer Bean Gilsdorf's column Help Desk @ Daily Serving is great. She is putting out lengthy, weekly answers to questions from artists. 

These include such topics as finding representation, 
(paraphrasing Edward Winkleman's advice for artists,"1. Do some honest and serious thinking about where your artwork belongs in the art market; 2. Do some serious research to find the program that best fits your artwork within that market; 3. Don’t make mistakes that will discourage you; 4. Work toward a short list. And be very honest with yourself; 5. Once you have an ‘in,’ so to speak, then let the gallery know you’re interested in having them consider your work.")
and the importance of writing,
((...)There are quite a few compelling reasons to write regularly about your work, but the most important are to define and resolve some of the ideas that drive your practice, and to have a body of writing to draw on when you need to apply for time, space, and materials or equipment that will allow you to develop your work further. Good luck!)

I highly recommend reading these columns, they are full of resources, advice, personal experience and reality checks.

Curiously Direct Picks

It hasn't been reviewed yet, but Mutables at Eli Ridgeway, a group exhibition of photographs (portraits) is a must see...

Highlight Gallery//Chris Fraser: Eidolons= Great solo show by Fraser which consists of both an immersive installation and quite compelling flat works. The installation is very effective, possibly due to my bad eye sight and g lasses the hovering, glowing image seemed to warp and twist in space in a very disorienting way, making me question what I was seeing, coming into and out of focus...the clarity and deliberateness of the work is great to see. An excellent show.

Berkeley Art Museum//Lutz Bacher / MATRIX 242= A very intriguing body of work by Bacher. Consisting of the simple gesture of taking a group of found photographs and presenting blown-up copies of the images and the text written on their back, Bacher's attention to the incredibly charged and unexpected content of those images and their exhibition succeeds graciously. Here the simplest of presentations and the denial of gestures of authorship and skill (Bacher could have drawn or painted these images, but why?) is very affective. A great, quiet show.

Tuesday:
+ Lecture: "Lecture with Charlotte Cotton" at California College for the Arts (CCA)

Wednesday:
+ Lecture: "David Wojnarowicz: Cynthia Carr and Amy Scholder in Conversation" at San Francisco Art Institute
+ Performance: Colin McKelvey, En, John Davis "Visible Horizon Event: Sound & Celebration" at SF Arts Commission Gallery

+ Screening: Kennedy Browne "The Myth of the Many in the One" at Kadist Art Foundation

view image »

+ Lecture: "Wattis Small Talk: Contance Lewallen" at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts (Kent and Vicki Logan Galleries)

Thursday:
+ Screening: Rose Lowder "San Francisco Cinematheque presents: Couleurs Mécaniques: Films of Rose Lowder" Rose Lowder in Person at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
+ Performance: Rashaad Newsome "Rashaad Newsome: Shade Compositions" at SF MOMA
+ Panel Discussion: "SUMMER EXHIBITION FINALE: Cindy Sherman Artist Panel" at SF MOMA

Friday:
+ Closing reception: Amy Keefer, Anne Wolf, Holly Furgason, Rachel Dawson, Rebecca Najdowski "Phantasmagoria: Imagine occult illusions of early 20th century, midwestern, spiritualist camps, investigated through local, female artist’s absurd installations and heartfelt textile sculptures." curated by Aline Dargie at Make Hang
+ Bessma Khalaf, Center for Tactical Magic, Torreya Cummings "Making a Scene" at Southern Exposure
+ Armstrong, artists from the Hearst Street Corridor, Cliff Hengst, Corinna Nicole Brewer, Coyote de Giulio-Smith, DJ Promo, Ehren Tool, Ezekiel Credo, Heather Snider, Jack Ian Lin, Jennie Smith, Jerry Peterson, Julio Chavez, Lucas de Giulio, Mari Credo, Mateo Jimenez, Moonwalk Mansion, Nick Mwaluko, Oren Credo, Psychedelic, Rev. Roland Stringfellow, Rose Khor, Sahar Khoury "State of Affairs: A project in seven parts" curated by David Gregory Wallace at Royal NoneSuch Gallery

Saturday:
+ Reading: D.Scot Miller, Justin Chin, Kevin Killian, Maggie Nelson "RADAR Presents SHOW+TELL" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

+ Book launch: "Forgetting the Artworld with Pamela M. Lee" at Kadist Art Foundation

view image »

+ Screening: "Celebrating Canyon Cinema: Play
" at Exploratorium

Monday:
+ Lecture: "Carlos Motta and Larry Rinder in Conversation" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
+ Lecture: "Lecture by Mungo Thomson" at San Francisco Art Institute

Tuesday, October 2

+ Lecture: "Lecture with Charlotte Cotton" at California College for the Arts (CCA)
Potrero Hill: 1111 Eighth Street , Timken Lecture Hall, Free, 7:00pm

Wednesday, October 3

+ Lecture: "David Wojnarowicz: Cynthia Carr and Amy Scholder in Conversation" at San Francisco Art Institute
Russian Hill: 800 Chesnut Street, Lecture Hall, Free, 7:30pm

"The 21st Annual Art With Elders" at SF Arts Commission Gallery (City Hall)
Civic Center: 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, free, 5:30-7:30pm

+ Performance: Colin McKelvey, En, John Davis "Visible Horizon Event: Sound & Celebration" at SF Arts Commission Gallery
Civic Center: 401 Van Ness Avenue , at McAllister Street, Free, 7:30-9:30 pm

+ Screening: Kennedy Browne "The Myth of the Many in the One" at Kadist Art Foundation Mission District: 3295 20th Street, at Folsom Street, Free, 6-10pm

view image »

+ Lecture: "Wattis Small Talk: Contance Lewallen" at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts (Kent and Vicki Logan Galleries)
Potrero Hill: 1111 Eighth Street, Free, 7-8pm

Thursday, October 4

Screening: Ron Honsa "Never Stand Still: Dancing at Jacob’s Pillow" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
SOMA: 701 Misssion Street, at Third Street, YBCA Screening Room, Tickets: $10 regular admission/$8 YBCA members, seniors, students, teachers; FREE YBCA: You, 7:30 pm

+ Screening: Rose Lowder "San Francisco Cinematheque presents: Couleurs Mécaniques: Films of Rose Lowder" Rose Lowder in Person at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
SOMA: 701 Misssion Street, at Third Street, YBCA Screening Room, Admission per screening: $10 Regular/ $6 YBCA members and SFC Members, 4pm

+ Performance: Rashaad Newsome "Rashaad Newsome: Shade Compositions" at SF MOMA
SOMA: 151 Third Street, Mission Street, Free with Museum Admission, 9-10pm

+ Panel Discussion: "SUMMER EXHIBITION FINALE: Cindy Sherman Artist Panel" at SF MOMA
SOMA: 151 Third Street, Mission Street, $10 general; $7 SFMOMA members, students, and seniors, 7-9pm

Martine Jardel "Visual Aid Gallery Presents Highlands, a Martine Jardel Solo Exhibition" at Visual Aid
Downtown: 57 Post Street, Suite 905, 5:30-7:30pm

Sherie' Franssen "Flesh & Blood" at Dolby Chadwick Gallery
Downtown: 210 Post Street, floor 2, FREE and open to the public, 5:30-7:30pm

Ann Eby "Dimensions" at Hang Art
Downtown: 567 Sutter Street, 6-8pm

"(Pre)Fabricators" curated by Glen Helfand, Jack Fischer at Creativity Explored
Mission District: 3245 16th Street, Free, 7-9pm

Adele Crawford, Allison Leigh Holt, Ansley West, Beth Fein, Carol Ladewig, Carol Selter, Chandra Cerrito, Christina Seely, David Kwan, Eric Larson, Gary Nakamoto, Helen Lee, Jennifer Brandon, Jenny Bloomfield, Kirkman Amyx , Leah Rosenberg, Leslie Hirst, Lili Smith, Michael Koehle, Miriam Dym, Nicole Herbert, Richard Nagler, Robin Kandel, Ryan Jennings Clark, Sarah Klein, Sohyung Choi, Sonja Hinrichsen, Terry Berlier "Keeping Time" curated by Lauren Davies at Kala Art Institute
Berkeley: 2990 San Pablo Avenue, free, 6-8pm

Friday, October 5

Ashley Fitzpatrick, Celeste Johnson, Dylan Rupert, Elliot Cost, Esra Canigullari, Esther Wald, Guerda Mezidor, Immi Hill, Indira Allegra, Jessica Leimone, Josh Coolidge, Josh Vidal, Kellie Arceneaux, Lael Seltzer, Lauren Beato, Rachel Wardenburg, Rowena Chan, Zena Segri "What's Wrong With Candyland?" at Alter Space
SOMA: 1158 Howard Street, floor 1, free, 6-9pm

"North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermès Collection" at Museum of the African Diaspora
SOMA: 685 Mission Street, floor 1, 5:30-7:30pm

Evan Bissell, Gregory Ito, Surabhi Saraf with Sebastian Alvarez "New World, New Sequence" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
SOMA: 701 Misssion Street, at Third Street, Room for Big Ideas, Free with RSVP; $5 at the Door, 6-9pm

Martin McMurray "Martin McMurray" at Gallery 16
SOMA: 501 Third Street, free, 6-9pm

+ Closing reception: Amy Keefer, Anne Wolf, Holly Furgason, Rachel Dawson, Rebecca Najdowski "Phantasmagoria: Imagine occult illusions of early 20th century, midwestern, spiritualist camps, investigated through local, female artist’s absurd installations and heartfelt textile sculptures." curated by Aline Dargie at Make Hang
North Beach: 450 Green Street, floor 1, 6-9pm

Lisa Bruno "Faces The Human Spirit" at Canessa Gallery
Downtown: 708 Montgomery Street, free, 6-10pm

Lecture: "Lecture by J. John Priola" at San Francisco Art Institute
Russian Hill: 800 Chesnut Street, Lecture Hall, Free, 4:30pm

+ Bessma Khalaf, Center for Tactical Magic, Torreya Cummings "Making a Scene" at Southern Exposure
Mission District: 3030 20th Street , 5:30-7:30pm

"Unraveled" at Creative Growth
Oakland: 355 24th Street , Free, 5-9pm

Adam Thorman, Adam Waldran-Blain, Christine M. Peterson, Paolo Salvagione "The Desert of the Real Itself" curated by Amanda Roscoe Mayo at MacArthur b arthur Oakland: 4030 Martain Luther King Jr Way, floor 1, Free, 7-10pm

view image »

+ Armstrong, artists from the Hearst Street Corridor, Cliff Hengst, Corinna Nicole Brewer, Coyote de Giulio-Smith, DJ Promo, Ehren Tool, Ezekiel Credo, Heather Snider, Jack Ian Lin, Jennie Smith, Jerry Peterson, Julio Chavez, Lucas de Giulio, Mari Credo, Mateo Jimenez, Moonwalk Mansion, Nick Mwaluko, Oren Credo, Psychedelic, Rev. Roland Stringfellow, Rose Khor, Sahar Khoury "State of Affairs: A project in seven parts" curated by David Gregory Wallace at Royal NoneSuch Gallery
Oakland: 4231 Telegraph Avenue, Free, 7-10pm

Saturday, October 6

+ Reading: D.Scot Miller, Justin Chin, Kevin Killian, Maggie Nelson "RADAR Presents SHOW+TELL" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
SOMA: 701 Misssion Street, at Third Street, 6:30-8:30pm

Kathryn Spence "Winds Ground Hollow" at Stephen Wirtz Gallery Downtown: 49 Geary Street, floor 3, Free, 4-6pm

view image »

Laurie Reid "Laurie Reid: Paintings" at Stephen Wirtz Gallery Downtown: 49 Geary Street, floor 3, Free, 4-6pm

view image »

Guy Overfelt "#BLACKLIGHT" at Ever Gold
Downtown: 441 O'Farrell Street, free, 6-10pm

+ Book launch: "Forgetting the Artworld with Pamela M. Lee" at Kadist Art Foundation Mission District: 3295 20th Street, at Folsom Street, free, 3pm

view image »

+ Screening: "Celebrating Canyon Cinema: Play
" at Exploratorium
Marina District: 3601 Lyon Street, 12pm-4pm

Monday, October 8

+ Lecture: "Carlos Motta and Larry Rinder in Conversation" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
SOMA: 701 Misssion Street, at Third Street, 6:30-8:30pm

+ Lecture: "Lecture by Mungo Thomson" at San Francisco Art Institute
Russian Hill: 800 Chesnut Street, Lecture Hall, Free, advanced registration is recommended, 7:30pm

Artcards San Francisco is a weekly email publication led by editor Jackie Im and Aaron Harbour. Email event submissions to sfinfo@artcards.cc or use our submission form. New: you can now add an image to your listing by using the submission form.

+ = Editor's pick
? = Opening not confirmed - check site for updates.