Sunset Mercantile

The Sunset Mercantile began the Outer Sunset Farmers Market & Mercantile in 2020, and that was my introduction to the organization. Just a few blocks from my Outer Sunset home, the Sunday event became a place for our community to shop and connect during the pandemic. As a local family photographer, I started offering free popup photo studios, where I met countless families that later became regular clients of mine.

Looking in though window of hair salon at artist painting mural

Art@Work Initiative

This nurturing of community hasn’t stopped at the growing list of fairs, festivals, and markets offered by the Sunset Mercantile, but has come to include projects like Art@Work. In the words of the Sunset Mercantile –

“Art@Work is a program created by Supervisor Gordon​ ​Mar’s Office in collaboration with the Office of Economic and​ ​Workforce Development, Self-Help for the Elderly​ ​& Sunset Mercantile. The program will connect small​ ​businesses in the Sunset with local artists to​ ​beautify and enhance storefronts.​ ​”

I have started documenting these projects, and I plan to share them right here!

Georgia Hodges @ Michelle’s Hair Studio

Georgia Hodges is an Outer Sunset artist who is deeply embedded in her community. As written on her website –

“The proximity to the rigors of the edge of the Pacific Ocean takes hold of her interior perspective, and what has manifested is a cross-pollination of creative practices. The fog, land, sea, and air inspire…elucidate, really…her ceramics, paintings, and drawings….That self-determined cultural and political focus gave birth to a three story mural in 2020 inspired by the Green New Deal, an activated piece that cements her declarative place as an artist to watch.”

I spent an afternoon in Michelle’s Hair Studio on Taraval Street, following Georgio as she planned and executed this awesome indoor mural. Georgia does plenty of her own personal work, but I really enjoyed watching the give-and-take as she created something that worked not only for her own aesthetic but also for the space and the business that she was working within. Here’s a gallery documenting the process!

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