Vol. XLVI, No. 9
September 2022
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THE NOE VALLEY VOICE Picture an Art Festival in the Square in October
Noe Valley Challenger in D8 Supervisor Race
Art and Art-making Brought to You by Creative Friends
Political Novice Kate Stoia Takes on Incumbent Rafael Mandelman for ‘Gay Seat’
By Kit Cameron
By Matthew S. Bajko
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fter being derailed by Covid, the long-planned Noe Valley Art Festival will fill the Noe Valley Town Square with work by more than 20 artists, from Noe Valley and beyond, on Sunday, Oct. 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Organizers Peggy Cling, Linda Lockyer, Jennifer Cooper, Michelle Echenique, and Debra Reabock are excited that local artists will finally have a chance to share their work with the community. The project evolved out of the annual Noe Valley Garden Tour, sponsored by the group Friends of Noe Valley. Local artists were added to the spring garden event in 2019, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Now, their creations will also add sparkle to 24th Street. “I want to support the revitalization of Noe Valley,” says 30-year Noe Valley resident Reabock, who will be showing her abstract photographs at the event. “Twenty-fourth Street was pretty sleepy,” she says, recalling the years when a large empty storefront across from Whole Foods was the most visible landmark. Reabock says the murals at the Noe Valley Town Square and on the building next to the parking lot between Castro and Noe streets are now the attractions for visitors and locals. “Bringing art makes [the neighborhood]
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making quilted pieces about her family. The work evolved to become less finished and “to make my ‘quilting weaknesses’ into my strengths,” she says. She recently discovered (on Instagram) a whole tribe of fiber artists like herself using repurposed materials and fabric. “I’m happy to have found my people.” She also enjoyed the feedback she got from participating in an August show at Gallery Sanchez in the Noe Valley Ministry. “Just putting my work outside—and talking to people I don’t know—is pushing me in a good way,” Fragner says. The Noe Valley Art Festival, she anticipates, will be another “very friendly environment.” Ceramic artist Carol Koffel (www.carolkoffel.com) plans to create a
rom pickleball player and disgruntled parent to political candidate, Kate Stoia is channeling the complaints many San Francisco residents have about the city’s lack of affordable housing, crime, and entrenched homelessness as she challenges District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman on the Nov. 8 ballot. The longtime Noe Valley resident admittedly faces a rough road to victory against a seasoned politician and candidate like Mandelman. “It is a super uphill battle,” Stoia acknowledged to the Voice during an interview at one of the outdoor parklet tables shared by Philz and Firefly with her 6-year-old Bernese mountain dog Rufus and 10-year-old Labrador Abbey in tow. Nonetheless, she said she would not have jumped into the race if she hadn’t thought she was qualified to serve. “I certainly hesitated to declare my candidacy. But I wouldn’t have declared my candidacy if didn’t think I had something to bring to the table,” said Stoia, 55, a former attorney who now serves on the boards of several nonprofits, including the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company. “I have spent 30 years living here and trying to
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Noe Artists Will Gather and Show their creations at the Noe Valley Town Square on Sunday, Oct. 2. Ceramics, fiber arts, painting, and photography, such as this architectural abstract by Debra Reabock titled “Take Me Higher,” will be on display.
more of a destination.” Her work involves photographing buildings “in the Financial District, South Beach, and all over,” then printing them in a special dye-infused process on aluminum. She shares them through local galleries and on her website (www.debrareabock.com). She invites other artists to join in the upcoming festival. “Since [art] is a passion and I’m a member of a community, I want to support that community as an artist.” For fiber artist Robin Fragner, the festival will be a way to bring her rawedge appliqué hangings out of the studio. “I don’t show my work a lot [and] I decided it was worth the risk to put myself out there.” Fragner started embroidering in high school, and 15 years ago she began
Back to Black: Noe Mystery Author Revisits The City of Love in Two Novels By Julie Zigoris
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ocal mystery author Cara Black knows the meaning of the word prolific. Her latest book, Murder at the Porte de Versailles, the 20th in a series she began writing back in 1999, was released in March. And she is already slated to release another book—Night Flight to Paris—next March. Murder at the Porte de Versailles features Aimée LeDuc, a half-French, half-American detective who runs a computer security agency. Every book in the series is set in a different arrondissement, or neighborhood, of Paris. The Parisian setting is essential. “The crimes that happen are specific to that area. It's really set there. It has that flavor and is pertinent to what’s going on, and organic to what LeDuc would do and why she’d be there.” Black’s fans often walk around the neighborhoods featured in her books, CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
Noe Valley Writer Cara Black still has stories to tell, and her many fans are eager to snatch what lands in bookstores. Meticulous research and eyes and ears for that “Parisian vibe” propel Black to craft her tales. Photo by Art Bodner