SFAI folk have always been eager to find a reason to celebrate and throw a party as evidenced from this 1966 SFAI poster announcing “The First & Last Annual Farewell to the Backyard Festival.” The outdoor shindig featured the SF Mime Troupe’s performance of “Olive Pits,” as well as an evening happening where “The San Andreas Fault rocks the backyard,” with additional music by the "Studio Thirteen Jass Band,” plus “Poets Under the Trees.” This event commemorated the groundbreaking for construction of the Paffard Clay building completed in 1969.

[funfactfootnote: art historian Whitney Chadwick was a member of the San Andreas Fault band while a student at SFAI.]

For more on the SF Mime Troupe’s “Olive Pits” performance see:

http://64.40.144.92/company/archives/olivepits/olivepits.php

With permission, SFAA is re-posting the emails Jeff Gunderson Librarian/Archivist Anne Bremer Memorial Library has been sending out since March 2020. Please enjoy this magnificent archive.