It’s a new year and BEACONS is just around the corner! I’ve been holed up painting, researching, and planning for the show. Starting a brand new series, in a new size and medium from the majority of my work, only three months before opening, has been a monumental, difficult, and exciting undertaking.

In this newsletter, I’ll share some behind the scenes on the series, announce a special event with SF Neon, and recommend some reading to learn more about neon signs and the queer history of San Francisco! Stick around until the end for a new photo of my cat, Ruby. 

If you are just joining us now, BEACONS is my first solo exhibition, coming up at Queer Arts Featured in February!

The images in this poster and the rest of the newsletter are my paintings unless otherwise noted.

Inspired by the same love of the city that is evident in Nathaniel’s smaller works, BEACONS honors the places that light up the streets and offer warmth, culture, and community. The work features the signage, especially neon, of iconic queer spaces such as the Castro Theater, Oasis, Orphan Andy’s, Martuni’s, Twin Peaks, Hot Cookie, and more. 

This subject matter is an opportunity for Nathaniel to explore high contrast, strong saturation, and extreme perspectives. The handmade nature of neon signs make them not just examples of typography and design, but of craftsmanship. The rich glow of neon gas suffuses its surroundings, creating a unique lightscape and evoking the memories of the spaces they illuminate.

Just in time for the re-opening of the Castro Theater, BEACONS also grapples with mixed feelings around the restoration/renovation of the theater and Another Planet Entertainment’s management and neighborhood engagement. It’s magical to see the sign glowing brightly and the interior details restored, but the loss of some historic features and the ongoing concern about the potential displacement of two local businesses casts some shadow on the celebration. The opening will honor the legacy of both Castro Coffee and Castro Nail Salon.

Join us for the opening night on Friday, February 6th, in conjunction with the Castro Art Walk! That is also the very first night that the Castro Theater is open again, and they are showing The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. If you’re going to the movie, swing by the gallery beforehand!

For the opening night only, I will have a limited number of prints of my painting of the Queer Arts Featured neon sign available at a special price, only $25! Even better, some of the prints will have goodies inside, such as gift cards for Castro Nail Salon and Castro Coffee. Proceeds from these prints will go entirely to QAF to support their operations and events. 

From its origins as a pop-up in the summer of 2022, Queer Arts Featured has become a beacon in the Castro. It’s the only shop in the Castro to sell exclusively things made by local, queer artists, and they hold events from workshops to open mics to skill and resource sharing. QAF serves and uplifts queer artists like no one else. It occupies the same space at 575 Castro that was once Supervisor Harvey Milk’s Castro Camera, which was also a center for arts and community in the Castro. 

The Queer Arts Featured sign was made by neon artist Ames Palms of Rebel Neon and is a great example of modern neon craftsmanship in a field that is not only still alive, but innovating and growing, thanks to artists like them. Being an indoor sign that is backed by glass and behind glass, it presented a different challenge for me as a painter, considering the echoing reflections of the neon and the complex background of the shop. I especially enjoyed painting the disco mirror mannequin. 

I started bringing prints into the shop a couple of years ago, and over time grew closer to Devlin and the QAF team. I feel at home here and I’m grateful to have a place to go in the neighborhood to just sit down and hang out. Consistent print sales through the shop have helped me grow my art practice and my confidence, and I am honored to have my first solo exhibition here in the gallery. 

I just couldn’t wait to announce another event in the gallery and in conjunction with the exhibition: Neon Comes Out, a presentation with San Francisco Neon and Jim Van Buskirk. Join us on Thursday, February 26th at 7pm! Make sure to reserve a spot here, as we expect it to fill up quickly.

Gay bars were often hidden, unmarked enclaves for only those in the know. Often veiled behind tinted glass, with narrow entrances to allow doormen to screen patrons, they needed to hide the goings-on within from the general public, and the police, as a matter of survival. In the late 1960s they started coming out of the dark, announcing themselves with neon signs. These photographs, chiefly by Henri Leleu (from the GLBT Historical Society Archives) capture a dawning of San Francisco's gay bars and clubs, circa 1960s-1970s. Plan to share your personal histories of some of these long-gone (as well as a few surviving) sites.

In my quest to learn more about neon signs in San Francisco, I attended one of SF Neon’s walking tours, which was excellent. I told Randall and Al (the delightful couple and team behind SF Neon) about BEACONS and asked if they would be willing to do a presentation in the space. Not only were they excited to do so, they also introduced me to Jim and suggested the Neon Comes Out presentation, which is so appropriate to the exhibit. I’m honored to work with them. 

I’ve been working hard and challenging myself with new pieces for BEACONS.

This one was a particular challenge because of the sheer chaos of the famously kitschy interior of the diner. Not only is there all the complexity of the neon lettering and its reflection, there are dozens of other sources of light which I had to figure out how to balance visually. It was fun to capture the riot of colors and dazzling glow of this space.

Orphan Andy’s has been a mainstay in the Castro since it opened in the 70’s, just as the Castro was becoming the center of the gay community. Until the pandemic, it was open 24 hours every day and rescued many with a warm meal after a long night of partying. As of March of 2025, the business was for sale with hopes that the buyer will keep the employees and the spirit of the diner intact. 

I’m still working on the centerpiece for the exhibit, Castro Screen Neon. 

At three feet wide by six feet tall, this is the largest piece in the exhibit. It is painted on a piece of the screen that was removed from the Castro Theater when the renovation was started. It’s amazing to think about thousands of people watching iconic queer films projected on this very surface. Because of the size, I’m working on it in my backyard.

I’ve painted a similar view of the Castro blade sign a few times now, but each time I learn something new about the sign, and about color and value. Going up to this larger size has let me study more closely how the light of the blue tubes and the red tubes reflect and mix, and what colors that makes. There’s a whole rainbow in this painting. 

In parallel with painting, I have been researching and learning. In case you’d like to follow along with me, here’s what I’ve been reading:

Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 by Nan Alamilla Boyd

Gay by the Bay : a history of queer culture in the San Francisco Bay Area by Susan Stryker and Jim Van Buskirk

SAN FRANCISCO NEON: SURVIVORS AND LOST ICONS by Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan

Love, Castro Street: Reflections of San Francisco edited by Katherine V. Forrest and Jim Van Buskirk

Though some of these are out of print, they are all available to borrow through the San Francisco Public Library. Most can be found at Fabulosa Books, just a block away from the gallery and a great local bookstore with a queer focus!

BEACONS will be open February 6th through March 29th, open to the public whenever Queer Arts Featured is: 12pm-7pm Thursdays through Saturdays, 12pm-6pm on Sundays, plus special events. I hope you can make it to see this collection in person, since no digital image can truly recreate the experience of seeing handmade, physical art in person. All the pieces will be available for sale through the gallery, as well as prints of many of them. 

Thanks for reading my newsletter! As a reward, here is a picture of Ruby.

While you await the next newsletter, you can check out my website to see my portfolio!

Stay tuned for next month, and let me know what you’d like to hear about in the newsletter in the future.

-Nathaniel J. Bice

he/him

njbice.com