Mark Your Calendar: East Bay Art Happenings

More and more local art openings, it seems, are veering off the standard "First Friday" schedule for new shows. That might be a good thing, because while the Oakland Art Murmur is a blast, it's often so packed that it's all but impossible to really appreciate the art.

I'm super-excited for Seattle artist Katy Stone (top) and Oakland local Yvette Molina's (above) joint show, Tickling Thicket -- which "considers the ephemeral thrills and underlying decrepitude of the natural world." The exhibit opens with an artists' reception from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 30, at Johansson Projects. JP shows never miss, and this one looks amazing: Delicate, luminous, earthy and yet out-of-this world. Tickling Thicket will be up through December 13.

At CCA's Oliver Art Center, Oakland artist and cultural anthropologist Lydia Nakashima Degarrod's Geographies of the Imagination presents "both the emotional dislocation of migration and its transformative power" and invites viewers to explore "the cultural and physical landscapes of their past." The show debuts with an opening reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 29, and will be up through November 21.

My friend and neighbor, Bedford Gallery curator Carrie Lederer, is part of a group show at Blankspace called Double Exposure. The show features the work of ten local gallery curators -- including Daniel Healy, Rowan Morrison's Pete and Narangkar Glover, and Root Division's Michelle Mansour -- who are also artists in their own right. Lederer's pieces for the exhibit "depict turbulent gardens informed by nature’s riotous beauty." Double Exposure will be up through November 17.

On Thursday, October 30, from 7 to 10 p.m., the Rowan Morrison gallery and bookstore will host a signing and launch party with Oakland artist John Casey for his new, limited first-edition book, Scarecrow, featuring more than 60 "unseen biomorphic drawings from the depths of the subconscious." Casey will also have original art on display in the gallery. (If you're not in the area, Scarecrow can be procured right here.)

Finally, at Compound Gallery on Saturday, November 1, from 6 to 9 p.m., there will be an opening reception for Scott Reilly's solo exhibit, October 9, 1969, in which he exposes "a deeper emotional source that lies within all of his creative expression." The show will be up through December 1.

The Artful Home: Marci Washington

Let's just get this out of the way: Marci Washington's art is a little scary. It's dark and foreboding and it might just keep you up at night.

But from the first time I saw it, I was utterly riveted by the Oakland painter's work, which has been shown in galleries from California to Europe and Australia.

There is, quite literally, a story behind each piece, which together play out like a murderous Edwardian melodrama -- and manage to claw their way under your skin as you ponder the mysterious tale taking place on the canvas.

As Washington says of her gothic narratives, "It's like I'm illustrating a novel that doesn't exist. If it did, it would probably be a lot like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, or Bleak House -- novels which function as social commentary as well as beautiful romantic epics."

Washington's original paintings start at about $1,500 and are available through San Francisco's Rena Bransten Gallery. But for those of us on a budget, she does have a limited-edition lithograph of From the Depths, above, for $50 from Receiver Gallery.

If you're in the Bay Area, Washington (and more than two dozen of her fellow emerging artists) will be part of the California College of the Arts 2008 MFA Exhibition. The opening reception is Thursday, May 8, from 6 to 9 p.m., and the show runs through Saturday, May 17, at 1111 Eighth St. at Hooper in San Francisco.

See more of Washington's haunting work right here.