Have a lovely long holiday weekend, everyone! I'll see you back here on Monday.
P.S. If you're local, don't miss Evan B. Harris and Alisha Wessler's new show, Back Channels, opening tonight at Johansson Projects as part of the monthly Oakland Art Murmur.
* Arounna Khounnoraj's Attachment Series (plus a Papaver Vert trunk show) at San Francisco's Rare Device. Opening reception tonight (Friday, March 6) from 7 to 9 p.m.
* The Oakland Art Murmur. 6 p.m. to 9-ish Friday, March 6, in and around Uptown Oakland. Openings include at Cardboard City at Rock Paper Scissors, Urban Matrix at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, Eliza Fernand's billow/ripple at Fort Gallery, Daniel Healy and Damon Smith's Collaborative Collage at 21 Grand, Charlie Milgrim and Eric Bohr's Vexing History at Mercury 20, Imitation Zoo at Smokey's Tangle, and Amos Gajillionaire at WELL.
* The Oakland Museum of California Annual White Elephant Sale. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 6 and 7, at the Oakland Museum's 96,000-square-foot warehouse (and trust me, every inch of it is packed with secondhand booty) near the Oakland Estuary.
Bay Area locals: Get your arting pants on and don your best shopping shoes for a weekend of fun art- and design-related happenings.
Friday night, February 6, is, of course, the Oakland Art Murmur. Among the highlights this month:
Emily Wick (whose popular State Mottos prints were featured here recently) and her boyfriend, artist Brian Brooks, are opening a new gallery in the Temescal District called Smokey's Tangle (named after the couple's imaginary cat). Stop by Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. for the grand-opening reception and show featuring work from Wick, Brooks, and others. Smokey's Tangle is located at 4709 Telegraph Ave.
Lena Reynoso brings her Forty Four Presidents portraits to Blankspace Gallery. The show explores "the visual impact of our corpus of Presidents ... and the presentation and representation of our Nation’s past and our future." Blankspace is located at 6608 San Pablo Ave.
Creative Growth Gallery, which supports artists with disabilities, hosts a group show from longtime program artists Kerri Damianakes, John Martin, Ron Veasey, and George Wilson. Creative Growth is located at 355 24th St.
Fort Gallery, which has taken over the cavernous space recently vacated by Esteban Sabar, will hold an opening reception from 6 to 10 p.m. for Future Winter, a group show from Christopher Murdoch, Emily Goldstein, Miko Isla, and others. Fort is located at 480 23rd St.
Front Gallery hosts a reception from 7 to 10 p.m. for the group show Aftersight, featuring artitsts Francesca Pera, Rocky Angel, and Carolyn Haydu. Aftersight "examines the effect of extraordinary personal events and how they ... are never fully put aside but but always linger just under the surface of our everyday lives." Front Gallery is located at 35 Grand Ave.
At Old Oakland's FiveTen Studio, mother-and-daughter artists Rosa De Anda and Lila Maes De Anda unveil their joint show, The Challenge. The cross-generational collaboration features Ollin, "large-scale wings reborn from recycled lath discarded from San Francisco Victorian homes," and Shattered Not Broken, "small-scale hearts made from recycled glass found in dark alleys and bus shelters, on the side of church steeples, and under worn-out stools in bars. The selected pieces are about the spiritual journey and individual responsibility in healing one's heart." FiveTen Studio is located at 831 Broadway.
If you're across the Bay on Saturday, February 7, check out GetLocalSF's We Heart the Mission Midwinter Stroll from noon until night. Hip shops such as BellJar (where everything will be 10 percent off), the Curiosity Shoppe (also offering 10 percent off almost everything), Candystore, Paxton Gate, and Rare Device (which will be offering 20 percent off) will host special sales and other in-store events during the Stroll. Find a map of participating merchants here.
One special event not to miss in the Mission Saturday afternoon: Lea Redmond's World's Smallest Postal Service. Redmond will set up her lilliputian mobile office at the Curiosity Shoppe from 2 to 5 p.m. and turn out the sweetest, smallest Valentine's love letters imaginable for $8 apiece. (Not in the area? Never fear -- you can order a tiny letter or card online.)
Also on hand at the Shoppe will be PodPost's Jennie Hinchcliff and Carolee Gilligan, who will have an array of Valentine's Day and mail-friendly goodies for sale. The Curiosity Shoppe is located at 855 Valencia St.
Have fun out there, kids.
A quick one for you locals: San Francisco artist Hilary Williams is bringing her breathtaking urban streetscapes and found-fabric dolls to Oakland this evening, Friday, October 3, as part of the monthly Oakland Art Murmur.
A reception for Williams' new show at WELLspace Gallery will be held from 6 to 10 p.m., and her screenprints and stuffies will be on display there through the end of October.
Click here for directions and hours for WELL, and here to see more of Williams' work.
P.S. On another Art Murmur-related note, I'm sad to report that Industrielle has closed. Owner Dana Taylor will be focusing on her own art and eventually reopening the shop and gallery in Los Angeles. Dana, Oakland will miss you!
Loads of fun stuff happening in the East Bay this weekend for any locals who may be reading:
Friday night, September 5, is the monthly Oakland Art Murmur. A few gallery openings worth checking out:
Everybody Get Up: The Poor Man's Art Show runs from September 5 through 26 at the Rock Paper Scissors Collective. It features over 100 pieces of original art on cardboard, with nothing priced over $50.
At Johansson Projects, Outpost showcases the work of David Hamill and Jeff Konigsberg, which "probes the imaginary and illusory properties of architecture."
Swarm Gallery hosts an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. for Casey Jex Smith's Materials Unorganized, which strives to "create a visual narrative of spiritual experience."
While you're there, pick up a copy of Dan Nelson's limited-edition All Known Metal Bands ($22), which is exactly what it sounds like and is the latest offering from the irony-laced McSweeney's publishing empire.
At Rowan Morrison, L.A. artist Seth Armstrong's solo show, Where So Ever You May Go, features narrative paintings that "mix a personal family history with the exploits of marauding masked men." (Update: Rowan Morrison won't actually be open Friday night, but you can see the new show there during regular business hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays.)
Horror Vacuuim at WELL consists of solo pieces from Jeff Roysdon and Mats!?, as well as "improvisational collaborations with disastrously successful consequences," and promises to "give your retinas a serious work-out. Optical Electro-Shock Treatment."
As always, the Murmur runs from 6 p.m. until about 10.
(Note: I just read on OakBook that Esteban Sabar Gallery has closed. I know that Sabar himself was somewhat controversial among his Art Murmur peers, and I didn't always love the shows at his gallery -- though I did like many of them. Still, I'm sad to see him go, and sad to see any high-profile gallery in Oakland's burgeoning Uptown area shuttered.)
Also in Oakland Friday evening: Red Cake Gallery's Autumn Open House, featuring affordable new paintings by Allen Stickel (above) and others. Email for reservations and directions.
Finally, Old Oakland's FiveTen Studio will hold an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. for Inseparability, a new show with work from Zoe Blackwell (above), Christine Kesler, Brooke Inman, and several other participating artists.
The shops on Berkeley's Fourth Street are having their annual Sidewalk Sale on Saturday, September 6, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Discounted wares from the splendid-but-spendy Gardener, for instance, will be 40 percent off.
Also on Saturday, West Oakland's fiery Crucible hosts its annual, free Fall Open House from noon to 6 p.m. Come check out the fire-arts organization's 56,000-square-foot studio and see artwork from Crucible students and staff; fire, music, and dance performances; a metal pour in the foundry; and welding, glass working, metal casting, and blacksmithing demonstrations.
If you're hungry, don't miss the Green Potluck from 1 to 4 p.m. at Old Oakland boutique Mignonne. Food from B Restaurant, Tamarindo Antojeria, G.B. Ratto & Co., and Sweet Adeline Bakeshop will be provided -- you simply choose from the shop's selection of lovely vintage tableware on which to enjoy the goodies. Once you're done chowing down, you'll get 25 percent off the dishes you used.
Looks like another great collection of gallery shows at this month's Oakland Art Murmur, Friday, August 1, from 6 p.m. to 9-ish:
* The second anniversary party at Industrielle, featuring new work from Sita Rupe (top) and others
* The Sum of Its Parts, with art by Laura Ball (above) and seven other artists, at Swarm Gallery
* Radialvedic, with contributions from Kristina Lewis, Jill Gallenstein, and Kana Tanaka, at Johansson Projects
* Cityscapes, with images from a variety of fine art photographers, at Rock Paper Scissors
* A Sacred Subject, featuring work from Clay Cahoon, Hunter Mack, and Rocky Rische-Baird (above), at Esteban Sabar
* A.K.A. Graffiti, with Peeta and others, at FiveTen Studio
* Audrey Welch's Random Thoughts at WELL
You can find more info about the Art Murmur right here.
It looks like a busy weekend is shaping up for Bay Area art lovers and nesters!
FRIDAY, JUNE 6
The monthly Oakland Art Murmur gets the party started at Uptown's galleries from 6 to 9 p.m. or so. There are several great new shows worth checking out:
* Johansson Projects' current exhibit, Portals, features work from Jen Stark (above), Anna Fidler (at top and below), and Jana Flynn (bottom).
The show "ventures into unknown, mystical apertures through spiritually charged, innovative paper creations. Offbeat, and at times explosive, Portals ignites the senses and impels the mind to investigate the dynamics of the divine."
(If you haven't already, click here to nominate Johansson Projects for "best local gallery" in the East Bay Express annual reader's poll. Kimberly Johansson has totally earned it this year with one incredible show after another.)
* Stop by Esteban Sabar for an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. for two new shows: Scott Hove (top left) and Bethany Ayres' (bottom left) joint The Hot Salon, and Patricia Gillespie's solo Willing to Go There (right).
* At Rock Paper Scissors Collective, the group Genderqueer show explores art from a community that doesn't fit neatly into traditional gender, sexual, or biological sex categories. The opening reception runs from 6 to 9 p.m.
* 21 Grand holds its 8th Annual Benefit Art Sale from 7 to 10 p.m., featuring works from more than 70 local artists, including Ben Reisman (above left) and Jeanne Lydon (right). Nothing is priced over $200, so swing by to check out some fab affordable art. (If you can't make it Friday, the sale continues Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.)
* Rowan Morrison Gallery is hosting a reception from 6 to 10 p.m. for Adam5100's The Heart vs. the Mind in a Fight to the Finish, a collection of photorealistic stencil paintings, lightbox sculptures, and prints.
The gallery also has new, limited-edition prints available from Patrick Rowe (top) and Deth P. Sun (bottom).
* Join artists Ce Ce Iandoli and Jill McLennan from 6 to 9 p.m. at Mercury 20 for the opening of their new solo shows, Lilacs in Somerville and Cuentas de México.
* Blankspace is holding a reception from 7 to 10 p.m. for its new show, Cacophony, featuring the work of ten local and national artists who have illustrated releases for local music label Gold Robot Records.
* At WELL, there will be a reception from 7 to 10 p.m. for Johnny Sui's new show, Where Are All My Thylacines?
* Bop on over to Old Oakland's Mignonne boutique, which is hosting a reception from 5 to 9 p.m. for local artists Nicole Hanshaw (top) and Gary Comoglio (bottom). (Pssst -- the shop has a new blog and is now open on Sundays as well.)
* For more on the Murmur, see my recent photo essay.
The Oakland Museum stays open until 9 p.m. as part of its monthly First Fridays After 5 program. There will be live blues music, Taiko drumming, a film screening, and a cash bar. Visit the Museum's current Birth of the Cool and Cool Remixed exhibits, and then stay for the party. Museum admission is $8.
Across the Bay, San Francisco's Rare Device hosts a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. for Amy Ross' Shapeshifter, featuring the Boston artist's lovely watercolor depictions of plant-animal hybrids. (If you can't make it in person, pieces from the show are available for purchase right here.)
SATURDAY, JUNE 7, and SUNDAY, JUNE 8
At the Temescal Street Fair, you can sample goodies from local eateries (including Bakesale Betty -- yum!), make art with the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, shop for artisan-made crafts and Oaklandish goods, hear live music, and visit the Green Zone or kids stage. Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday only.
During the East Bay Open Studios, more than 400 local artists will open their homes and studios and be on hand to discuss and sell their work.
Participating artists include (clockwise from top left): Stephen Day, Jana Grover, Sheila Metcalf Tobin, and Sarah Haba. Note: Open Studios continue next weekend, June 14 and 15.
During the Sunset Celebration Weekend, the magazine's sprawling Menlo Park campus morphs into a giant festival for home-improvement junkies. There will be product exhibitors, cooking demonstrations, gardening talks, and even an Eco Lounge where you can learn about Earth-friendly products and practices. The event also features live music, food vendors, and a kids' play area. I can't go, sadly, but if I could I'd head straight to the Secondhand Sunset booth, where editors will be selling off props from photo shoots, projects created for the magazine's pages, and their own vintage goodies to benefit Friends of the Urban Forest. Event tickets are $12 for adults.
Up in San Rafael, the Marin Home Show & Benefit Jazz Fest takes over the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Marin Civic Center to showcase live music and more than 350 home and garden exhibitors.
Among them will be Emeryville retailer Klassik by Lynne, which will be showing off its expertly restored vintage Danish modern furnishings, above. Tickets for the show are $8.
More than 200 dealers from around the country will be hawking furniture, housewares, jewelry, vintage clothing, and other items dating from 1900 to 1980 during the Art Deco & Modernism Sale at San Francisco's Concourse Exhibition Center. Admission is $10. (Thanks for the reminder, Hannah.)
Finally, join artist Neil Freese and ReadyMade Magazine to learn how to make God's Eyes at San Francisco's Curiosity Shoppe. Sunday, 2 to 5 p.m. Free.
Whew!
