Mark Your Calendar: Art Openings and Holiday Sales

Lots of opportunities around the Bay this weekend to find unique holiday gifts, affordable original art, and other fresh pieces for your home:

For the next three weekends, San Francisco decorative painter Daniel Gundlach hosts his annual Language of Cloth Textile Bazaar. The trunk show and sale features fine handmade textiles from Southeast Asia (such as the gorgeous piece above), all at wholesale prices. Language of Cloth is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through December 21 at 650-B Guerrero St. in the Mission District.

Over here on the sunny side of the Bay, super newsstand/art gallery Issues, at 20 Glen Ave. just off Oakland's Piedmont Avenue, hosts an opening reception this evening from 5 to 9 p.m. for artist Olivia Allums's Oakland Signage show. The exhibit features 30 small paintings of some of the city's more modest, but no less iconic, landmarks. Oakland Signage will be up at Issues through the end of the month.

Staring tonight at 6 p.m., neighboring Oakland art galleries Blankspace and The Compound Gallery join forces for the third annual Holidayland Gift Sale. More than 50 local artists will be selling original artwork, handmade crafts, accessories, papergoods, holiday ornaments, tote bags, jewelery, and more. (I just looked over the list of participants, and it's not the same dozen or so artists and crafters who -- fabulous as they are -- seem to rent booths at every other Bay Area art fair and craft event, so I'm excited to see some fresh new goodies at this shindig.) There will also be music, food, and seasonal libations.

If you don't make it this evening, the galleries will host another reception next Sunday, December 14, from 4 to 7 p.m. You can also visit the Holidayland Sale during regular gallery hours, noon to 7 p.m. Saturdays through Mondays until December 15. Blankspace is located at 6608 San Pablo Ave., and The Compound at 6602-6604 San Pablo Ave., both in North Oakland.

Also tonight from 5:30 to 8 p.m., Uptown Oakland's Creative Growth Art Center will hold its Holiday 2008 Studio Sale, featuring original art, prints, and artisan-produced ceramics, wood sculpture, rugs, glassware, bags, and T-shirts. A portion of every purchase helps support Creative Growth's program for artists with disabilities. If you miss the opening party, you can still shop the sale from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays December 6, 13, and 20. Creative Growth is located at 355 24th St.

Nearby, Uptown's Rock Paper Scissors Collective hosts an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. this evening for its group show Second Coming, featuring "ingenious reincarnations of discarded items into truly unique and inspired artwork." Also available will be 100 percent recycled gifts handmade through RPSC's Community Collaborations Project, in which local artist Chelsea Fadda worked with low-income and homeless adults at St. Vincent De Paul's found arts studio. The exhibit as well as the recycled gifts will be on display at RPSC through December 27. The shop and gallery is located at 2278 Telegraph Ave.

The ceramic artists at Berkeley's Fourth & Clay Studios -- Rae Dunn, Christa Assad, and Josie Jurczenia -- open their doors for Holiday Sales the next three weekends in December (that is, December 6 and 7, 13 and 14, and 20 and 21). On offer from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday are wares from the in-house ceramists as well as textiles, papergoods, jewelry, art, and pottery from a rotating cast of their distinguished friends, including Diana Fayt, Whitney Smith, Susannah Schnick, Aliza Cohen, Linea Carta, and others. The studio is located at 2390 C Fourth St. near Clay in West Berkeley.

Speaking of Whitney Smith and Diana Fayt, they're having studio sales of their own this weekend. Smith's Holiday Studio Sale takes place 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. December 6 and 7 in her workspace at 539 Athol Ave. in Oakland. In addition to bargain-priced seconds, Smith will be selling first-quality items and several new designs.

Over in San Francisco, Fayt's Holiday Sale, which runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, December 6, will feature her gorgeous new red-and-black designs, plus lots of affordable wares for those feeling the economic pinch. Fayt's studio is located at 1044 Revere Ave., Unit 5-29 in the Bayview district.

From 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, online gallery Red Cake celebrates its first birthday with a live event called Shiny Brite, featuring work from Daniel Ross and Lissa Ivy Tiegel. The art will also be on display Sunday, December 7, and Saturday, December 13, by appointment at 4209 Howe St. in Oakland.

Back in San Francisco on Sunday, don't miss the annual Rhode Island School of Design Holiday Sale at Fort Mason. More than 30 RISD grads will be selling jewelry, home accents, glass, prints, paintings, photographs, drawings, sculpture, papergoods, and textiles. The sale runs from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. December 7 in Fort Mason Building A, Marina Boulevard at Buchanan Street.

Whew!

Mark Your Calendar: Art Steals and Other Great Deals (Plus, Fire!)

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.