Cool Stuff: Found Paper Journal

Oakland art gallery and art bookstore Rowan Morrison has just released a third edition of its Found Paper Journal.

The journal features 128 subtly patterned pages assembled from old accounting ledgers, graph paper, legal pads, letterhead stationery, sheet music, grammar-school writing paper, loose leaf, Braille, job application forms, certificates, and other vintage papers. No two journals are entirely alike.

They're $10 apiece right here.

The Artful Home: Mel Kadel

I was researching a freelance piece on San Francisco art galleries recently when I came across the work of Mel Kadel, who's showing at Hayes Valley's Fecal Face Dot Gallery in September. It was a jaw-on-floor moment.

The Los Angeles-based artist creates pen-and-ink illustrations that are surreal, darkly humorous, and utterly hypnotizing. I could get lost for hours in those delicate and intricate patterns, and in following the adventures of her imaginary heroine.

Kadel's originals run several hundred to several thousand dollars (a number of pieces are available through Santa Monica's Richard Heller Gallery), and notable collectors include artist Shepard Fairey, musicians Sheryl Crow and Mick Fleetwood, and actors Harrison Ford and Jason Lee.

But luckily for those of us on a slightly tighter budget, Kadel also has a limited-edition "Power Like a Flower" serigraph (above) available for just $20 through Oakland's Rowan Morrison.

If you're in the New York area, check out Kadel's current show, Sun Days, at Manhattan's Nancy Margolis Gallery through the end of the month. And Bay Areans, make a note of that Fecal Face exhibit in September.

In the meantime, you can see more of Kadel's work right here.

Mark Your Calendar: Art and Handmade Holiday Events

Since a majority of the respondents to my poll on local events posts seem to enjoy -- or at least not mind -- reading about Bay Area happenings, here's another roundup of weekend shopping and art events:

French-flavored Old Oakland boutique Mignonne (that's the shop's beautiful window display at top) is holding its third annual Holiday Party and Sale this evening -- Thursday, December 11 -- from 5 to 9 p.m. There will be wine, music, and raffle prizes. Plus, everything in the store except original art will be 30 percent off during the shindig, and gift-wrapping is free. Local fine-art photographer Valerie J. Cochran (above) and ceramist Whitney Smith will be in attendance to show off their work. Mignonne is located at 1000 Jefferson St.

Whitney is one busy party girl tonight, because she's also making an appearance at the Fourth & Clay Holiday Party alongside Diana Fayt, Rae Dunn, Christa Assad, and Josie Jurczenia. The celebration and sale runs from 6 to 11 p.m. at 2390 "C" Fourth St. in Berkeley. (If you can't make it, the clay babes will be holding another Studio Sale -- details here -- this Saturday and Sunday.)

Friday evening, December 12, from 5 to 9 p.m., West Berkeley's Relish at Home hosts a Holiday Trunk Show for jewelry designer Molly M. I'm not normally big on jewelry, but Molly's laser-cut designs are gorgeous, aren't they? Maybe she'll introduce a line of housewares at some point ... What's more, everything in the shop is 10 percent off during the event. Relish at Home is located at 2703 Seventh St. #112.

On Saturday, December 13, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Feria Urbana takes place at Oakland's Pizzaiolo restaurant (5008 Telegraph Ave. in the Temescal District). On offer will be clothing, jewelry, ceramics, home accessories, artwork, fashion accessories, baby items, and more from dozens of local designers. (While you're there, grab a slice of Pizzaiolo's fresh buttered toast with Blue Chair jam and a steaming mug of Blue Bottle Coffee. Yum!)

On Saturday and Sunday, December 13 and 14, from noon to 4 p.m., Emeryville potter Sara Paloma is holding a Holiday Studio Sale in her space at 4333 Holden St. #54. She'll have fresh stock of her iconic stoneware bottles as well as her fabulous new nesting bowls (above). And don't miss Paloma's "seconds" shelf for budget-friendly deals on slightly less-than-perfect pottery.

Also Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., West Oakland's 56,000-square-foot Crucible holds its annual Holiday Gifty Art Sale & Open House. The sale features housewares, pottery, sculpture, art glass, clothing, jewelry, and other giftable items from more than 70 local artisans. There will be fire performers, stiltwalkers, circus clowns, a visit from Santa, refreshments and assorted holiday treats, as well as glass blowing, metal casting, and blacksmithing demonstrations, too. The Crucible is located at 1260 Seventh St.

Saturday evening, from 5 to 10 p.m., swing by Rowan Morrison Gallery for the RoMoLoCo Show. There will be affordable original works and prints from more than 30 local artists, plus 10 to 40 percent off Rowan Morrison's stock of art books and papergoods. If you can't make the RoMoLoCo opening party, available works will be on display through December 24. (Pssst -- Sunday, December 14 will also see the release of a new, limited-edition stencil print from Adam5100, available exclusively at Rowan Morrison.) The shop and gallery is located at 330 40th St. in Oakland.

Also Saturday night, from 6 to 9 p.m.: The opening reception for FiveTen Studio's Bailout, a "recession-proof" exhibit featuring work from 18 established and emerging local artists, all priced under $400. Bailout will be up in the gallery through December 30. FiveTen Studio is located at 831 Broadway in Old Oakland.

Finally, on Sunday night, December 14, Uptown Oakland's favorite punk rock dive bar, the Stork Club, hosts the Holi-DIY bash starting at 8 p.m. Indie vendors will be on hand, and live music and a burlesque show round out the offerings. The Stork Club is located at 2330 Telegraph Ave.

Enjoy!

(P.S. If you're on the other side of the Bay, there are a bunch of fun weekend events happening in San Francisco as well, including Trish Grantham at Rare Device, Christine Schmidt at Candystore, and the Mission District Holiday Block Party. Head on over to sfgirlbybay to get the deets on those from Ms. Victoria.)

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.

Mark Your Calendar: "Second Saturday" Art Events

In addition to Oakland's "First Friday" Art Murmurs, "Second Saturday" seems to be picking up momentum as an evening for new art show openings. Case in point: Tomorrow -- Saturday, October 11, from 7 to 10 p.m. -- the Rowan Morrison gallery will host an opening for New York-based artist Raylene Gorum's new exhibition, Volume Too.

In addition to Gorum's sketchbook illustrations and prints, the show features a collection of "large landscapes created using a wide variety of tapes: hardware store varietals, custom manufactured editions, vinyl, and handmade silkscreen-textured adhesive panels. The tapings, assembled upon translucent drafting film embellished with ink and watercolor, draw on themes of fantastical urbanity and its tenuous relationship to the natural landscape."

Left: Hiroshige; right: Gorum

In Volume Too, "Gorum engages in a dialogue with the acclaimed Japanese woodblock print artist Hiroshige. Both artists 'draw with a knife,' producing their works by precise cutting (he to wood, she to tape), and share a celebration of color. Gorum quotes compositions from Hiroshige's prints of travelers in Edo-period Japan, exchanging villagers with modern characters in distorted American vistas."

Left: Hiroshige; right: Gorum

Also on Saturday, from 4 to 9 p.m., Oakland's new Marboe Green Gallery is hosting what sounds like an interesting event: Sentence Drawing Sentence.

Part of a series of art events called Independent Drawing Gig No. 4 happening simultaneously in New York, Istanbul, The Hague, Maastricht, Vilnius, and Seoul, the game includes more than two dozen local artists and writers, as well as anyone else who wants to join in.

"It begins by having each player take a blank sheet of paper on which he or she writes a sentence and then passes the paper to his or her right. The next player reads the sentence and draws a picture that visually depicts the words written. After that the player folds over the sentence so that it is hidden and passes the drawing to the right. The next player sees the picture and writes a descriptive sentence about it. The game continues by altering sentences and drawings until the sheet is filled or the twenty minutes is up. When the time is up volunteers will run the completed games to the gallery and install them on the walls. Our prediction is that by 9 p.m. the gallery will have been transformed by those who participated."

Call it "Operator" with an art twist.

Cool Stuff: Rowan Morrison Found Paper Journal

This super-cool Found Paper Journal from Oakland art gallery, bookstore, papergoods shop, printing press, and publisher (!) Rowan Morrison is made from "128 randomly assorted pages collected from old accounting ledgers, graph paper, legal pads, letterhead stationery, sheet music, grammar-school writing paper, loose leaf, Braille, and vintage papers of all styles." The chipboard cover features an embossed scissors illustration by local artist Narangkar Glover.

The 8-by-5-inch, limited-edition journal, which was made right here in Oakland, is just $10 in the Rowan Morrison online shop. (Only 190 were created, so grab yours quick!)

Mark Your Calendar: Oakland Art Murmur's "First Friday"

Don't miss the Oakland Art Murmur on Friday, June 1.

On the first Friday evening of each month, galleries and artists' collectives in and near Oakland's newly bustling (but still edgy) Uptown area open from 7 to 10 p.m. for the coalition's monthly art walk. Participants include Rock Paper Scissors, Blankspace, Boontling Gallery, Rowan Morrison, 21 Grand, Creative Growth, Mercury 20, and Front Gallery, among others.

Affordable art is a key part of the mix: Original pieces by emerging artists can be had for as little as $20, while work from more established painters, illustrators, photographers, and sculptors runs several hundred to several thousand dollars.

Oakland has long been an artists' haven, but in recent years the art scene has exploded as high costs have pushed droves of working artists out of San Francisco in search of more affordable studio space. I liken it a bit to the arts pilgrimage from Manhattan to Brooklyn during the last ten years. (Indeed, Oakland is reputedly second only to New York in number of artists per capita.) The Oakland Art Murmur was born last year to showcase this growing local arts community.

So grab a coffee, a beer, or a bite to eat at Mama Buzz Cafe and then stroll from art space to art space. Among the artists exhibiting this month are Chris Truman, Carl Auge, Alexander Cheves, James Gouldthorpe, and Moira Murdock. Don't miss 21 Grand's "Small Works" fundraising sale, which features works from dozens of local artists, all priced at $100 or less. Bring a lawn chair or a blanket, too, and settle in for Asphalt Shorts IV, a series of short films about cities and urbanism that's being screened in the Broadway parking lot between 21st and 22nd streets at 8:30.


You're also likely to catch a drum circle, a bonfire, a guerrilla art performance, or a busking band amidst the milling students, hipsters, and art aficionados on the street. It's a happening Happening indeed.

Info, directions, and details here.

(Photos by Lane Hartwell for Oakland magazine.)