Mark Your Calendar: Weekend Events

A few Bay Area events and art openings on the radar this weekend:

Thursday, June 4:

* Everything You Need Can Grow, new work by Christopher David Ryan, opens at San Francisco's Rare Device. The artist's reception runs from 7 to 9 p.m., and the show will be up through July 7.

* Worship Thee Kindly the Dark Hand That Guides Me, a new installation of sculpture, paintings, and mixed media work from Skinner, opens at 111 Minna. The reception runs from 6 p.m. on, and the show will be up at the SOMA gallery through June 27.

* Over in Oakland, Nathaniel Crane and Michael Deane's Becoming Non-Object opens with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. at Uptown's Hatch Gallery. The gallery will also be open for Friday's monthly Oakland Art Murmur, and the show will be up through June 27.

Friday, June 5:

* There will be a First Friday reception for Val Britton and Michael Meyers's The Echo Fields from 5 to 9 p.m. at Oakland's Johansson Projects. While you're there, don't miss Jennifer and Kevin McCoy's Show Me installation in the project space.

Saturday, June 6:

* More than 400 local artists will provide glimpses into their work spaces and processes during East Bay Open Studios, which runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday as well as next weekend. Get a list of participating artists here, studio maps here, and preview the artists' work here.

* The Sunset Celebration Weekend transforms Sunset magazine's sprawling Menlo Park campus into a multi-acre test kitchen, demonstration garden, craft bazaar, home and garden trade show, and performance venue. The event takes place both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and tickets are $15.

* Pop Noir is San Francisco nonprofit arts organization Southern Exposure's huge annual fundraiser, with art for sale from a veritable who's-who of the Bay Area art scene. The auction runs from 6 to 10:30 p.m., and there's a $35 admission charge. Preview the artwork for sale here.

* Annie Galvin's In a Golden State opens at San Francisco's Studio 3579. The reception runs from 6 to 9 p.m., and the show will be up through July 18.

Sunday, June 7:

* Oakland newsstand extraordinaire Issues holds its Second Anniversary Party from 2 to 6 p.m. Stop by for snacks and microbrew, palm readings, a customer-appreciation raffle, and a giant sidewalk sale featuring books, vinyl, t-shirts, "weird sculptures," and odds and ends galore at the popular Piedmont Avenue-area shop.

Lots to do!

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!