Mark Your Calendar: Weekend Art Openings and Events

A few things on my radar this weekend:

Friday, May 1

* The Den, the brand-new lounge at the fabulous Fox Theater, hosts its inaugural "First Friday" Poster Art Party featuring gigposters from Jason Munn of The Small Stakes and Lil' Tuffy. The party (complete with drink specials and posters for sale) runs from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. The Den is located at 1912 Telegraph Ave. at 19th St. in Uptown Oakland.

* Old Oakland's FiveTen Studio presents The Home Show, a group exhibition featuring work from Modesto Covarrubias, Miriam Fagan, Linda Braz, Glenna Alee, Elyse Hochstadt, and Dave Higgins. The opening reception runs from 6 to 9 p.m., and the show will be up through May 30. FiveTen Studio is located at 831 Broadway at 9th.

* From 7 to 10 p.m., 21 Grand hosts its 9th Annual Art Sale featuring more than 100 affordable pieces from a dizzying array of local artists. (If you can't make it tonight, the sale continues Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m.) 21 Grand is located at 416 25th St. near Broadway in Uptown Oakland.

* Over in San Francisco, Rare Device unveils Rachel Denny's Out of the Woods, showcasing the Portland artist's textile taxidermy and other sculptural pieces. The opening reception is from 7 to 9 p.m., and the show will be up until June 2. Rare Device is located at 1845 Market St. near Guerrero.

Saturday, May 2

*After you hit the Modern Economy Sale at Fort Mason Saturday morning, swing over to the other side of the City for the Dogpatch and Bayview Artists Spring Open Studios, which runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Artists Annie Galvin and Eric Rewitzer and ceramist Diana Fayt will open their doors for studio tours, art previews, and light refreshments. Galvin and Rewitzer's 3 Fish Studios is located at 610 22nd St. #243 at Illinois, and Fayt's space is at 1044 Revere Ave. #B29 at Griffith.

* Close out the day at Needles + Pens for the opening of You've Got Light in Your Eyes, a group show curated by art blogger extraordinaire Meighan O'Toole of My Love for You is a Stampede of Horses and featuring work from 1911, Kate Bingaman Burt, Jill Bliss, Will Bryant, Kime Buzzelli, John Casey, Lisa Congdon, Liam Devowski, Bill Dunlap, Kenn Goodall, Maxwell Loren Holyoke-Hirsch, Know Hope, Olivia Jeffries, Aidan Koch, Ashley Lande Brown, Jeremiah Maddock, Leslie Martinez, Terri Olsen Von Schaub, Mike Perry, Shannon Rankin, and Dan Szymanowski. The opening reception runs from 6 to 9:30 p.m., and the show will be up through June 28. Needles + Pens is located at 3253 16th St. at Guerrero.

* P.S. Don't forget that Saturday is World Naked Gardening Day! And Sunday is, of course, the Alameda Flea Market.

Have fun!

Mark Your Calendar: Friday Night Art in Oakland

Photo by Vonguard

This Friday, April 4, is Oakland's monthly Art Murmur, which we've missed for one reason or another the last few months. I'm looking forward to getting out and seeing some of the homegrown art on display in the Uptown galleries. There are few new shows that I'm especially looking forward to:

My favorite Oakland art spot, Johansson Projects, 2300 Telegraph Avenue, is hosting Propagations, a mulitmedia exhibit from artists Tadashi Moriyama, Paul Hayes, Alexis Amann, Rebecca Whipple, and Kiersten Essenpreis.

Propagations "explores the conjunction of natural, cultural and technological forces that foster unexpected artistic transmissions, replications, and disseminations."

Across the street at the Rock Paper Scissors Collective, 2278 Telegraph Avenue, is Science Fair. Curated by Detroit's Andrew Thompson and featuring the work of eight local and national artists (including Amanda Lechner, Erik Peterson, and Trisha Brookbank), the exhibit "addresses the intersections of art and science as subject matter, whether it be through the guise of pseudoscience, the lure of technology, or the eccentricity of cultural anthropologies."

Front Gallery, at 35 Grand Avenue, is hosting an opening reception for Venue, a joint show from Judith White, Danny Scheible, and Art Hazelwood that's described as a study of spaces, "whether they be exterior or interior; physical or psychological."

Galleries participating in the Oakland Art Murmur's First Friday event are generally open from 6 to 9 p.m. -- though a few stay open until 10.

And Bloom Screen Printing, at 2310 Telegraph Avenue, is having a big print sale -- including rare, out-of-print, slightly damaged, and brand-new gig posters from Jason Munn's The Small Stakes (below) for $5 to $25 each. The sale is from 5 to 10 p.m.

See you there!

The Artful Home: The Small Stakes

I love the simple palettes and clever images of Oakland's The Small Stakes studio. Founded by Wisconsin transplant Jason Munn in 2003, The Small Stakes designs frameworthy silkscreened gigposters for a variety of bands, as well as CD packages, t-shirts, and book covers.

Take a look:

Ted Leo + Pharmacists

Chavez

The Decemberists

Mark Kozelek European Tour

Stars Canadian Tour

Noise Pop 15th Anniversary

Castanets

Mates of State

Mark Kozelek East Coast Tour

My Brightest Diamond

Each poster costs $25 and is available right here.

(And if you're in the area, be sure to check out "The Small Stakes: A Year in Posters" at San Francisco's new Curiosity Shoppe. The opening is Friday night, December 7, from 6 to 9 p.m., and the show runs through January.)