Mark Your Calendar: Your Weekend of Art, Crafts, and Wicked Cool Pyrotechnics

Photo by Lane Hartwell

Heads up, locals: There's tons of great stuff going on in the Bay Area this weekend.

Friday, July 17

* Learn more about Italy's Alessi housewares at the first Summer Design Series presentation at Old Oakland's Entrez! Open House from 5 to 7 p.m. Alessi wares will be 10 percent off during the event, a Michael Graves tea kettle will be raffled off, and drinks and snacks will be served. RSVPs are required.

* Stop by the opening reception for Alex Rosmarin's A Daily Operation at Oakland's Cricket Engine Gallery from 7 to 9 p.m. The show will be up through July 26.

* Get your pyro on at the Crucible's ninth annual Fire Arts Festival. There will be ten acres of interactive fire art, performances, live music, and the largest collection of outdoor fire sculpture on the West Coast. The fiery spectacle runs from 8 p.m. to midnight on Friday, and wraps up at the same time on Saturday night. Tickets are $35 to $50.

* If you're in San Francisco this evening, join the Flower Weaving Workshop with Cathy of California at the Curiosity Shoppe from 5 to 7 p.m.

* While you're there, don't miss Lisa Congdon and Mati McDonough's pretty Little Pink Houses in the Curiosity Shoppe's gallery space. The show will be up through July 31.

* Swing by Congdon's own shop, Rare Device, over the weekend to check out its new art exhibit. The Buddy System: A Conversation in Art was curated by Little Paper Planes' Kelly Lynn Jones, and features work from Aline Cautis, Caitlin Gallupe, Clare Grill, Matt Momchilov, Bridget Moser, Nathaniel Russell, David Wilson, and Jess Wheaton. The show will be up through August 30.

* Kill two birds with one stone at the Mission's BellJar, where you can mingle at the opening reception for Ian Huebert's The Shape of Content from 6 to 9 p.m. and shop the store's Summertime Sale. Huebert's show will be up through August 11, and the sale lasts through July 23.

* Stroll down the street to see Ocean + Beach at Needles + Pens, featuring work from Charlie Callahan, Jeff Canham, Misha Capecchi, Alberto Cuadros, Amy Jo Diaz, Kyle Field, Christopher Gentile, Rachel Kaye, Jeffrey Manson, Aaron Mason, John McCambridge, Serena Mitnik-Miller, Dave Muller, Jay Nelson, Lana Porcello, Nathaniel Russell, Orion Shepherd, Mason St. Peter, Augustus Thompson, and Isabell Weberbauer. The show will be up through August 9.

Saturday, July 18

* Grab some great bargains at Modernica's mammoth 20th Anniversary Warehouse Sale. It's online from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific Time (and in L.A. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).

* Don't miss the second annual Renegade Craft Fair from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Fort Mason's Festival Pavilion. This year's Renegade extravaganza will showcase more than 200 independent artists and crafters, and continues through Sunday.

* After you've taken in all that Renegade has to offer, pop over to Fort Mason's SFMOMA Artists Gallery to see its current exhibit, Pipeline: Art, Surfing, and the Ocean Environment. The show features artwork by Jo Ann Biagini, Leo Bersamina, Charlie Callahan, Terry Hoff, Reuben Margolin, Serena Mitnik-Miller, Adrienne Keahi Pao, and Charles Valoroso, surfboards by Jeff Clark, and photography by Frank Quirarte and Doug Acton, and will be up through August 28.

* Check out L.A. street-turned-fine artist Becca's True Colors at White Walls Gallery, up through August 1. (Pssst: New, limited edition prints from Becca available here.)

* Cap off your day at the opening reception for Theo Ellsworth's new exhibit, Imaginary Friends, from 6:30 to 10 p.m. at Giant Robot. The show will be up until August 19.

Whew! Have fun out there, kids.

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: 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: April Art Happenings

Another busy, busy art weekend (and week) ahead:

Friday, April 3

* At San Francisco's Rare Device, Portland artist Mark Warren Jacques' The Optimistic Life & Mind opens with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. The young painter's colorful, graphic, and highly detailed work is "a testament to Jacques' sense of order within disorder and acute presence of mind." The show will be up through April 29 at Rare Device, 1845 Market St. at Guerrero. (If you're not in the area, you can view and purchase Jacques' pieces for the show here.)

* The Mission's Triple Base Gallery presents Out of the Flat Files II, featuring new work from more than 30 local artists, including Alissa Anderson, Marty Anderson, Chi Birmingham, Michelle Blade, James Bradley, Todd Bura, Michael Cappabianca, Shashana Chittle, Serena Cole, Tara Foley, Bryson Gill, Leonie Guyer, Jason Kalogiros, Melissa Kaseman, Justin Limoges, Isaac Lin, Leigh McCarthy, Jay Nelson, Kelly Ording, Oliver Halsman Rosenberg, Hilary Pecis, Jesse Schlesinger, Orion Shepherd, Christine Shields, Paul Urich, David Wilson, and Edmund Wyss.

* Also at Triple Base, Bryson Gill's Mirror and Mirror, Warm Milk - Still Cream, Degrees of Separation, Shades of Blue and Throwbacks, small works that reinterpret "late 17th century portraits through the lens of advertising-inspired graphic pictorial devices." The shows will be up through May 3 at Triple Base, 3041 24th St. at Treat.

* Hop on the Bay Bridge and head over to Oakland's Swarm Gallery, where John Casey's solo show, Distant Cousins, opens with an artist's reception from 6 to 9 p.m. At first glance, Casey's works "seem to portray a menagerie of deformed creatures. A collective analysis reveals this array of oddball creations to be a series of psychological studies -- self-portraits of the artist's inner psyche in all of its multifaceted incarnations."

* Also opening at Swarm: Nature Boy, a collection of Don Porcella's pipe cleaner sculptures, which "play with our concept of consumerism, reality and our own weird mortality," as well as Regime Change, a group show featuring small works (all priced under $500) celebrating our new representation in Washington and the hopefulness that has inspired. Participating artists include Alfred Steiner, Amanda Williams, Amy Ross, Andy Vogt, Barbara Holmes, Casey Jex Smith, Chris Pew, Chris Sicat, Dan Nelson, David Higgins, David King, Ema Sintamarian, Ernest Concepcion, Fred Muram, Fumiha Tanaka, Gregory Euclide, Jaime Cortez, Jessica Serran, Jim Rosenau, Jordan Essoe, Joshua Hagler, Kathy Aoki, Kevin E. Taylor, Linda Braz, Mayumi Hamanaka, Michael Hall, Narangkar Glover, Pete Glover, Sarah Emerson, Sarah Smith, Terry Furry, Treasure Frey, Vaughn Bell, Vicki Walsh, Zach Houston. The shows will be up through May 10 at Swarm, 560 Second St. near Jack London Square.

* Good battles evil at Rock Paper Scissors Collective's new exhibition, Heroes and Villains, which kicks off with an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. The show offers "a new and interesting eye on the classic dichotomy of chivalry and ugliness, portraiture and caricature, love and death." Artists include Arnell Ando, Teppei Ando, Graham Annable, David Ball, Ben Catmull, Mary Cook, Alika Cooper, Matt Hart, Matt Hewitt, Obi Kaufman, An Nguyen, Jonah Olson, Deth P. Sun, Mark Todd, and Derek Wood. Heroes and Villains will be up through April 25 at Rock Paper Scissors, 2278 Telegraph Ave. at 23rd St. in Uptown Oakland.

* Jason Byers and Patricia Wakida will be in attendance for the opening of their join show, [Print] Run, at 21 Grand from 7 p.m. on. The show features new paintings from Byers as well as Wakida's linoleum block prints, and will be up through April 18 at 21 Grand, 416 25th St. at Broadway.


* Smokey's Tangle in Oakland's Temescal District hosts an opening party from 7 to 10 p.m. for Beatlenuts, an "attempt to bridge the gap between fine art and fan art." The show will be up through April 15 at 4709 Telegraph Ave. at 47th St. (hint: that's a few doors down from Lanesplitter Pizza & Pub, if you want to make an evening of it).

Saturday, April 4

* At Oakland's Rowan Morrison, Small Ruins, featuring the photography of Hannah Henry, opens with an artist's reception from 7 to 10 p.m. Henry's large-scale photographs showcase "objects from the bottom of people's hearts and drawers: things with a past but no longer a purpose. The photos depict an individual object set against a blank background, highlighting the object itself, and begging of it a myriad of imaginary narratives." The show will be up through May 9 at Rowan Morrison, 330 40th St. at Broadway.

Thursday, April 9

* Finally, the show I've been anticipating with baited breath for months: Marci Washington's Dark Mirror at San Francisco's Rena Bransten Gallery. Washington's "lush paintings work on several levels to build suspicion and to enhance an ominous sense of discomfort and crisis in viewers. She achieves this by depicting ghosts, haunted houses, vampires, dismembered limbs, bloody scenery, and an assortment of sallow young people who serve as metaphors for serious social ills. Washington’s model for a doomed society was Edwardian England, whose rigid social norms and repressive imperialist vision sparked its decline -- a situation Washington feels is mirrored by a present-day America. Her Edwardian characters and romance novel format allow Washington 'to construct an allegorical tale ... in order to reveal a much darker tale of moral decline, spiritual crisis, and rampant anxiety, all lurking beneath the siren song of material desire.'” I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I do know that Washington's deliciously dark and twisted images give me chills (in the best possible way). Dark Mirror will be up through May 16 at Rena Bransten, 77 Geary St. at Kearny.

Happy arting!

Mark Your Calendar: Handmade Nation Screening in San Francisco

Making its San Francisco debut tomorrow night, Wednesday, March 11, as part of the San Francisco Film Society SF360 Film + Club: Faythe Levine's long-gestating, labor-of-love documentary, Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY Art, Craft & Design.

"Buying local for many means buying handmade objects that are designed and fabricated with ingenuity, grit, and love. Handmade Nation documents a movement of artists, crafters, and designers that imbue traditional handiwork techniques with a punky do-it-yourself ethos informed by modern aesthetics, politics, feminism, and art. The film explores the burgeoning art community of indie crafters that is fueled by creativity, determination, and networking. First-time director Faythe Levine traveled the U.S. to capture the tight-knit community, conducting interviews in the studios and homes of noted and independent artists. Levine also details how Web sites, blogs, and online stores have spurred a once underground movement and how crafts have expanded to connect with the greater public through boutiques, galleries, and fairs."

Following the screening will be a panel discussion with Lisa Congdon, co-owner of Rare Device; Derek Fagerstrom, craft and DIY co-editor at design*sponge and co-owner of the Curiosity Shoppe; Natalie Zee Drieu, senior editor at Craft magazine; and Stephanie Syjuco, fine artist and professor.

Several local crafters, artisans, and indie retailers will also be onsite to sell their handmade products, including Dutch Door Press, Diana Fayt, Cara Lyndon, Miss Natalie, Mittenmaker, Nous Savons, Sharon Spain, Woolly Hoodwinks, Zum, the Curiosity Shoppe, Little Otsu, Needles & Pens, and Rare Device.

The events starts at 7:00 Wednesday evening at Mezzanine. Tickets are $8 to $12. Click here for more info.

Mark Your Calendar: Weekend Events

* 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.

Mark Your Calendar: Your Weekend of Art, Shopping, and Valentine's Day Preparations

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.