Category Archives: uptown

Holiday GUIDE – part II

Only 1 week left (phew)… For those of you who didn’t make it out last weekend due to lousy weather, overindulgence, or more pressing engagements, there are a few more artisan oriented shopping events this weekend, if you still need to pick up some last minute unique and special gifts.  And if you’re not interested in shopping, scroll down (after photo) for other noteworthy events…

Friday, December 18th

  • Smokey’s Tangle Shopping Mall and Holiday Something to do (6pm – 9pm)

    Smokey’s Tangle Art Gallery has turned itself into a mall this December. Get your photo taken with Santa, make a holiday card, test out the chair massager, and listen to demented christmas music all in our heartwarming mall-like atmosphere.
    http://www.smokeystangle.com/

Saturday, December 19th

  • Lil Tuffy @ Kuhl Frames + Art (11am – 4pm)

    The 2nd Annual Exhibition of works by SF designer Lil Tuffy continues with over 225 limited edition screenprinted rock posters for Bay Area, National and European shows. As always, ready-made frames will be available…remember your music and art loving friends this holiday season!  http://KuhlFrames.com/

  • Stocking Stuffers Craft Fair @ We Art Space (11am – 4pm)

    Original ready-t0-hang art, and hand-crafted items such as jewelry, clothing, housewares, and more… http://WeArtSpace.com/

Sunday, December 20th

  • Stocking Stuffers Craft Fair @ We Art Space (11am – 4pm)

    Original ready-t0-hang art, and hand-crafted items such as jewelry, clothing, housewares, and more… http://WeArtSpace.com/

holiday lights, circle of lights, mountain view cemetery

Mountain View Cemetery Holiday Circle of Lights

For those of you ahead of the game and actually ready to kick back and enjoy that vacation you’ve been waiting for for months, here are some interesting local oaktown holiday and non-holiday events to check out…  have fun!

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (friday, 12/18)

Mentioned in yesterday’s post too… part of the Paramount’s classic movie series.  Tickets are $5 and include pre-film entertainment. Doors at 7pm… movie starts at 8pm.  paramounttheatre.com

Reality Playings: Experiments In Experience/participation Performance (friday, 12/18)

CRITIC’S Choice: East Bay Express… Frank Moore, world-known shaman performance artist, will conduct improvised passions of musicians, actors, dancers, and audience members in a laboratory setting to create altered realities of fusion beyond taboos… Temescal Art Center at 8pm.  http://www.eroplay.com/events.html

Holidays at Dunsmuir Estate (sat/sun, 12/19 – 12/20)

Experience the wonders and classic beauty of the holidays at Dunsmuir Hellman Historic Estate. Walk back in time through our beautifully decorated mansion, enjoy live holiday music, have breakfast with Father Christmas, find the perfect gift in our Holiday Shops, activities for the kids, and much more!  (11am – 5pm)  http://www.dunsmuir.org/calendar_holiday09.html

Ghost Town Farm Tour (sunday, 12/20)

Due to popular demand, Novella Carpenter is having another farm tour!
When: Sunday, December 20, 11am-2pm
What: Signed copies of Farm City, Goat Town t-shirts, fried green tomatoes, and hot chocolate made with goat milk for sale. Goat snuggling and tours free.
Where: Ghosttown Farm, 665 28th Street, at Martin Luther King
http://novellacarpenter.com/

Charlie Hunter at Yoshi’s, Oakland (sunday, 12/20)

Celebrating 10 years of Home for the Holidays CHARLIE HUNTER With Very Special Guest Doug Wamble… saw this show Saturday night… Awesome.
When: Sunday, December 20, 2pm matinee and 7pm shows
http://www.yoshis.com/oakland/jazzclub/artist/show/954

“A Christmas Carol, the Musical” at Lisser Theater, Mills College (12/19 – 12/23)

Charles Dickens’ classic gets the full Broadway treatment by the Broadway team of Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Little Mermaid,”), Lynn Ahrens (“Ragtime,” “Seussical”) and Mike Okrent (“Crazy For You,” “Me and My Girl.”)  This spectacular musical retains its emotional power and pure joy, thanks to the marvelously-told story, and the score with beautiful melodies and emotional lyrics.
http://curtaincallperformingarts.net/tickets_-_a_christmas_carol

The Oakland Ballet Performs the Nutcracker (12/24 – 12/27)

The Oakland Ballet Company presents Carlos Carvajal’s Nutcracker accompanied by the Oakland East Bay Symphony, performing the beautiful Tchaikovsky score.

This beloved holiday tradition has a spectacular growing tree, a spirited party, battle scenes, and a trip through the snow forest and the land of the sweets. The San Francisco Chronicle describes Carvajal’s Nutcracker as a “time-tested production, featuring glittering costumes and a live orchestra.”

TICKETS: $15-$50 with student and senior discounts through www.ticketmaster.com  or 1-800-745-3000.  Or better yet, avoid the butt-load of convenience charges that Ticketmaster applies by going directly down to Paramount Theatre (Box Office on 21st street – if you bring a non-perishable food item for the Alameda County Food bank, you get at additional 20% off your tickets – not a bad deal!), 2025 Broadway 510-465-6400, paramounttheatre.com http://www.oaklandballet.org/

Creative Growth Gallery – Art Murmur (Act II)

Next stop on our Friday night tour was Creative Growth Gallery on 24th Street near Broadway for their annual holiday show & sale… and what a stop it was! I can’t believe I’ve never been to this place. I think it’s one of those Oaktown secrets. Or maybe I’m just slow.

The Creative Growth Art Center provides studio arts training by professional artists to adults with mental, physical, and developmental disabilities. The center’s mission is “to provide a safe environment that fosters and nurtures the creative process, and to promote and market the art of people with physical, developmental, and emotional disabilities.”

creative growth oakland

It was the first of its kind in the nation when established over 30 years ago, and it’s been going strong ever since… producing works of art exhibited in, and collected by, such revered institutions as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, San Francisco’s MOMA, and other major museums & galleries throughout the world.

In 2008 they completed a full one-million dollar plus renovation of their building, to provide their 140 artists “a better, safer and more organized studio and healthier place to be.”  They also opened a gallery in Paris called Galerie Impaire, in order to further the representation of their artists, and provide greater exposure of disabled artists’ works to contemporary art collectors.  These folks aren’t kidding around.

They currently have a holiday window display at Barneys in San Francisco (77 O’Farrell Street), and recently teamed up with celebrated fashion designer Marc Jacobs to produce a limited collection of wallets, t-shirts, and tote & shoulder bags, designed by four Creative Growth artists: Louis Estape, Dan Miller, William Scott, and Gerone Spruill.  Awesome.

From the look of things Friday night, I’d say their holiday sale is one not to be missed… I only wish I was telling you about it beforehand and not after, but you’ll just have to mark your calendars for 2010.

creative growth in oakland

welcome to magic show, william tyler, art at creative growth

There was an incredible display of the widest variety of art I’ve seen at any of the galleries in Oakland.  They had everything from handmade clothing, to 70’s style latchkey rugs and embroidery work (I bought one of these and it is very cool!), paintings, prints, mixed media, pottery, housewares, greeting cards… the list goes on and on.  In addition to the gallery displayed pieces, the studio area (which is HUGE) was filled to the gills with tables and bins and boxes of bargain basement priced art.  $10 tables, $5 tables, $2 bins…   I bought my Christmas cards (see below) and gifts to boot.

creative growth holiday sale, creative growth art

studio art sale at creative growth, creative growth oakland

Holiday Sale at Creative Growth

Here’s a shot of the cards I got… designed by Lolita Triplette… isn’t it groovy? I love the little dragon tree-topper!

Lolita Triplette christmas card

They also got me for an annual membership.  Gotta support the arts!

And hey, if you missed this one and want to check them out, they have other events throughout the year.  Go to their website and either become a Facebook fan to be kept informed about upcoming events, or better yet, become a member.  You’ll be supporting a fantastic organization, and you’ll get 10% off any art purchases.  What a deal!

Oakland School for the Arts – Art Murmur (Act I)

So last Friday was another First Friday here in Oaktown, and this time I did it a little bit differently. My plan was to focus on galleries and spaces that were specifically set up with holiday sales…

My friend and I were on our way to grab a bite and a drink at Flora, probably my favorite restaurant in Oakland. At this point in time, that’s a pretty high compliment given the slew of fantastic restaurants that are springing up seemingly weekly. Oakland’s dining scene has been getting a lot of press and it’s very exciting. Here are a few samples…

East Bay Express:  America’s Next Great Dining Town

Wall Street Journal:  Oakland’s Temescal Goes From Rundown to Reborn

NYTimes:  36 Hours in Oakland

Diablo Magazine:  One Fine Night: Oakland’s Uptown

I’ve written about Flora before, and I’ll do an even more in-depth story in the future… I have plans for a whole Art Deco series thanks to a suggestion from my friend Jessica. But in the meantime, all you need to know, is they make fantastic cocktails and out of this world food. You’ll likely have to book early to get a reservation on a First Friday, but I’ve had good luck dropping in early and just grabbing a seat at the bar. A fancy libation and small plate delight and you are on your way to murmuring right!

We made our way down the block to a space we had passed earlier while parking… it wasn’t a gallery I was familiar with, and it wasn’t a spot on my list of to-see’s for the night, but hey, when you’re murmuring, you gotta kinda roll with it. And this was clearly a scene worthy of an adjustment to our plans. There was a crowd of people outside and an even larger crowd inside, snaking their way through a labyrinth of gallery walls chock full of art, accompanied by live music, spoken word, and improv rap.  This was a cool scene, and it was mostly kids… real kids.  We had serendipitously stumbled upon the holiday sale of the Oakland School for Visual Arts.

OSA, oakland school for the arts, oakland holiday sale, osa holiday sale

The Oakland School for Visual Arts (OSA) moved to the Fox Theater‘s building (also to be covered during Art Deco Days!) in January of this year. The brain-child of former Mayor Jerry Brown (Wikipedia), OSA is school is a public charter middle & high school with a mission “to provide students with intensive conservatory-style training in the arts while maintaining a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum.” They offer seven core artistic programs: Arts Management, Dance, Instrumental Music, Literary Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, and Vocal Music. Students wishing to attend have to audition to show they’ve got the artistic muster to make it… think Fame!

They currently maintain an attendance rate of 94%, one of the highest in Oakland. And their first senior graduating class (2006), graduated with 100 percent of the class accepted to four-year colleges (Wikipedia). That’s pretty impressive.

In fact, the whole scene was quite impressive. The huge turnout… the talented musicians… the amazing works of art (at bargain basement prices too!) I, for one, emptied my wallet in support of this school and its young artists. My only complaint would be that the lines for buying the art were too long, and that’s not a bad problem to have. Yay for OSA!

oakland school for the arts, small works show and sale, OSA small works sale

oakland holiday art sale, oakland school for the arts

OSA Small works sale, OSA gallery, oakland school for the arts

Check back tomorrow for the futherings of our murmurings… And if you missed the holiday sales this past weekend, check back later in the week for my best effort at a comprehensive list of arty/crafty holiday fairs and events next weekend.

Christmas is here ~ La la la la…

Ok. So it’s December. Can you believe it?!

Believe it.

In fact, you might as well embrace it. Christmas is here. And Hanukkah. And Kwanzaa. And the trees. And the lights. And the sales. And the sweets. And all that holiday cheer. Go on, embrace it. Would you rather be a Grinch?

I wasn’t sure what I was going to feature today. Especially since I just got a nice little write up in Oakland Magazine… thanks OM! It’s been a bit hectic and I haven’t had as much time to devote recently, so I’ve been wingin’ it a little bit. Which can have its own special benefits, but can also be quite challenging.

Tonight, the first thing I came across was in kind of a sketchy neighborhood near me in West Oakland… I wouldn’t usually get out and walk around here, but on the corner of 31st and MLK I saw a guy setting up an alter outside a corner liquor store. It looked pretty elaborate with words written out across the sidewalk in candles and it reminded me of the beautiful altars at the Day of the Dead festival.

I grabbed my camera and got out and asked him what he was doing. He said he was trying to light the candles. I asked if it was art. And he said, “Nah. It’s more like a remembrance for someone who died here the other night.” I said, “A memorial.” And he said, “Yeah.” We said a few more things. It was sad. But his effort at creating something to be experienced and shared was beautiful. And it was art, even if he didn’t know it. It said “R I P Miller.” I decided not to take a picture.

Then, talk about a 180, I came upon this… it’s a Frosty the Snowman merry-go-round inside an igloo ball. Fantastic. And horrible. All at the same time.

frosty the snowman, christmas ball, christmas is here

I decided this didn’t quite capture the essence of holiday spirit I was seeking… I made my way towards Jack London square. On the way I passed the gorgeous Tribune Tower framed by the full moon. I love this building. I thought about buying it in 2006 when it was for sale, but they were asking 12 million dollars for it… just a little bit out of my price range. It actually went for over 15, but that was 2006. Wonder if they’re appealing the assessor’s office for a reassessment… ahem.

oakland tribune tower, tribune tower with full moon, full moon

At Jack London I was hoping to see the giant xmas tree from years past with huge ornaments like mirrored basketballs reflecting back one’s glee. But it wasn’t there. In its place was a stand of geometrically arranged palm trees with green electric disco lights shooting up the trunks in coordinated choreography. I guess that’s progress, eh?

That didn’t quite get me either so I made my way across the street and snapped a couple shots at the Home of Chicken and Waffles on the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. I love that place. If you haven’t been, you should check it out.  They have a pretty fantastic little art display inside, in addition to the delicious chicken and waffles, real southern style. I love that Santa’s got a chicken leg…

Chicken and Waffle, christmas decorations, jack london square

Don’t be fooled by the empty barstools… it’s kind of a late nite joint.

jack london chicken and waffles

On my way back home I spotted this new? restaurant out of the corner of my eye with a decidedly more elegant display. It’s Mimosa Champagne Lounge and they’ve actually been open for about a year now… guess I’ll have to check them out. They make Christmas look real classy.

mimosa champagne lounge, oakland champagne lounge on broadway

And as I made the home stretch I passed this display…

christmas lights, west oakland, ghetto christmas

Even in the ghetto, folks put in the effort to make things a little special during the holidays. It’s a ritual that crosses cultural boundaries, economic boundaries, etc. And it’s a kind of art. And it brings us all just a bit closer together.

I know I’ll be making Grandma’s special molasses cookies… What’s your ritual?