Category Archives: WHERE

Something old…

So I’m all out of whack now… after several days of enjoying what we Americans have just recently come to know as “slow food” (the Europeans have been doing it for centuries folks), today I found myself scarfing a piece of pizza while sitting alone in my car on a very short lunch break.  Granted, it was Arizmendi pizza, but still… so uncivilized.

I’ve been thinking about how sometimes revisiting the way things were done in the past can guide us in developing models of sustainability for the future.  Amsterdam is a perfect example… here you have a city of three-quarters of a million people and the primary form of transportation is the bicycle.  It’s fantastic.  No auto noise, no auto exhaust, no vast stretches of ugly concrete designed for nothing other than spaces to put all the cars.  There’s an extensive mass transit system too.

We now have this concept that city planners talk about quite a bit… the “20-minute neighborhood,” where everything we need to go about our daily lives in both work and play are easily walkable within 20 minutes.  That’s how they did it in the old days. It may sound like a crazy model for a country that came of age during its love affair with the automobile, but hey, we’re making headway.  We are getting smarter.

So I’m gonna change topics a bit here, though my visit to Europe did get me thinking of the old versus the new. And we have a nice example of this near our lovely Lake Merritt, which I’ve been wanting to focus on anyway (more on this later).

Now I’m not a particularly religious person, but I do love visiting churches for the amazing art and architecture these grand buildings typically display.  We happen to have two catholic churches perched on opposite ends of the lake.  Today we will visit the old one…

She is called Our Lady of the Lourdes, and is quite near to what is historically considered to have been the site of the first catholic mass ever held within the county of Alameda (1772). Though the church building itself was not erected until the mid-20th century, it has an old world European feel, built in the Romanesque style out of Italian marble, complete with 110 foot bell tower.

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My pictures don’t quite do this church justice… it’s got wonderful sculptural work on the exterior and rows of stunning stained glass windows from the interior.  Not to mention it’s lovely location.

Tomorrow we visit the new!

21 Grand is Right!

So my final stop during last friday’s Art Murmur was  21 Grand, which was hosting their first ever juried exhibition, titled “Wrong!”

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I first experienced 21 Grand as an experimental music venue many years ago, when it was still  located at 21 Grand Avenue.  They’ve moved a couple times since, their last location abandoned to make way for luxury lofts and Starbucks. Ahhh, the ever-present struggle of the artist… But they’ve been around since before Art Murmur was even a conception, so it’s nice to see that they’re still going strong.

They focus on experimental music and arts, and can be found just down 25th street from Oakopolis and The Moon, right next door to Smythe’s Accordion Center, which looks like a pretty cool spot too.  Check out the baby doll with angel wings playing accordion.  Kind of twisted, eh?

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The WRONG! exhibit focused on works examining ethical misdeeds and wrongdoings in the “decade of wrong.” I snapped a couple quick picks… these little stickers are those tiny little dots that galleries often use to indicate a piece of art is sold.  I found this collection fascinating… almost pornographic. But I think the tiny drawings on these store bought stickers also ask us to question our ideas of what constitute “Fine Art”.  Very cool.

I thought I grabbed a flyer with the artists’ info, but can’t find it now. I am lame. Sorry. But the show is up until November 1st, and there’s lots more to see. Go check it out.

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Moon over Oakopolis

My first stop after leaving the Oakland Arts party at Frank Ogawa plaza was Oakopolis Creativity Center (OCC) on 25th Street. I had read that their current exhibit was titled “Why the Bunny?” and I was intrigued.

I also knew that a tiny venue called The Moon shared quarters next door to Oakopolis.  I had been there before and was amazed by the beautiful handmade creations artfully displayed within, not to mention their collection of moustaches on sticks.  Very fun!

Here’s a shot of the outside as I was on my way in…  You can see the gorgeous wrought iron work on the windows, and lovely signage.

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I didn’t take any shots inside The Moon because the space really is tiny, and chock full of stuff, and people too. You’ll just have to go see for yourself. Their specialty seems to be handmade clothing items and many of them are kind of unbelievable. I saw something akin to a wedding gown that had been fashioned together out of individual 2 inch scraps of seemingly hundreds of different white fabrics that the artist had collected over the years. It was stunning! Forgive me for not getting the artist’s name. In addition to clothes, they have funky buttons, hand made cards, and much more. Please check them out.

Next door, Oakopolis had the hallway approaching the gallery in back and the gallery itself filled with Sas Colby’s “Why the Bunny?” exhibit. Her artist statement for the exhibit told that she had started drawing bunnies as a daily routine during a difficult period in her life. She found comfort in the drawings, both getting to know the character through repetition, but also allowing it to develop and change over time. The bunny became an alter ego for Colby that took many different forms. The show included twelve years of drawings and books, and it was fun to see the various representations of the bunny… sometimes the comforting stuffed animal of our childhood memories… sometimes the menacing trickster with wicked smile. Great stuff.

I hit one other gallery before heading home… check back tomorrow!

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Oakland Arts Unveiled

So last friday night was another of the First Fridays series in Oakland… I have to admit I was feeling a bit under the weather, so it wasn’t a big night out for me.  But there was some interesting stuff going on and I was able to hit a little bit of it before retiring home to a cat on my lap and a bowl of chicken soup.

First, I was surprised to discover, during my research for Friday night plans, a relatively new website called OaklandArts.org.  Seems that they launched back in June of 2009 as the first-ever centrally located website for all things art related in the city of Oakland… and I thought that’s what my site was going to be!  Well they may have beaten me to the punch, but I think there is room for both of us, don’t you?

Their site still seems a bit buggy to me (ran into some broken links and had trouble sending them a message) but I’m sure they’ll get these things straightened out in due time.

They’ve got a wealth of information about Artists and Art Organizations, Events, Funding Opportunities, and more.  If you are an artist or part of an Arts Organization, you should definitely enter  your info into their growing database: http://www.oaklandarts.org/register.php Be sure to include a photo for best visibility.

This website and a related site 510arts.com, were both highlighted during a party at Frank Ogawa Plaza early Friday evening. The 510arts website is a collaborative effort between the neighboring cities of Richmond, Berkeley, Emeryville, and Oakland, geared towards promoting the greater East Bay as a world class art & cultural destination. Woo hoo!

There was live jazz, a wonderful performance by the Oakland Youth Choir, numerous speakers including our relatively new City Councilperson at large (meaning she is the only councilperson who represents the entire city), Rebecca Kaplan, and installations of various sculptural art pieces on loan courtesy of NIMBY.  Here’s one of Michael Christian‘s Fire Flowers… I didn’t stay late enough to see if it was set up to shoot flames.

The biggest thing I took away from this party was a quote issued by Rebecca Kaplan. She said, “The Oakland Renaissance has begun!!” More on this, and the galleries I hit after the party in my next couple posts…

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