Artist Favianna Rodriguez is busy designing political posters and preparing to produce a large glass mural. A printmaker by trade, the mural will be the first time Rodriguez works wth glass. Ten minutes away, in a gallery in downtown Oakland, Natalia Mount spends her days guiding visitors through the current exhibition, which includes sculptures that move and emit loud sounds. The executive director of Pro Arts Gallery, Mount is eagerly planning new shows that toy with accepted notions of what is…
On a Friday night in East Oakland, Shoshana Zambryski-Stachel, founder and owner of ArtVale gallery, prepares for a monthly community potluck by arranging cheese wedges, dips, cut vegetables, and wine across two large tables at the back of the gallery. The air outside is crisp and cool, but the gallery is warm and well-lit, and will soon be filled with children and adults eating, drinking, and drawing together. A Bay Area native, Zambryski-Stachel opened ArtVale two years ago on Champion…
A prolific artist and activist, Favianna Rodriguez has been printmaking and designing murals for more than 20 years. The finalist of a public competition held by the San Francisco Arts Commission, Rodriguez’s next project will be installed at the Garfield Pool in San Francisco.
It is a quiet Sunday afternoon, and Pro Arts Gallery is closed to the public. But even on her day off, the executive director Natalia Mount is excited about the current exhibition. Stylishly dressed in a fitted black leather jacket and heeled boots, she plugs in three sculptures that begin to produce loud sounds. The exhibition, titled “Invisible Choirs,” is artist Nolan Lem’s interpretation of the societal effects of automation and artificial intelligence. Lem experimented with sound and movement to…
It’s every high schooler’s prom dream: good music, hot dates, no parents, and weed. Tons of it. Hosted by Ganja Goddess, a cannabis collective that organizes “weed retreats” for women, the Ganja Goddess Gala was a chance to re-do prom the way the collective members wanted to. With a balloon arch, a photo booth, a DJ set, a dance floor, enough sparkly plastic crowns to go around (because “everyone’s royalty tonight,” one organizer said), and buffet tables piled high with…
On Sunday, October 22, 2017 hundreds packed the grounds at the Oakland Museum of California to participate in the 23rd Annual Days of the Dead community festival. The festival included dance and music performances, arts and crafts, and delicious Mexican foods.
Dania Cabello was born and raised in North Oakland, and has lived in the same 20-block radius her entire life. But in recent years, Cabello has noticed a shift in her neighborhood. Large condos have been built, people on her street have been evicted, and businesses have closed, including her parents’ own shop. For the past year, Cabello produced a new web series titled The North Pole, which uses humor as a tool to address issues like eviction and displacement…
An arts and education program in Oakland was reinstated in September after receiving a $20,000 private donation from Art.com, an online retailer of art prints headquartered in Emeryville.
Teachers and administrations within the Oakland Unified School District rally behind their undocumented students.