Art

White Elephant Preview Sale helps fund the Oakland museum

Doris Lilly took her time deciding between three different sets of croquet equipment. “This is vintage and it just cost me $15. I knew I would be able to find it here,” she said confidently, picking one set. Lilly grew up playing croquet with her family. Later she would play with friends, but it has been ten years since she played her beloved game. Now, she is enthusiastic to play again. “I can’t wait to play croquet with my son,”…

Behind the scenes at Oakland’s women-run art spaces

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…

ArtVale gallery founder Shoshana Zambryski-Stachel

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…

Muralist and printmaker Favianna Rodriguez

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.

Pro Arts Gallery executive director Natalia Mount

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…