Art

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…

The Oakland Museum celebrates Días De Los Muertos festival

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.

The North Pole web series addresses displacement in Oakland with humor

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…

Bay Area residents create art protesting Trump’s travel ban

People from around the Bay Area gathered at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California in downtown Oakland on Sunday to create art and signs protesting the Trump administration’s travel ban. “It’s a really discouraging time right now,” said Raeshma Razvi, director of IC3: Incubating Creativity, Community and Civic Engagement, which put on the event. “Events like this show that a lot of us are together. [It’s about] strengthening and amplifying Muslim-American voices.” The most recent version of the travel…