Art
Dangling from the sheer face of San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid 800 feet above rubbernecking pedestrians, three orange-clad figures swayed gracefully on Monday morning in a gravity-defying dance. This was not a stunt by daredevils. It was the latest public performance by Bandaloop, the expert Oakland dance troupe some might remember for their dance high on the face of Yosemite’s El Capitan in 2018. Bandaloop’s signature technique, which they call “vertical dancing,” combines features of rock climbing and dancing. Performers leap…
Bay Area artists performed Sunday evening for more than 500 people at the Continental Club in West Oakland to raise money to help children in Gaza. Organized by first-generation Palestinian American Janan Barance and artists AroMa and ASTU, the event raised over $13,000, all of which will be donated to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, which provides free medical care to injured and ill children in the Middle East. The event featured Palestinian and Arab artists, poets and performers who…
Every year, hundreds of costumed children and adults crowd onto handmade benches in an unassuming driveway in Oakland’s Glenview neighborhood to watch “Driveway Follies,” a free Halloween-themed marionette puppet show. This year’s show features psychedelic skeletons stepping out of their skins, a blue-skinned magician, and Mysterious Mose, a creature with the ability to duplicate itself on stage in the most extraordinary way. Closing night is Halloween. At the dress rehearsal, children disguised as unicorns, pirates and ninja turtles squirmed and…
Over the past few months, two photographers have been roaming Oakland’s streets, striving to capture the style of the city. Their work, a collection of 100 portraits, will debut to the public on Saturday at the “100 Faces of Oakland” photo exhibit at Uptown Station. The free exhibit, open from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., is part of the inaugural Oakland Style Week, a new series of more than 50 events that opened this week and runs through Sunday. It…
Every Sunday for the last six weeks, Craig Morris has walked through Oakland streets populated by drug users to St. Mary’s Center, the shelter, soup kitchen and transitional housing provider that pulled him from the brink. There, Morris, who is 60 years old, painted a canvas as part of the Sacred Storytelling Art Project, a program created by St. Mary’s and the Center for ArtEsteem to uplift older Oaklanders. Morris and 11 others worked on self-portraits depicting some difficult aspect…
Over 200 Alameda County artists — many living and working in Oakland — joined the ranks of world-renowned names when their works graced the walls of the de Young Museum in San Francisco on Tuesday. In its second year, the “de Young Open 2023” is an exhibition for visual artists from the nine Bay Area counties. It debuted Tuesday to the press and its 883 contributing artists, including 209 hailing from Alameda County. Hundreds of people spilled into the seven…
Mental health might not be the first thing that comes to mind at a comic book convention. But on Sunday, the seventh annual AfroComicCon at Oakland City Hall featured a lively panel of artists and therapists discussing safe mental health spaces. Sitting at a bench typically reserved for politicians, marriage and family therapist Perry Clark argued that comics have been “vilified as escapism.” For some people, he said, “reality sucks.” Relating to worlds like Wakanda — the futuristic home of…
After nearly 20 years staging shows for and with children, Bay Area Children’s Theatre shut down Wednesday, citing “unsustainable debt,” brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The nonprofit, which started in Oakland in 2004, announced the news on its website and on social media, prompting an outpouring of affection from parents whose children have benefitted from its programs. Many called the closure heartbreaking and a huge loss for the community. “BACT has been such a treasure to our family,” Krista…
Colorful prints, intricate fashion designs and unique animations are just a few examples of what museum-goers can expect from the Oakland Museum of California’s new multimedia art exhibition “Into the Brightness,” opening May 19. The exhibition is a collaboration between the museum and Bay Area art studios Creativity Explored, Creative Growth and NIAD, all of which have a decadeslong history of supporting artists with developmental disabilities. “Into the Brightness” has three main sections: “Welcome,” which will feature artists working on…