Art
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…
Unabashed joy takes center stage at this year’s Oakland Ballet Dancing Moons Festival, which features what may be a first for an American ballet company — a new, all-Asian American Pacific Islander choreographed program. The main ballet, “Exquisite Corpse,” is a new piece making its premiere at the festival, which the Oakland Ballet has hosted for the past two years in collaboration with the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. Co-choreographed by Phil Chan, Seyong Kim, and Elaine Kudo, the ballet merges…
On a cloudy Saturday morning, Carmen Román and her husband, Pierr Padilla, filled the basement of the Golden Gate Library with a symphony of sounds, using their feet, hands and traditional Afro-Peruvian instruments. A small group of children shrieked with glee and bumbled around the room, dancing as their parents nodded to the beat being created by Román and Padilla opening and closing the top to their cajitas, a box-shaped Latin percussion instrument, and hitting it with a thin stick. …
Oakland’s Chinatown was transformed Sunday into a vibrant street market, where the aroma of cooking food mingled with the crackle of conversation and the bright colors of balloons and paper lanterns. Beneath a canopy of floating red lanterns, vendors hawked rib and radish soup, boba tea, and pineapple buns. The joyful event was a collective effort by the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities to support small businesses and create a sense of safety and belonging in the area. Coinciding…
In celebration of Black History Month, the Black Cultural Zone put a spotlight on love and local businesses, bringing them together in the Sooooo Chocolate Festival on Sunday at Uptown Station. “Promoting local artists is the antidote to gentrification and displacement,” said Carylon Johnson, Black Cultural Zone CEO. “Festivals like these remind people that who we are is made up of our local small businesses. And so we’ve got to embrace them and elevate them.” The rich fragrance of chocolate…
An Oakland mural dedicated to women in the Black Panther Party came to life Friday night, as visitors to the Oakland Museum of California were invited to create their own artwork in a live mural. The project was put on by the West Oakland Mural Project, a mural and mini museum honoring women instrumental to the Black Panther movement. Visitors got to work painting, bringing the colorless canvas to life with vibrant reds, blues, yellows, and blacks. The live mural,…