Art

At age 91, Army veteran Gene Goodin has a new gig as an oil painter

At the Oakland Cottage Industry Show at the Park Boulevard Presbyterian Church two weeks ago, more than 30 artisans gathered to show their home-made products. Among them was 91-year-old Gene Goodin, who sat quietly in front of his artwork wearing a hat that read “World War II, 1941-1945, Veteran.” To his right was an oil painting of an old train on a railway in the countryside, the brown train crossing a green landscape of hills. He sold it later in…

Oakland Cottage Industry Show brings craftspeople together to sell handmade art

On May 2, the Oakland Cottage Industry Show (OCIS) is hosting the first of their twice-annual shows where artists who work with wood, iron, paint and jewelry will come together at Park Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Oakland. The phrase “cottage industry” usually refers to a small-scale business carried on at home by a family or an individual using their own equipment and materials to produce a marketable product. This year at the OCIS, the show will have number of artisans…

Museum welcomes a new exhibition by local artists: “Who is Oakland?”

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is presenting a new exhibition exploring Oakland through the work of local artists. The exhibition is called “Who is Oakland?” and is organized by Chris Johnson, the lead artist, in cooperation with the museum. The exhibition is featuring the work of nine local artists lead by Johnson, produced using different forms of art and different materials. “The most important material is the content,” said Johnson. In his piece, he took a map of Oakland,…

Balancing life as a roller derby girl

Huck Sinn’s life was falling apart, including her relationships. After she stopped going to grad school, she moved from San Francisco to the East Bay, where she started “dating herself.” “I was taking myself out. I took myself to concerts and I took myself to a roller derby bout,” she said. It was at that bout that she realized she was “born to do this.”  By “this,” she means playing and coaching for the Oakland Outlaws, one of the Bay…