Art
Blade, 29, describes Sight School as a studio with multiple platforms for supporting Bay Area artists. ”I’m trying to build this as an art space for learning how to see together as a community,” she said, noting the limitless possibilities for how she can use her space. Starting next month, Blade is introducing Café Sunday, a weekly brunch in the studio prepared by guest chefs for neighbors.
On Friday, the Oakland Museum of California will launch its newest project—the Oakland Standard. Part art, part music and part venue for conversation, this art series is all about honoring the creative people who live in Oakland or who are from here. And the museum staff is kicking it all off with a party.
Crowded in the back of St. Vincent de Paul’s community center, dozens of people paint an extensive wood panel with a mosaic of images—trees, faces, buildings and flowers. They’re creating a work for display at the center, but these painters aren’t professional artists, they’re low-income and homeless clients of St. Vincent de Paul.
Early morning rain didn’t stop thousands of people from swarming into a 96,000-square-foot warehouse for the annual preview of the White Elephant Sale, benefiting the Oakland Museum of California. Bargain-hunters scoured the donated goods–from bundles of utensils and slightly charred frying pans to vintage jewelry and ‘80s-style clothing.
At a long table set with small lamps giving off an amber-hued glow, 15 people sit alongside each other, stooped over sketchpads, drawing. Some people are working with pen and ink, others paint with watercolors, while some draw with charcoal or pencils. Every person sitting at the table is a professional artist and was invited to Levende East for a weekly event called “Drawing Wednesdays.”
Mike Taft isn’t an artist in the traditional sense. But when his entire live-work apartment complex was having an open house art party on Friday—one that he founded and organized—he was of course going to find a way to entertain the crowd. “I’m grinding down a piece of plywood with an angle grinder,” the industrial designer said with a grin.
The Crucible, Oakland’s non-profit arts education center began in a small Berkeley warehouse in January 1999. Listen in as reporter Mary Flynn explores The Crucible and the art of motorcycle maintenance.
Sitting before a semi-circle of her peers at Chabot Elementary, fifth-grader Nyah read aloud from her story, Alia and Andrew and the Story of the Odd Objects. It’s a novel, and she wrote the whole thing this fall. Her audience, consisting of nine fellow classmates and instructor Sondra Hall, were gathered on a Tuesday for the semester’s last session of “Take My Word For It!,” an afterschool workshop developed by Hall.
Oakland forge and glassworks The Crucible opened their 56,000 square foot studio to a craft fair this weekend, featuring blacksmithing demonstrations, glass blowers and 70 artists.