Weekend Picks: Arc, BAM/PFA, Dolby Chadwick, Thomas Reynolds & Cantor Arts Center

John Fitzsimmons and Kate Flyn at Arc Studios and Gallery

Arc Gallery: "FourSquared" is a unique exploration of the works of sixteen Bay Area artists. Each of the artists has produced sixteen small works, presented in sixteen clusters. "SquaredAlumni" brings together eight of the most popular alumni from previous FourSquared exhibitions at Arc in support of Teen Van.  Arc Gallery will be donating all of its profits from this exhibition and the Alumni artists will be donating a portion of their sales to support the program. 

For so many teenagers, life seems a struggle, even without the grave complications of homelessness, poverty or untreated illness. But for those who carry all those burdens at once, life can seem impossible.

The multidisciplinary staff of the Mobile Adolescent Health Services program, one of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital’s Community Partnership programs, provides expert care, custom-designed for high-risk youth ages 10-25 who rely exclusively on the Teen Van as their only link to a network of services and knowledge they urgently need. Since 1996, Packard Children’s has been mobilizing its experts and sending them out to meet vulnerable teens.

Each of the Alumni artists has produced four works for this fundraiser. All works are priced under $1000.  http://www.arc-sf.com/index.html

More about the weekend picks at: http://www.examiner.com/list/weekend-picks-spoke-art-bam-pfa-arc-gallery-cantor-thomas-reynolds

Weekend Picks for Sept 6 - 8

 Kim Thoman. Venus of Time. Image courtesy the artist. 

Shadravan Gallery: "Dualities" the latest works by former Merritt College Professor and Oakland based artist Kim Thoman. Dualities expresses Thoman’s interest in duality in many forms: body and soul, intellect and intuition, stillness and movement, male and female, the physical world and the unseen, life and death.

Thoman will exhibit 15 pieces from her “Pod Series” and “Venus Series” that trace the major developments in her recent work over the past 5 years. The "Pod Series" paintings juxtapose a wide range of computer-generated pods and painted natural imagery. The pods come in three varieties: an elongated tri-partite form, a twisted shell, and a pointed lozenge with an oval opening. Each of the pods has a skin of digitally applied paint, covering its surface. The "Venus Series" strongly suggests a figure and recalls the Venus of Willendorf, a paleolithic fertility statuette. The landscape is evocative of the desert landscape and reflects Thoman’s experience at an artist’s residency in Taos, New Mexico.

“...Thoman doesn't resolve conflicts, but reveals their superficiality. At heart, everything is in union...” - Renowned art critic, Peter Frank. Full review at www.kimthoman.com/peterfrank.html

Opening night will take place on Friday, September 6 from 5-9pm during the Oakland Art Murmur, the first Friday of the month gallery walk. www.oaklandartmurmur.org

More at: http://www.examiner.com/article/weekend-picks-electric-works-shadravan-gallery-meyerovich-berggruen

Weekend Picks: Chinese Historical Society, Mail Art, Intersection for the Arts

One of Jake Lee's watercolors of "Old Chinatown" now showing at the Chinese Historical Society (image courtesy Chinese Historical Society).

In the early 1960s, restaurateur Johnny Kan commissioned a series of water color paintings by artist Jake Lee. For many years, these stunning paintings hung in the private Gum Shan (“Gold Mountain”) dining room of the landmark Kan’s Restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

The fascinating back story at the NY TImes: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/us/11bcculture.html
http://www.chsa.org/

More weekend picks at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/weekend-picks-chinese-historical-society-mail-art-intersection-for-the-arts

Dale Erickson, Pam Heyda, Sandy Yagi

It's not often that three of my artists friends are showing their work at the same time.

Dale Erickson. Lemons and Reflections. ArtZone 461, SF

Pam Heyda, Gum Drop Boat, Studio Gallery, SF

Sandy Yagi,  Hummingshrew, Watercolor on paper,  2012, 16 x 11-5/8 

The Bone Yard, Berkeley.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/weekend-picks-artzone-461-studio-gallery-the-bone-yard-and-more?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Weekend Picks; Letterpress in Oakland, Nieto Fine Arts, SF History Expo

 John A. Nieto, photographs now at Nieto Fine Arts

From John A. Nieto's statement: "There’s an energetic match that’s unique to every photographer and their “work”. Because most of my images are fleeting moments of my life, they are a certain testament, or reflection of my attitude on life. A pathway to my beliefs. "

"I’ve often wished to photograph dancers and as I watched and participated in a night swim recently, I became mesmerized by the drama the underwater pool light cast and how it adds so much mystery to the beauty of witnessing a human body in full motion. These moments became the dancers I’ve hoped to photograph contained in the “Aquatic Ballet Series” shot in Palm Springs, California."

More at:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/weekend-picks-letterpress-oakland-nieto-fine-arts-sf-history-expo