Out & About, Museums, Walks, and Talks: May

Featured: MarinMOCA’s 10th Annual Altered Book Exhibit and Fundraiser

 

Art aficionados, book lovers and makers of all stripes can view and bid on books that are transformed into art at MarinMOCA’s 10th Annual Altered Book Exhibit and Fundraiser. Over 180 handcrafted book art objects are displayed as part of a silent auction and sold to the highest bidder on June 1. Mary Austin, Co-Founder of the San Francisco Center for the Book, and Donna Seager, owner of Seager Gray Gallery in Mill Valley, will select the award-winners, with all proceeds from the auction supporting MarinMOCA’s exhibitions and educational programs. Marin Museum of Contemporary Art (Novato), April 27 – June 1, 415.506.0137, marinmoca.org

 


 

MUSEUMS

MARIN

Bay Area Discovery Museum

Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice

Explore the land of fire’s volcano and squishy forest floor and the land of ice’s chilly slide and cave before digging for fossils in the field research station, opening May 25 (Sausalito).

415.339.3900, bayareadiscoverymuseum.org

 

Bolinas Museum

Changing California: Historical Ecology of the Bay Area

See this exhibit in the main gallery.

415.868.0330, bolinasmuseum.org

 

Marin History Museum

Numerous collections with historical articles, documents, artifacts and photographs commemorate traditions, innovation and creativity in Marin (Novato).

415.382.1182, marinhistory.org

 

Marin Museum of Contemporary Art

Books become art at the 10th annual Altered Book exhibit and fundraiser, through June 1 (Novato).

415.506.0137, marinmoca.org

 

The Museum of the American Indian

Native Expressions

Featuring the works of Becky Olvera Schultz, whose art is inspired by peoples indigenous to the Americas, the exhibit includes clay and mixed-media masks, rawhide shields and other works by this well-known California artist, through June 28 (Novato).

415.897.4064, marinindian.com

 

BAY AREA

Asian Art Museum

Lifting Barbells

Artist Kim Heecheon uses letters from his girlfriend, images of Seoul and data from his late father’s smart watch to come to terms with his father’s death, through May 12 (SF).

415.581.3711, asianart.org

 

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Boundless: Contemporary Tibetan Artists at Home and Abroad

Featuring the works of contemporary artists as well as important historical pieces, through May 26 (Berkeley).

510.642.0808, bampfa.org

 

California Academy of Sciences

Giants of Land and Sea

Discover the forces that make Northern California a place unlike anywhere else. Step inside an immersive fog room, feel a jolt in an earthquake simulator, and explore marine mammal skeletons and models (SF).

415.379.8000, calacademy.org

 

Charles M. Schulz Museum

Peace, Love, and Woodstock

The smallest, dare we say flightiest, Peanuts character gets his own exhibition exploring all things Woodstock, from namesake to nest, through September 8 (Santa Rosa).

707.579.4452, schulzmuseum.org

 

Contemporary Jewish Museum

Predicting the Past: Zohar Studios, the Lost Years

Arranged by L.A.-based artist Stephen Berkman, this exhibition of photography and environmental installations examines the New York City work of 19th-century Jewish immigrant photographer Shimmel Zohar, through July 7 (SF).

415.655.7800, thecjm.org

 

de Young

Monet: The Late Years

Featuring 50 paintings from 1913 to 1926, the years that marked the end of the artist’s career, including many from his garden at Giverny, through May 27 (SF).

415.750.3600, deyoung.famsf.org

 

di Rosa

Viola Frey: Center Stage

Known for her larger-than-life figurative ceramic sculptures, Bay Area artist Viola Frey’s career spanned five decades and included works in a range of media, through December 29 (Napa).

707.226.5991, dirosaart.org

 

Exploratorium

Self, Made

What makes you you? Dare to try on new personas and explore others through interactives, artworks and costumes, through September 2 (SF).

415.397.5673, exploratorium.edu

 

Legion of Honor

Early Rubens

Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens’ most productive years, 1608 until about 1620, are explored along with his masterful handling of oil paint and sensuous coloring, through September 8 (SF).

415.750.3600, legionofhonor.famsf.org

 

Museum of Craft and Design

Wanxin Zhang: The Long Journey

An installation of monumental clay figures for which artist Wanxin Zhang is known includes traditional shapes and iconography from Chinese history threaded with contemporary California funk and pop culture influences, through July 14 (SF).

15.773.0303, sfmcd.org

 

Oakland Museum of California

Pushing West: The Photography of Andrew J. Russell

Commissioned to document the Transcontinental Railroad’s western expansion, completed 150 years ago in 1869, Russell’s photography shows the tremendous impacts of the technological marvel on the land and native peoples, through September 1 (Oakland).

510.318.8400, museumca.org

 

SFMOMA

Louise Bourgeois Spiders

Both fierce and fragile, spiders are the focus of this sculptural exhibit in scale both intimate and monumental, through July 14 (SF).

415.357.4000, sfmoma.org

 

SFMOMA

Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again

The first retrospective of the artist’s work in 25 years, the exhibition includes over 300 works over three museum floors, including iconic pieces and lesser known ephemera. May 19–September 2 (SF).

415.357.4000, sfmoma.org

 

Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

Sonoma Modern | Contemporary

Featuring artists who have lived and worked in Sonoma County, including Chester Arnold, Mary McChesney and Dennis Ziemeinski, among others, through June 16 (Sonoma).

707.939.7862, svma.org

 

The Walt Disney Family Museum

Mickey Mouse: From Walt to the World

Celebrate Disney’s most beloved and recognizable character, through Jan 6, 2020 (SF).

415.345.6800, waltdisney.org

 

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Leading-edge contemporary art and cultural programs that spur and support societal movement are at the heart of this cultural institution (SF).

415.978.2787, ybca.org

 

WALKS/TALKS

 

Luthier Renaissance

May 1

Centered in the North Bay, a sea change in the world of guitar making produced a new generation of young luthiers (those who makes stringed instruments) and a worldwide renaissance in the design, building and playing of the acoustic and electric guitars and basses. Led by Harry Fleischman.

Science Buzz Cafe at HopMonk Tavern (Sebastopol)

707.829.7300, hopmonk.com.

 

Graduate Fellows Exhibition

MAY 12–Jun 6

With representative works from Bay Area graduate students in the arts, this program is a window into emerging Bay Area artists and regional arts programs.

Headlands Center for the Arts (Sausalito)

415.331.2787, headlands.org

 

Chronic Freedom

MAY 15

In this talk, Berlin-based artist, writer and archivist Scott Holmquist presents the lead volume in a series of five books that portray the history of back-to-the-land and marijuana culture in southern Humboldt County from the 1960s to 2010.

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF)

415.978.2787, ybca.org

 

Jared Diamond

MAY 15

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author returns to discuss the final book in his trilogy chronicling the rise and fall of civilizations around the globe.

Sydney Goldstein Theater (San Francisco)

415.392.4400, cityarts.net