Trip to Berkeley, Supplies

Artists need supplies, and there is an abundance of suppliers in Oakland/Berkeley.  Just a few, on my route to work:

There are 3 large, traditional art supply stores, but the one on my route, and my favorite, is Artist and Craftsmen Supplies on Shattuck Ave.

Artist and Craftsman Supplies

Oola and I like finding new ways to make marks, like this chunk of graphite which draws unpredictably and which we immediately had to own (and use).

chunk of graphite

They have similar chunks of charcoal too.  Big, glorious mess time!

Then, if your hands are clean, you can cross the street to  Stonemountain and Daughter, a family owned and operated, one-of-a-kind, unionized fabric store.  It is one of the few places left in the country where you can buy high quality wools, silks, linens and other good things.  You don’t see Oola because she is inside looking for decorative furs.

Stonemountain and Daughter Fabrics

Supplies for the mind — It’s getting harder and harder to find a local bookstore.  (The big boxes are getting hit too.)  But there are still two bookstores within blocks of our destination.  One is Pegasus Book Store, and another is HalfPrice Book Store.  Both have great collections of new and used Art Books.

Pegasus Book Store

Then, there is always the need for supplies for the body — like food.  For that, Berkeley Bowl is a favorite.

Berkeley Bowl

peppers

This place has such an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables that the smell of them brought tears to my eyes the first time I visited.  I had just moved back to the Bay Area, and this store made me realize that I was really home.

There are other good supply places in Berkeley, like Urban Ore where you can buy a good used toilet if you are into the Duchamp thing.  And there is the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, which has been located in three places since I moved here, due to the rising rents I think.  But they are not on my route.

Links:

http://www.artistcraftsman.com/

http://www.stonemountainfabric.com/

http://www.pegasusbookstore.com/

http://www.hpb.com/

http://www.berkeleybowl.com/

Trip to Berkeley, more Artists’ Studios

It occurs to me that I have not given a good idea of how many artist studios there are in this area.  Places where artist retreat to work on their ideas.  There are LOTS.  Just within 6 square blocks of my studio there are 6 buildings full of studio spaces.

About 10 years ago we saw through-the-roof upping of rents for these spaces and the growth of “lifestyle” lofts where you would no more think of dripping paint on the floor or running a table saw than you would take a long walk off a short pier.

These days the rapid growth of “urban horticulture” in the Oaksterdamn area is causing a loss of many of the remaining ART/WORK spaces. We will see what the near future brings besides guns, aggressive dogs, overflowing dumpsters, rising water bills, and skunk.  The landlord claims it is not happening….all the way to the bank.

Enough KVETCHING.

In this post I will show two of the still many remaining studios in my area. The first is a work-only studio, maintained by Mark Lightfoot, and the second is a live/work studio maintained by moi.

Mark Lightfoot

When I first saw his work I thought of Osmosis, the way a solvent such as water gains equilibrium of concentration on either side of a membrane.  The word osmosis comes from the Greek for “a push”.  Mark states that his work has everything to do with his love of the mysteries of nature.  Looking at his paintings reminded me of a phrase from a Paul Simon song, “…the strength to push like Spring”.

I loved especially the 3D painting in the middle of the studio.  The “canvas” has a translucency that allows you to observe the history of the paths that the wet paint took while pushing for equilibrium.  Very beautiful painting, both in technique and in lyrical concept.

You can see more of Mark’s work at www.yessy.com/marklightfoot

Here is Oola at the etching press in my studio space.  Mine is a live/work situation because I have never lost the need to get up and mess around with ideas in the middle of the night.

The handle goes the other way, Oola.

What is happening in this studio?  Well, first we are getting Oola’s solo show ready for next month (NEXT MONTH?!!!) at Merced College Gallery.  There is even a new Oola-as  image:

Gangsta Oola, all due respect to Georges de la Tour

Think on it: an all female gang victimizing a foppish young man, who, while he is suspicious, is blinded by his vanity.  I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.  The vertical elements in the background are pincers from the Sgraffito workshop.

Then, we just finished binding a new book of figure/line-drawing digitally printed on transparent film. You can see it in the picture above open on the green cutting mat on the work table behind Oola.  It’s a kind of make-your-own-image book.  Here is a sample pageandahalf.

Artist Book, "Disentangled", selected page

There is more work with transparency/translucency coming up soon including a series on homeless couches. (You can guess why I was attracted by Mark Lightfoot’s translucent work.)  I will post them on my website www.jandove.com as soon as they are ready and three more hours add themselves to each day.

Trip to Berkeley, Gardens

Once I took a trip to Holland, and on a rail adventure from Amsterdam to Tilburg I was delighted by the way that the Dutch people used the smallest scraps of land to create gardens.  On my trip to Berkeley each day, I see the same energy behind fences and in open “empty” lots.

Oola's garden

I have one myself in the five foot strip between the sidewalk and the building.  Oola loves to salt slugs out here and I am known on the street as “the tomato lady”.  My neighbors seem to prefer green tomatoes, and there is always plenty to share.  I am especially happy when no one vaults the fence to steal the plant in its pot.  Such incidents have dropped off in the past couple of years.  The perp has probably moved on to new territory — jail I hope.

There are more official gardens in the area.  City Slicker Gardens sponsors community gardens throughout the city.  Here’s a new one which lies close to my route.

City Slicker Farms

Then there is this big private garden run by an artist.  The only info I found is that her name is Vicky Jo; I tried to contact her but had no luck.  I remember this wedge of land when it was Big Daddy’s car-related business that didn’t do much business.  Now it glows with sculpture and green stuff.

Garden Sculpture 1

Garden Sculpture 2

Compost and the Freeway

Garden and Sculpture

City Life

Trip to Berkeley, Sweet Adeline

Pies at Sweet Adeline

Across the intersection from the “Here There” public art is our favorite place to sweet it out on occasional Sunday mornings.  Sweet Adeline is the community gathering point to get a good coffee and give witness with both eyes and mouth to the art of baking at its highest quality.

Sweet Adeline font door

Jennifer Millar, owner and culinary artist, makes this a family friendly place where people (and sometimes their laptops) want to be.   Oola, the mysterious one, and I love to spend a sunny Sunday morning here, out front, in the shade of a purple tree.

Jennifer keeps the place running.

Sweet Adeline is artist friendly.  There is always a good show on the wall.  Stuff to engage with, not space filler.

Sweet Adeline art wall

Sweet Adeline is dog friendly too.

special dog bones

Oola likes the dog bones, but this day she was trying to decide what to try next.

Oola Chooses

The background music, we noticed, is varied and, like the bakery, high quality.  Never so loud that you have to yell to be heard.

If I had to summarize this place I think the words would be “integrity”, and “Art” in the big sense of the word.

Find out more about Sweet Adeline and get directions to their place at their website: http://www.sweetadelinebakeshop.com/

Trip to Berkeley, Murals

On Alcatraz St., one block west of my route, lives a mural by Youth Spirit Artworks.

Youth Spirit Artworks Mural

This is an organization dedicated to giving jobs and job training to older youth in the SF Bay Area. This mural caught my eye once while I was on an alternate route into Berkeley, and it stayed in my memory. I did not know its origin until I did some research for this blog. You can learn more about this program and see details of the mural at http://youthspiritartworks.org/

There are many more murals in Berkeley. Few of them are on my route to work. But one group of muralistas that I will cite here is lead my the powerful muralist, Juana Alicia Montoya. I include them because their inception is at Berkeley City College (the end point of this trip), where we are lucky to have Juana Alicia teaching a community mural class. One example of recent work started in this class is the “Collective Consciousness” mural at the YMCA-PG&E Teen Center in Berkeley.

True Colors Mural project,

I borrow a detail image from their blog. (Photo by Dana Davis, Photography instructor at BCC.) Visit their site to see more details of this enormous and strikingly beautiful project.

Then there are the unsponsored (as far as I know), enterprising, salt-of-the-earth, spontaneous, light-footed, low-cost-materials, low-rent, passionate muralists of my neighborhood. This work is so big that I show it in two parts:

graffiti mural, left side

graffiti mural, right side

Oola thinks that script is wicked TIGHT.

corporate graffiti

Say what you like about graffiti, Oola and I would rather see the above graffiti murals than the eye-dulling, spirit-numbing corporate graffiti that litters our neighborhood, 2, 3 , 5 placards per block, day after unblinking day.

We’re getting close to the end of the “roadtrip” to my workplace. Summer school has started. Oola and I will stop at a few more attractions, then end up in the amazing Multimedia Department at Berkeley City College.

Trip to Berkeley, Sgraffito

Entrance to Sgraffito Workshop

I drive past this doorway every day. I watched it grow.  It is just – simply -  spectacular.

This is the doorway to Sgraffito Workshop, and Oola and I were privileged to make use of it.  Lawrence Gandsey and Daryl Rush work here.  I first met Lawrence through the website which Renate Woodbury,  designer and formerly one of my web design students, built for him.  Through the photos Renate added to his site, I viewed  the beauty of Lawrence’s  furniture with amazement.  He uses environmentally responsible wood in a manner that is responsive to the structure and qualities of the wood.

Lawrence Gandsey

One of the projects Lawrence had in progress when we visited was this bench:

Bench in progress

Oola was a bit apprehensive of the vertical metal pieces but appreciated the finer qualities of the wood sensibility.

Here is a detail of a second version of this bench.  This bench, Lawrence explained, is more to the client’s taste.

Detail of second bench

Lawrence uses reclaimed wood.  The checks and cracks in this bench have a metallic fill. (And you can see that Oola’s fears were unfounded.)

Table

Here is an image of one of Lawrence’s tables which I borrowed from his web site.  You should go there and check out some of his awesome (in the truest sense of the word) work. There is a page that shows the installation of a table 27′long and 6′wide!  It had to be put together in place.

From the San Pablo Ave. side of the shop we caught the smell of Cedar.  Or was it Redwood?  Daryl Rush was busily but calmly working on a special hot tub for a client.

Daryl Rush

I caught the theme of “doors” in this place.  First there was the entry door.  Another door – the one that leads into the workshop gallery -  stands about 12ft tall.  Two rough-hewn, thick slabs of beautiful wood fitted to shaped slabs of inch-thick glass.

Then there was this door, in process, in Daryl’s space:

Door in process

You should check out Daryl Rush Builders website  for some finished examples of his extraordinary work.  And catch some detail photos of the Sgraffito Workshop entry door.

The whole of Sgraffito workshop is a wonder for the eyes.  Oola grabbed the camera and started shooting.

Oola's photo of some "leftovers" in Daryl's shop

Pretty good for a scrappy, buck-toothed doll with unmanageable hair.

Trip to Berkeley, Public Art

Where Oakland meets Berkeley at Adeline and Stanford and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and where BART goes underground, there is a new(ish) public sculpture that people call “Here There”.

Here There intersection

"There", where Oakland begins

"Here", the installation from the Berkeley side.

Curious story:  It seems that the women of the knitting circle across the street got their undies in a bunch over the word “There”, as though the meaning indicated a lesser value for Oakland — á la Gertrude Stein.  So they knitted a monumental T-cozy to cover the nine foot tall first letter of “There”.  I heard that the knitted camouflage stayed there a long time.

“Here There” was created by Steve Gillman and Katherine Keefer.

Many of you may have read about or even experienced the great Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989.  The freeway that collapsed was in West Oakland, a few short blocks from where this road trip started.  Living in West Oakland at the time was Steve Gillman.  He and Katherine Keefer worked with a team to create a memorial to the forty-two who died, and a mark of gratitude to all who helped save lives.

The "ladders" of the Loma Prieta Earthquake Memorial

The Cypress freeway is gone now, replaced by a relatively peaceful urban walkway/bikeway/park.  On the corner of 14th and Mandela Parkway is this beautiful, and moving place for remembrance.  The ladders represent the generous and courageous people of this down-trodden community who came out to rescue and give comfort.  Some of those first ladders on that terrible night were linked together only by duct tape.

In the surrounding park the ground is sculpted into grassy waves to represent the way people of the neighborhood described the movement of the earth.

The ground seemed to move in waves. (Photo courtesy of Steve Gillman's website)

A path in the Memorial through the waves of earth.

This detail of the project, photographed recently, reveals some paraffin wax on the cement retainer walls.  It seems that skate boarders have their own kind of Art Appreciation.

Steve Gillman graciously allowed me to visit him in his studio.  It is a fascinating place.  Waaay too much to detail here.  But one really cool thing is that Steve really likes to build and race cars in his spare time.

Steve's Simca, built by Steve.

Think: 1970s, drag strip, high tech, street legal —- and wicked loud.  Oola loves it and wants Steve to take her in it to the grand reception of her solo show.

Oola listens to Steve Gillman in rapid attention.

Steve showed us around his place where we saw granite sculptures that toppled and broke in the earthquake, chunks of basalt, stacks of metal, and great wooden forms too beautiful to discard, all overgrown by ivy and looking/feeling like a civilization sinking into some future archeological mystery.

If you want to see more of Steve’s work which is at once monumental and honest to the people for whom the art is made, see http://stevegillmansculpture.com/

Steve’s whole block is a warren of artistic energy.  He took us onto the adjoining property, which was a Chinese candy factory at the turn of the (20th) century. Currently, the property is artist work spaces. and there are artist of just about every description working there.

One person we talked to is Andreas Lehmann who runs a  glass studio.  He creates brilliant wheelcut glass panels.  We saw him working on a reproduction of some very old street lamps.

Andreas Lehmann

Old street lamp

It took my breath away to see what Andreas was reproducing.

If you want to see more of  the glasswork of Andreas Lehmann, see www.lehmannglass.com

Trip to Berkeley, Hardware Store

For an artist the hardware store can be a favorite and mighty resource.  The artist’s hardware store is a place where one can go to get help finding stuff that will solve problems.  A good hardware store doesn’t distract from or break the flow of the creative process.

Shortly after we moved to this area, we tried out the BIG BOX hardware close by.  It was love-affair that never bloomed.  Never even budded.   Kinda withered.  Immediately.

Much disgruntled by the way he was treated in the BIG BOX, the Wild One was shown the way to a small community hardware store by his cabinet-shop foreman.  There he was waited on promptly and knowledgeably .  And he has never gone back to the BIG BOX.  This store has been in the neighborhood and run by the same family since 1946, so they must be doing something right.  A trip to this store is a treat for the eyes, and for the spirit.

Enough suspense, I am writing about the Ellis Ace Hardware store on Martin Luther King Way, near the Oakland/Berkeley border.

Ellis Ace Hardware store, inside the door. Oola had her eye on the green vest.

Paul Eames and Barbara Eames, owners

The contents of  the store are organized to a gnat’s eyebrow.  It is food for the eyes, and a model of efficiency.

Carolyn waited on Oola and me at Ace Ellis.

Knowledgeable and friendly workers like Carolyn can find anything promptly.  And that is especially amazing when you see how well packed in the merchandise is.

Everything must have a place, and be in the right place.

Paul told me that two more of his siblings own similar stores in the area.  He also told me that three local, community type stores have gone out of business in the area recently.  “Because of the Big Box Stores?” I asked.  “No”, he said.  The Big Box stores are actually good for his business.  They send customers to him.  “Many reasons”  he said.  “High and rising rent.”

Paul and Barbara run a tight ship.  The floor says it all, and there’s a kind of poetry in it.

A well worn floor

If you are in search of something to remind you of the way it used to be, or if you just want to “git’er done”:

Ellis Ace Hardware
5424 M. L. King, Jr. Way
Oakland CA 94509

Phone (510) 653-4365

Trip to Berkeley, Phat Beets Farmer’s Market and Inspector Gadje Brass Band

Phat Beets Produce, Farmer's Market

Phat Beets Produce is a community collective organized to bring food justice, community gardens, and farmers markets to an area … that needs them. Oola and I like going to a small market held each Saturday in the parking lot of a medical clinic in North Oakland.

“Phat Beets Produce aims to create a healthier, more equitable food system in North Oakland through providing affordable access to fresh produce, facilitating youth leadership in health and nutrition education, and connecting small farmers to urban communities via the creation of farm stands, farmers’ markets, and urban youth market gardens.” That’s Phat Beet’s mission statement.

One of Phat Beets organizers (and one of my former students), Brett Benner

We spoke with Brett Benner, a member of the collective from its early days.  He said that the organization wants to add more community events, like a monthly flea market, to the calendar. We were surprised and delighted by a community event: the sound of live music by the Inspector Gadje Brass Band.  And joyous dancing by The Community.

Oola dances to the music of Inspector Gadje Brass Band

Remiz, from Macedonia

Food for the body, Food for the soul!  For a short video clip of the Inspector Gadje Brass Band and the dancing,  click here.

Trip to Berkeley, Magnolia Editions

A few steps from Byron Spicer’s studio is Magnolia Editions, a fine-art print studio.  Oola and I made a trip over there during the recent East Bay Open Studios.  There was so much going on that it is hard to know where to start.

Inside the front door is a gallery of work produced in Magnolia Editions over the years.  We were greeted by a William Wiley tapestry, “No Fault Insurance”, a wry commentary on the police and politicians involved in the Amadou Diallo tragedy.

William Wiley, "No Fault Insurance"

William Wiley, "No Fault Insurance", detail

Magnolia Editions has been making it digitally possible for artists to create contemporary art in this old-world medium.

More of the Gallery with a Chuck Close tapestry "Lyle"

Nick Stone, a talented and perceptive essayist, took time to let us know something about the art in the room.

Nick Stone listens politely but skeptically to Oola's blather.

Inside the main studio, we fell into an enthusiasm of art both finished and in progress.  Artist who have produced work here over the years include Squeak Carnwath, Enrique Chagoya, Rupert Garcia, Joan Brown, David Gilhooly, two of my teachers – Mel Ramos and Ray Saunders, David Best, Peter Voulkos, the directors of Magnolia Editions themselves – Don and Era Farnsworth.  You get the idea.  This is a powerful place.

Oola and I looked around.  Hung Liu was signing a print while Jeff Kelly, art critic, was examining some prints.

Hung Liu signs one of her prints as Don Farnsworth looks on.

There was amazing art everywhere!  Waaay more than I could stuff into my eyes in one visit.

A Robert Hudson composition above the office door

Art Everywhere

What I love about this place is the combining of old and new.   I first visited this studio in a field trip with my teacher Misch Kohn (untold years ago) and I remember a traditional printmaking atelier with etching and litho presses.  But Don is not satisfied with what he already knows.  He loves experimenting and researching, and pushing the edge of the form.  So now in addition to traditional printmaking you will see two large format digital pigmented ink printers,  and a UV flatbed printer, 4′ x 8′, that will print on just about anything up to 1.75 inches thick, even things like weathered wood.

Additionally, there is a papermaking studio, run by David Kimball.

Papermaking studio

David once visited my art program in the prison and taught a workshop in papermaking.

Other experimentation in Magnolia Editions involves electronic and internet investigations.

Enrique Chagoya, "One Recession Watchdog (Instant Update)"

Chagoya’s printed commentary on the the current Economy contains a wireless running update on the size of the National Debt and how much each citizen owes on that debt.

Don showed us a “Fifteen Seconds of Fame” project in process that involves LED lights, lenticular lense, and internet connectivity.  There was also something about using CNC to cut wood blocks for printing, and the use of the digital printer for making resists on clay tiles.  Era Farnsworth is experimenting with 3D tapestry images that you need to look at with those funny glasses.  In the middle of all this, a traditional book binder adds to the mix.

Squeak Carnwath, "Philosophy"

“Philosophy” is a project with physical and conceptual heft.  It crosses printmaking with painting in a very REAL sense, through a flawless registration of print over a painted surface of gesso and marble dust.  All the pages are then wrapped in a luscious leather-bound portfolio.

There is so much more that I would like to tell you about…but it ain’t gonna happen.  You can visit Magnolia Editions and read a few of Nick Stone’s essays on their comprehensive website www.magnoliaeditions.com