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.Arts Feature
Jun 4, 2024
Home Is Where the Art Is
The concept of “home” is baked into human DNA. “There’s no place like home,” says Dorothy as she clicks her heels to return to Kansas. But, wrote seminal American writer Thomas Wolfe, “You Can’t Go Home Again.”
Home...
May 28, 2024
Kala’s Half-Century Under the Sky
Yet another Berkeley arts institution is celebrating a half-century of innovation and service. More than a gallery, Kala Art Institute incorporates classroom, workshop and studio spaces, providing a place for artists to learn, take risks, and share...
May 14, 2024
Clio’s Books Organized by History of Ideas
There is a moment in the movie American Fiction that Timothy Don references. This came up in conversation about his interesting organizing style for Clio’s, the bookstore-bar which he owns.
It’s the moment where Theolonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey...
Apr 23, 2024
Exhibit Inspired by Black Movers and Shakers of the ‘Great Migration’
From the beginning of the 20th century through the 1970s, waves of African Americans left the South in what is known as the “Great Migration.” More than six million people are estimated to have uprooted themselves in...
Mar 26, 2024
Carolina Ixta’s Debut Novel Rooted in Oakland Realness
When Carolina Ixta was a kid, she’d go get haircuts with her mom and sister at a salon in Fruitvale, at 31st and International. Her mom’s highlights would take hours and the sisters would get bored, so...
Mar 26, 2024
‘Richmond Renaissance’ Vision Ignited
Imagine walking up Richmond’s Macdonald Avenue, from the RYSE Center to the Richmond Museum of History & Culture, and seeing “asphalt art”—open studios and galleries, maybe even a live theater performance in Civic Center Plaza. Long-disused buildings...
Mar 19, 2024
Rhonda Benin Busts a Move
NASA and private space exploration companies—listen up, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and others—could learn a lot from Rhonda Benin. The East Bay-based jazz and blues vocalist remains, at age 69, all about discovery.
Returning March 23...
