The premise was simple: Search out local artisans and makers to best complete the ellipsis-ended phrase, “When you love your body, you …” We knew A-list artists in the East Bay’s bustling, creative atmosphere would number in the hundreds, but desire and ambition won out over realistic aspirations that might have prevented action. Here then, is what we’re calling “starter suggestions” for loving your—or a beloved’s—body.
When you love your body, you treasure the collective body.
Choose your favorite nonprofit or cause—the environment, social justice, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, education and others. Support less-advantaged folks in your neighborhood and local communities, or stretch your embrace to encircle worldwide need. Experience the inner glow of giving without expectation of reciprocity.
… honor all sentient beings.
Our family pets, be they canine, feline, avian, reptilian, gilled-and-finned or other, often feel like extensions of our own human bodies. Nurturing a little beast or beauty requires our attention, but also, let’s face it: food and playthings. For fish, pop into High Tide Aquatics in Oakland to find products, like San Francisco Bay Brand’s Frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp, and other items made by local crafty caretakers of aquarium habitants. Alameda See Spot Run carries treats, daily food staples, toys, and accessories for dogs and cats. The artistry arrives and is most apparent with an expert team of professional groomers who tweak and twirl pet’s coats into furry curls and spiffy, tip-top groomed health.
hightideaquatics.net, alamedaseespotrun.com
… value growing things and their ‘houses.’
Find native plants, fruit trees and more at Planting Justice locations in Oakland and El Sobrante. The organization provides living-wage jobs for formerly incarcerated people and offers multiple community-building support programs. Knowledgeable staff and dedication to sustainable urban agriculture ensure any purchase represents a sustainable gesture. To complete the deal, attend the Berkeley Potters Guild Holiday Show and Sale during three weekends in December, when 17 artists participate in the warehouse and gallery. Among them are Piper Christine, who transforms other artists’ unwanted, secondhand clays, glazes and minerals into magic organic vessels and planters; and Ida Thistle, a ceramicist offering delightfully asymmetrical, organic plant holders and pots. Place a new plant in one of these locally made, one-of-a-kind “homes” and create a living reminder of earth’s and art’s bounty.
plantingjustice.org, berkeleypotters.com
… treat your skin with respect.
To create the perfect, intimate getaway space in your home or apartment, start by inviting photographer, author and book designer Josie Iselin into your bathroom. Along with a copy of her most recent in-print book, The Curious World of Seaweed, published by Berkeley-based Heyday Books, order and install one of Iselin’s breathtaking shower curtains featuring sea glass, kelp and seaweed. While making a selection—curtains often sell out and there can be a wait—consider purchasing an after-bath scarf or wall art.
Finally, splurge for Samudra Skin & Sea, a Bay Area-based skincare company with package design from Iselin and high-end sea soap, clay mask, and seaweed body butter and face cream. Another source for skincare is Clean 360, a workforce enterprise that crafts artisan soaps and whose makers are all participants in Oakland’s Roots Community Health Center’s workforce development program, the Emancipators Initiative. One hundred percent of the sales are re-invested in the program, price points are marvelous, and all products contain no animal products and are never tested on animals.
josieiselin.com, samudraskin.com, clean360.org
… lavish it with decoration.
Yup, we’re talking tattoos, piercings and jewelry. Zebra Tattoo & Piercing is a terrific one-stop shop, with two locations. In Berkeley or Walnut Creek, celebrate skin with custom art created by some of the best tattooists in the East Bay. Get to know their backgrounds and style, and peruse their portfolios on the website. While online, shop for jewelry and a limited selection of Zebra-boasting shirts, hoodies and hats.
No body with skin so preciously accessorized need go without the finishing touch: fingernails. For astonishing artwork rendered on your hands’ 10 tiny “canvases,” head straight to the queen of nails, artist AliceFaye Kincade. A world of color and creatures are available and created before one’s very eyes. Bonus feature? Taking all the body art home without more packages to carry.
mrzebra.com, elevatedbyalice.com
… satisfy all cravings.
There are the expected chocolates, wines, beers and cannabis edibles. But think broadly and capitalize on the lasting pleasure supplied by local art-makers in literature, music and fine art. For suggestions that each in their unique way revolve around love, reading, tasting, looking and listening, include Chef Tu David Phu’s Vietnamese American Recipes from Phu Quoc, Oakland, and the Spaces Between.
For sonic pleasure, consider Grace, a four-disc set published by Pentagon chronicling five decades of former San Francisco Symphony director Michael Tilson Thomas’s compositional career and expanded by a booklet of notes, essays and photos. For wall art and sculpture by local artists, consider a trifecta: Gray Loft Gallery, Mercury 20 Gallery and Slate Contemporary Gallery.
Another locale, especially for discovering new talent and supporting a broad network of rising mid-career artists, lies a few miles north of those galleries. At Richmond Art Center, exhibitions, festivals, a gallery, and other community events bring the full spectrum of Bay Area artists and their work to the forefront. Regardless of one’s preferred culinary, musical and visual art preferences, creating a body-loving library getaway provides a sanctuary during overwhelming times. If there was ever a time to love oneself and these artisans and art-makers, that time is now.
richmondartcenter.org, slate contemporary.com, grayloftgallery.com, mercurytwenty.com
