-
-
Featured eventsBerkeley sites
- 510 Families
- Another Bullwinkel Show
- Bay Nature
- Berkeley Accountable Schools
- Berkeley Afoot
- Berkeley Artisans
- Berkeley Blog
- Berkeley Chamber of Commerce
- Berkeley Community Fund
- Berkeley Council Watch
- Berkeley Daily Planet
- Berkeley High Jacket
- Berkeley Historical Plaques Project
- Berkeley Parents Network
- Berkeley Path Wanderers
- Berkeley Property Owners Association
- Berkeley Public Education Foundation
- Berkeley Public Library
- Berkeley Public Library Branch Improvement Program
- Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board
- Berkeley Startup Cluster
- Berkeley Street Cleaning
- BHS Development Group
- Buy Local Berkeley
- Cal Performances
- Claremont and Elmwood Kids
- Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association
- Déjà vu: down memory lane in California
- Downtown Berkeley Association
- East Bay Ethnic Eats
- Ecology Center
- Elmwood Merchants Association
- Eye on Berkeley
- Fiat Lux!
- Friends of Lorin Station
- Friends of the Berkeley Public Library
- In Dulci Jubilo
- Infospigot: The Chronicles
- Jewish Music Festival
- Lettuce Eat Kale
- Locate In Berkeley
- McGee-Spaulding-Hardy Historic Interest Group
- Mental Masala
- Open Town Hall
- Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
- Rookie Moms
- Solano Avenue Association
- Telegraph Berkeley
- Telegraph Merchants Association
- The Berkeley Blog
- The Berkeley Diet
- The Daily Californian
- The Derringdos
- The Garden of Eating
- The Nature of Berkeley
- Thousand Oaks Neighborhood Association
- UC Berkeley Extension
- UCPD Crime Alerts
- Visit Berkeley
- What I Saw in Berkeley Today
Tag Archives: UC Botanical Garden
The It List: Five things to do in Berkeley this weekend
MARATHON THEATER Shotgun Players, “the biggest little theater company in town,” secured the rights last year to put on Tom Stoppard’s Coast of Utopia trilogy. This season Shotgun is producing Part Two: Shipwreck, along with some repeat performances of Part One: Voyage.” In Voyage, we met our young heroes in the first blushes of revolutionary thought and love. Now, with Shipwreck, we find them in their 30s. “The optimism of their early years has hit the rocks of marital infidelity, social anarchy, and a tsar who has no intention of stepping down. The stakes go up dramatically in this next great duel between the heart and mind.” The plays are directed by Shotgun’s artistic director Patrick Dooley. Through April 21 at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Avenue. … Continue reading »
Mating newts at UC Botanical Garden a stimulating sight
It’s not just us humans who get romantic around Valentine’s Day. Have you heard of newt love? UC Botanical Garden director and zoologist Paul Licht is intimately familiar with the mating habits of the two newt species – Taricha torosa (California newt) and Taricha granulosa (rough-skin newt) – that become amorous at this time of year. And it’s quite a sight (watch video, above).
According to the Botanical Garden, these small, dark-skinned amphibians hide in the underbrush and are rarely seen by humans, but, once the rains come, scores of them gravitate to the crystal-clear waters of the Japanese Pool. (Perhaps using the famous newt crossing in Tilden Park to get there.) … Continue reading »
The It List: Five things to do in Berkeley this weekend
YEAR OF THE SNAKE Thank your lucky stars that you don’t need to brave Beijing Railway Station, reportedly the busiest spot on Earth this weekend, to find Lunar New Year celebrations. Berkeleyans can instead stroll over to Solano Avenue for a Lunar New Year parade and performance celebrating the Year of the Snake on Sunday. The performances kick off at 1o a.m. in Landmark Theatre’s Albany Twin, and include acrobatics by members of the SF Circus, Chinese dance by Ah-Lan Dance and Lion Dance and a martial arts display by Golden Lion. After the performance, there will be a parade up the entire length of Solano (on the sidewalk), starting at noon. Performance at Albany Twin, 1115 Solano Avenue, Albany, at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
WAKE UP AND HEAR THE BIRDS If you want to get a move on Saturday morning, what could be better than a birding walk through the Botanical Garden. Apparently, birds are surprisingly active in winter in the garden, and Chris Carmichael, associate director of collections and research, and local birder Phila Rogers will be there to point out sights of interest. Registration is required and space is limited. Tickets are $20, $15 for members. The birding walk is from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. … Continue reading »
UC exhibit of botanical drawings shows eye for detail
The UC Botanical Garden is hosting its 4th annual exhibition of botanical drawings done by members of the Northern California Society of Botanical Artists.
The 40 illustrators who are represented in the show have spent countless hours learning about the botany of plants and countless more transferring that knowledge to paper.
The results are finely detailed drawings that meticulously replicate nature’s complexity.
The show, titled Plants Illustrated, runs through Feb. 8. There will be a reception for the artists on Saurday Jan. 26 from 2 p.m. to 4 pm
Click here to see a slideshow of all the prints. … Continue reading »
The It List: Five things to do in Berkeley this weekend
WATCH THE AUDITIONS The San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival auditions start in Berkeley this weekend (continuing in San Francisco on Jan. 19-20) and are open to the public. According to those who have attended in the past, it’s a great event to see with each performance of a few minutes offering an incredible variety of dancing. Kids go free, adults $10 and it’s in-and-out privileges, so you can watch for a while, go out to lunch, come back and watch some more. Auditions take place on Saturday and Sunday Jan. 12 and 13 at Zellerbach Hall on the UC Berkeley campus from 11am – 7pm. For details visit the Festival’s website. … Continue reading »
Berkeley faces lengthy cold snap, near-record lows
A cold front coming through the Bay Area over the next few days is forecast to bring temperatures in Berkeley to near-record lows, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures on Thursday, Friday and Saturday are expected to plumb the low 30s. The record low for January 10 at Oakland Airport was 26 degrees in 1949. The day’s average low is 42 degrees.
According to an NWS forecaster, the front originates in Alaska. The cold weather is forecast to last at least through the weekend. … Continue reading »
Botanical Garden art work attracts right-wing attacks
The UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, nestled in Strawberry Canyon, seems one of the few parts of Berkeley where political agendas can safely be set aside. But the politics-free zone of the garden was disturbed on Tuesday when right-wing bloggers, Fox News and the House Energy and Commerce Committee confected a story out of one of the artworks in the current Natural Discourse exhibition (which Berkeleyside will review later today).
SOL Grotto, by Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, uses 1,368 glass tubes salvaged from Solyndra, the Fremont-based solar cell manufacturer that went bankrupt last year, despite a $527 million loan from the federal government. SOL Grotto is, in the artists’ words, “a spartan retreat that is a space of solitude.”
The right-wing attacks focused on the use of materials from Solyndra to create an artwork, leading the House committee, for example, to claim that SOL Grotto had become the world’s most expensive work of art. Greg Gutfeld on Fox News — a Cal grad — sputtered with rage at the art: “Our loss is someone else’s hip, pretentious art.” He suggested someone should take a sledgehammer to the work and call it performance art, before adding, “I’m kidding, of course that would be wrong.” … Continue reading »
Tagged Art, Fox News, Paul Licht, SOL Grotto, Solyndra, UC Botanical Garden
The It List: Five things to do in Berkeley this weekend
NATURAL WONDERS A visit to the UC Botanical Garden is always an exercise in amazement. The garden’s collection of thousands of plants from around the world grabs the senses and immerses them into sights, shapes, and smells. Now a number of artists have built site-specific installations in the garden, drawing their inspiration from the various exotic plants. Their work is on display at In Natural Discourse: Artists, Architects, and Scientists in the Garden, an exhibit that runs through Jan. 20, 2013.
Berkeley’s downtown BART is all roses as part of clean-up
A new art piece featuring garden-inspired photography has been installed in the windows of the Downtown Berkeley BART station entrance. The project, called the Rose Pavilion, was unveiled on Monday afternoon and is part of the continuing efforts to revitalize Berkeley’s downtown area.
The piece features vertical panels of faux stained glass with images of roses and excerpts of poetry. Artist Deborah O’Grady explains that she was inspired by the architecture of the BART station. “I was asked if I could find a way to bring the garden into the center of the city. At first, I wasn’t sure, but as I walked around the downtown I was struck by the BART entrance pavilion. I decided to turn it into a rose arbor.”
The project is a collaboration between BART, UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, and the Downtown Berkeley Association. It is part of a larger exhibition at the Botanical Garden called “Natural Discourse,” which features work by 17 artists, poets, and scientists. “We came together to convey poetry and the beauty of the garden in a variety of mediums,” O’Grady says. For her, inspiration came in the form of roses: “Roses are a source of beauty and spirituality, a food, and a transmitter of light.” … Continue reading »
New edition of gardening bible for a gardener’s paradise
Tonight, at Builders Booksource on Berkeley’s Fourth Street, Kathleen Brenzel will introduce the new, ninth, edition of the “Sunset Western Garden Book“, the iconic gardening bible which is in its 80th year.
Brenzel, Sunset’s Garden Editor, paused on her busy book tour to answer some questions posed by Berkeleyside. Naturally we selected to focus on Berkeley.
What do you think of when you think of Berkeley and gardening?
Diversity. Woodland, meadow, and even tropical gardens thrive here. … Continue reading »
Botanical illustrators straddle line between art, science
Before photography, scientists relied on the work of botanical illustrators to document and record plants. Today botanical art is prized for plant portraits that are both elegant and technically accurate.
An exhibition at UC Botanical Gardens that runs through February 3rd showcases the intricate skills of botanical artists.
The Third Annual Plants Illustrated exhibition, held in conjunction with the Northern California Society of Botanical Artists, includes a talk and a two-day class by artist Catherine Watters. Notecards featuring some of the illustrations … Continue reading »
The mystery of the olive, explained
The UC Botanical Gardens is holding a series of workshops this month that exhibit the wonders of the olive.
On Sunday, people can learn how to make soap from olive oil. On November 21, there will be lessons on how to brine olives.
According to Deepa Natarajanhe, Botanical Gardens’s program and tour coordinator, the two workshops are part of an effort to draw more people to the gardens which are located on Centennial Drive in Berkeley, above the football … Continue reading »
Another corpse flower is blooming
Who knew watching flowers unfurl was so much fun?
UC Botanical Gardens has sent out word that another titan arum plant is blooming. Officials found a new bud on the plant affectionately called The Little Stinker on July 16. Last night, the bud started to open and it should be fully open today, July 29.
The Botantical Garden will stay open until 7 pm to accommodate extra viewing.
The plant, officially known as the Amorphophallus titanum or titan arum, … Continue reading »
