Selz developed close friendships with some of his generation’s most influential artists—including Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Sam Francis, and Christo. He also promoted local talent, like Nathan Olivera.
A highly regarded 20th-century artist, Hammersley (1919–2009) had a wide-ranging artistic vision that included experiments in photography, painting, printmaking, drawing, sculpture and early computer art.
The new show spans the abstract artist's 30 years of studio work in the United States, as well as one piece from his former homeland in Germany.
A collective of Bay Area video makers called TVTV ushered in the era of handheld cameras and on-the-spot interviews. Their 1970s work will soon be publicly available at BAMPFA.
Gordon Parks's mother told him, "A white boy can do it, you can do it. Don’t come home with any excuses." This true American renaissance man took her at her word.
The artist was raised in Berkeley. His father was John Galen Howard. So it's fitting the show is at the city's art museum.
Though Theresa Hak Kyung Cha spent her formative years in Berkeley, the innovative Korean-American artist is most often associated with New York City. It’s where she made an indelible impression as a polyglot writer in the early 1980s, and where her life was so cruelly cut short by a depraved rapist.
FILMS ABOUT COURAGE AND THE OUTDOORS – Yeti is a manufacturer of ice chests, drinkware, T-shirt, caps and other gear. It also produces a roving mini-film festival of movies highlighting courageousness and the outdoors. On Friday, Sept. 16, Yeti will present “Stories from the Wild Film Tour” at Freight & Salvage. Tickets for the evening cost $10 and include beer, BBQ, and a raffle ticket, with all of the money going directly to American Rivers. According to Gear Junkie, the films include Charged, “which shows the incredible survival story of chef and outdoorsman Eduardo Garcia.” Cosmo documents the story of a fishing guide in the remote waters of the Seychelles. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.; films begin at 7:00 p.m. (more…)
UBUNTU THEATER PROJECT Oakland’s Ubuntu Theater Project is coming to Berkeley with the third show in its inaugural season, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright. The play opens on Saturday March 5 in a cozy, historic Berkeley home whose original ballroom has been converted into a theater space. The contemporary classic is based on Wright’s fascination with Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a transgender person who survived Nazi Germany and Stasi surveillance in East Berlin. Von Mahlsdorf’s story is a celebration of courage, resilience and of self-preserving compromises. The play speaks to the complexity of survival when one’s most intimate home — the body — is the source of persecution. Ubuntu’s co-artistic director William Hodgson plays all 40 characters in the play. The play runs through March 20 at Haba Na Haba House, 1936 Thousand Oaks Blvd, Berkeley 94707. For tickets ($15-35 online; pay-what-you-can at the door) and information, call 510-646 1126 or visit www.ubuntutheaterproject.com. (more…)
The last coat of paint has been applied, the fixtures are all in place, and the hard hats have departed: it’s time to celebrate the re-opening of BAMPFA’s film programming. Yours truly managed to get a sneak peek of what’s in store for Bay Area cinéastes, and I can happily report that we’re all in for quite a treat.
BAMPFA’s new building is an absolute winner. The 82,000-square-foot home catapults Berkeley’s visual art scene into prominence — comparable to many larger, richer and better established West Coast institutions. It handsomely repurposes the former 1930s WPA UC printing plant building. Affixed to it is a brightly clad steel tube-like section that houses the new 232-seat Barbro Osher Theater, where films from its impressive archive of over 300,000 items will be regularly screened. There is also a 33-seat screening room and two film viewing booths available by appointment.
OPENING OF BAMPFA In case you hadn’t heard, Berkeley has a newly housed museum, and it opens to the public on Sunday, starting at 11 a.m., with a great big, 12-hour long Open House. Get a first look at the inaugural exhibition, “Architecture of Life,” and drop in to the Pacific Film Archive’s first purpose-built cinema. Check out the beautiful stepped seating by Paul Discoe, complete with cushion designs by artist Barry Mcgee. There will also be DJs spinning music, dancers, weavers weaving, and other impromptu happenings throughout the building, organized by artist David Wilson. Admission is free, but, given how popular it is likely to be, timed-ticked reservations are recommended. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door. Visit BAMPFA for more details. (more…)
The countdown is nearly over. The new home of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, plum in the heart of downtown Berkeley, will throw open its doors to the public with a big open house on Sunday, Jan. 31, starting at 11 a.m.
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