Each month KQED Interactive visits a number of Bay Area art galleries to check out what's up in the local art scene. You can view a video of what we found.
In October 2005, we scouted out a selection of unique spaces in San Francisco's Mission District. The places we visited, only a short walk from one another, included Creativity Explored, Intersection for the Arts, and Blue Room Gallery -- encountering artwork inspired by monsters, an audio-visual installation that was truly moving as well as furniture that was fun and functional.
Founded in 1983, Creativity Explored is a unique community organization that works with adults with developmental disabilities through the language of art. They have two centers in the heart of the Mission district that support over 100 artists working both collaboratively and individually.
Rising out of the coffin by popular demand -- it's the monster show! Based on the successful 2003 show that first launched the monster theme, Creativity Explored follows up with the sequel: Revenge of Monster from October 20 through November 25, 2005. Continuing to offer a fresh look at classic monsters the studio artists in this exhibition feature a veritable who's who of horror. The gallery has been styled as a haunted gothic mansion with its walls covered from floor to ceiling with painted, printed and drawn portraits of famous fiends.Creativity Explored is a unique community organization that works with adults with developmental disabilities through the language of art. Where: 3425 16th St., San Francisco Gallery hours: 10am to 3pm, Monday through Friday, Saturday 1pm to 6pm Phone: (415) 752-2483
Established in 1965, the Intersection for the Arts is San Francisco's oldest alternative art space where diverse ideas, media and practices converge. They continue their strong tradition of presenting new and experimental work in the fields of literature, theater, music and the visual arts. The Gallery at Intersection offers the community with an ever-expanding bank of visual ideas that transgress boundaries of culture and discipline, and help to communicate, define, and interpret society.
The gallery's exhibit Perpetual Motion/Movimiento Perpetuo (October 5 through December 3, 2005) is a collaborative sculptural and video installation by two local award-winning artists, Victor Cartagena and Elisabeth Oppenheimer. The work comments upon the human phenomenon of transition and migration with a stunning combination of suspended inner-tubes, recorded voices and multiple video projections which echo the confusion, alienation and complexities coinciding with the immigration of foreign bodies.
Where: 446 Valencia St., San Francisco Gallery hours: Tuesdays by appointment, 12pm to 5pm, Wednesday through Saturday Phone: (415) 626-2787
The Blue Room Gallery is a non-profit art gallery that serves people from the Bay Area's diverse social, economic and cultural backgrounds. An expansive space with 3500 square feet, cobalt blue floors and 25-foot ceilings, the gallery acts as a micro-museum providing a large space for rotating exhibits of established and emerging, national and international contemporary artists. The space is open late and offer educational programs along with other events and performances.
The Blue Room Gallery presents Bay Area Furniture Art 2005 from October 13 through November 27, 2005. This is the third installment of their annual juried exhibition, and this year showcases 23 works by 21 local artists who demonstrate the ability to balance craft, technique, innovation, design and inspiration. The selected works are diverse and unique, pushing the boundaries of furniture art -- they include chairs and couches, tables, storage units as well as lighting fixtures that are commercial prototypes, production items and one-of-a-kind pieces.
Where: 2331 Mission Street, San Francisco Gallery Hours: 1pm to 9pm, Wednesday through Sunday Phone: (415) 282-8411
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