Engineer's Daughter

notes from the weekend

• The Paramount was the place to be Friday night with the Oakland Symphony's very special Black History Month program centered around the world premiere of Carlos Simon and Dan Harder's choral piece Here I Stand: Paul Robeson, which featured a performance by bass Morris Robinson as Robeson that brought me to tears. Conducted by Kedrick Armstrong, the rest of the program was equally as invigorating, with Joan Tower's Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 6 and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5.
• Over at the main branch of the SF Public Library do not miss the wonderful exhibit Toward a Black Aesthetic that celebrates the work of the Oakland Tribune's first Black photographer, Kenneth P. Green, Sr., who worked at the paper from 1968 until his untimely death in 1982. The show concentrates on his photographs of Black women, which are fabulous, and then upstairs in the African American Center there is a small but mighty satellite exhibition of his photos from the first African Liberation Day in 1972.
• Meanwhile over in Polk Gulch Gallery-O-Rama has a fun group show up right now, Nature vs. Machine, featuring a slew of local artists. The space is one of those welcoming, multi-purpose gallery/studio/gift shop combos that I'm just so glad still exist in the city, buzzing with energy for community members and artists alike.

matokie mix 02.19.24

mix

notes from the weekend

• Thursday evening I went to see Black Pumas with Kelly Finnigan opening at the Fox, which has become one of my fave local places to see bands because I can buy myself a seat up in the balcony and mask up and then groove. Black Pumas were a ton of fun live between Eric Burton's voice and Adrian Quesada's guitar (and array of pedals), though my favorite part might have been the light-up fangs on their puma stage art.
• The Drawing Room has a huge group show entitled Home up in their annex right now, tucked into the Harrington Galleries space at the corner of Valencia and 17th in the Mission. I particularly loved Tom Colcord's beautiful painting of his lockdown window view of his Portola neighborhood, but it was also a chance to see a wide variety of work from some talented local artists.
• Meanwhile three of my favorite artists are showing recent work together at Gallery 16 in a fabulous exhibition called The Mystery of the Mystery. Scott Hewicker has created luminous portals into magical realms using mere fabric dye and watercolors, Rebeca Bollinger's meticulously-constructed sculptures incorporate glass and glowing light to enigmatic effect, and Wayne Smith's ballpoint marks on wood never fail to mesmerize. Also don't miss Joseph Blake's receipt paper pieces, on display in the Bryant Street windows.

matokie mix 02.12.24

mix

notes from the weekend

• I have been a huge fan of Liam Everett's art practice for years and in his new solo show of recent work at altman siegel The ground, he is pushing through into another dimension. Canvases that appear weather-treated then have paint applied on top in formations that appeared to me as geological formations. Appropriate for such meditative work, the title of the show references a Sogyal Rinpoche quote from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: "As the ground luminosity dawns at death, an experienced practitioner will maintain full awareness and merge with it, thereby attaining liberation."
• The artwork at Rena Bransten in their Hidden Stories group show specifically invites further investigation, to look closely at the details of each piece and to look further into their backstories. I loved a cyanotype by Jonathan Calm that reproduced a vintage photo taken at a club in Reno where Black servicemen could go to drink, and also a silkscreen by Rodney Ewing that referenced both the Trail of Tears and the Tulsa Massacre.
• We are so lucky to have composer Cindy Cox as a faculty member at UC Berkeley, and it was so wonderful to hear the Eco Ensemble to perform a concert of her work Saturday evening in Hertz Hall. The first half of the program was dedicated to a trio of pieces from 1989, 2010, and 2014, and then the whole chamber ensemble joined a quartet of singers and John Campion as narrator (and with field recordings woven throughout) for the premiere of scenes from a new theatrical piece grounded in Mayan myth.
• And my highest recommendation for the new exhibition at the Mills College Art Museum Look Up to the Sky: Hung Liu's Legacy of Mentoring Women Artists. We in the Bay Area still miss Liu terribly and her own art forms the centerpiece of this show, while the work of the women she was in relationship with as a teacher and/or friend (including my faves Sandra Ono and Mel Prest) spirals outward to show how her influence continues to reverberate. The title here comes from a quote from Liu: "When the world feels too heavy, just look up to the sky."

matokie mix 02.05.24

mix