Kevin E. Taylor and Sarah Smith @ Swarm

There's an awesome show up at Swarm Gallery in Oakland right now. I was there gallery-sitting the other day and here are some photos I took of the work. Great stuff!

CCA Holiday Fair

California College of the Arts is having their annual Holiday Fair on Saturday, December 1st. I've been before and let me tell you that is a wonderful opportunity to get some cool (not to mention cheap!) art while supporting local art students. There will be music and food as well so put it on your calendar.

CCA Holiday Fair
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, December 1, 2007
Oliver Art Center on CCA's Oakland campus
5212 Broadway (at College Avenue)

Receiver Opening Reception

Strange Fruit - Bad Seeds opened at Receiver Gallery this weekend. The show is very impressive, I highly recommend you go and check it out. I am also now the proud owner of one of the Martha Sue Harris pieces featured in the exhibition. Hooray! Here are a few pics that I unabashedly stole from John Casey's blog because I was simply too enraptured to take my own:

Strange Fruit - Bad Seeds

I saw John Casey yesterday and we had a nice little chat about the goings on in our lives. I was reminded that he has a show that opens this Saturday at Receiver Gallery in the Mission. He's showing with Martha Sue Harris, whose amazing work I was able to see during open studios. The reception for the show is Saturday from 7 - 10pm and I'll be there so you should be too.

Code Switching

We had a really fun opening last night at Swarm for Code Switching. The show is based around a group of artists that are part of the collective Quorum. There's a little something for everyone in the show, from painting to sculpture to new media. I'm mad at myself for not taking pictures of the party but here's my favorite piece from the show:


Laurel Roth
Cheap Thrills
made from fake nails, hair clips, false eyelashes and other drugstore miscellanea

Better!

I'm definitely out of my funk and part of the reason why was a fun trip to some Open Studios on Saturday. We stopped by the Blue Studio at Mission and 17th, then headed to Workspace Limited and finally to 1890 Bryant Street. There was some interesting art and some actually, really great stuff too, particularly at our final stop. What I really couldn't help gawking at however, were the studio spaces themselves. These buildings were absolutely amazing with so much light streaming in! Anyway, I'm a little broke right now so I didn't get to purchase some things I would have wanted to but I did pick up this awesome owl by Kate Durkin.

Thanks for Coming!

We had lots of fun last night at Swarm. Hooray for bloggers and friends! I thought the whole night was enjoyable (okay, maybe not when the insane elderly man wandered in) and was so happy to show off all the cool stuff we do at Swarm to some folks. See you all again on October 13th when we go to the SF Conservatory.

Studios Available for Rent @ Swarm

In case anyone knows an artist looking for a studio, here's the listing for two studios that just opened up at Swarm in Oakland...

About the Studios

Studio 6 and Studio 10 available October 1, 2007.

Studios available are 225 sq ft and 160 sq ft.

Contact Swarm for viewing, or visit during gallery hours
Tu-Su 12-6PM

Swarm Studios provides an atmosphere of creativity, production, inspiration and opportunity for working artists in the Bay Area. High redwood ceilings and an industrial concrete floor characterize the beautiful studio space. There are 11 private studios and a large common space.

Swarm Studios is ideal for artists working in painting/drawing, small sculpture, jewelry, bookmaking, sewing, multi-media projects, digital and more. No large/loud sculpture fabrication.

24-hour secure access
Natural and artificial lighting (fluorescent and halogen 0-UV)
High ceilings
Common clean-up sinks and bathrooms
Shared kitchen
Ventilation
Canvas and personal storage
Parking on evenings and weekends
A mailing address / Virtual tenants OK
Wireless Internet
Month-to-month rental agreement

The building is safe and well lit, located in the commercial district of Jack London Square. Studios range in size from 80 – 225 square feet

Artists may apply for a private studio by downloading a rental application form and submitting it by email or snail-mail. Swarm will host events such as openings, classes, and workshops, which may preclude the use of the common space. Drop-in day and week rates available for common work space.

Contact: info@swarmstudios.net for leasing information

Weekend Art Brunch

So this isn't the project that Kevin and I are working on, but it's another that I'm pretty excited about. Weekend Art Brunch! It was inspired by my friend Carla and others who like to come to galleries and museums with me since I've worked in these places and know a little bit about what goes on. I'm just starting to brainstorm on places to go and people to meet so all questions and comments are welcome. Be sure to check out the blog which explains the idea in better detail. Yay!

The BIG Question

No, the Big Question is not "Does God exist?" or "What happens to us after we die?" It's far more important than that. The Big Question is "What the heck is on the walls at the Googleplex?!?" Do they have murals? Photographs of employees? I'm dying to know. For me, there would be no cooler job than picking out art for the walls at Google. I know most of the stuff that goes on inside the 'Plex is top secret but I really have to find out. I now have my mission in life.

The Emergence of Geometric Order

I bought this awesome little piece from Dana Robson yesterday. Not only is she a really wonderful artist but she's also my neighbor! She invited me over to her apartment which was one of the cutest places I've seen in SF. I'm quite happy to be adding her work to my tiny collection.

(I stole the image from her website 'cause all the photos I took kinda sucked. Thanks, Dana!)

Artifice of Form

We had the opening for Artifice of Form at Swarm Gallery last night and it was a great time. I finally got to meet Josh Keyes, whose work I have loved for quite a while now. The show stays up until October 14th so there's no excuse not to come and see it. There was also the debut of the Oakland Art Shuttle which took all the drunk-o gallery hoppers to the different openings. I think Oakland is really kicking San Francisco's ass right now in terms of supporting the art galleries and the visual arts in general. I hope we can catch up someday.

dear ada

I came across this awesome blog yesterday. It features some really great artists, some of whom I know and others that are new to me. I love finding out about artists I haven't heard of and being reminded of others that I haven't checked up on lately.




(Image is a work by Chris Pew. Check out his portfolio here.)

Mark Your Calendars!

Kevin and I are setting up another Blogger's Night event, this time at the lovely Swarm Gallery. You'll finally get to see what I've been blabbing about! So if you came to the symphony event, or even if you didn't, mark down October 4th for a night of artsy fartsy fun! Email me if you wanna be put on the list: jennifercrane@gmail.com.

Critical Chaos!

If you've got nothing better to do on Thursday night (Aug. 16th), or even if you do, come over to Oakland and visit me at Swarm Gallery. The opening of Critical Chaos is from 6 to 9 p.m. I saw the work for the first time today and really loved it. Here is some proof of the awesomeness:


One of the works by Erik Friedman



Detail of a piece by Ema Harris-Sintamarian

What Kind of Magic Spell to Use?

I finally acquired a drawing by Casey Jex Smith. Seriously, have you ever seen anything cooler? And yes, that is Bowie as the Goblin King thankyouverymuch!

I am currently loving the work of Casey Jex Smith and Josh Keyes. I know Casey personally and he's a great guy as well as a serious artist. Josh and I have exchanged a couple emails because I keep trying to get work from him, but it's selling as fast as he can make it. Anyway, they've both got shows up all the time so keep an eye out for them.

Image: The Fountain of Youth in Proxy for the Tree of Life by Casey Jex Smith

New Acquisition!

Just in time for Halloween, I bought kinda creepy drawing by John Casey. I know him from Swarm where I have been doing an internship for a few months now. He will also be in an upcoming show at Boontling Gallery in Oakland. Teeny tiny hearts for supporting local artists!