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Bingo for Art
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Oakbook
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Last Updated on September, 16 2008 at 01:19 PM
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Oakland’s art map is constantly getting redrawn. Boontling, a gallery
that art critics loved to love, closed last year, followed by the
near-demise of another acclaimed gallery, Ego Park, which switched
owners and sensibilities earlier this year. Esteban Sabar,
one of the first commercial galleries in Oakland, shut its doors last
month. But in a town like Oakland, where even cafes function as mini
art-galleries, there is no dearth of artists who’d like to open their
own art spaces.
The MG gallery is the latest addition to Oakland’s art landscape.
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The gallery opened with a show of Audrey Hodtwalker's art, "Strange Poultry."
Oakland’s art map is constantly getting redrawn. Boontling, a gallery that art critics loved to love, closed last year, followed by the near-demise of another acclaimed gallery, Ego Park, which switched owners and sensibilities earlier this year. Esteban Sabar, one of the first commercial galleries in Oakland, shut its doors last month. But in a town like Oakland, where even cafes function as mini art-galleries, there is no dearth of artists who’d like to open their own art spaces.
The MG gallery is the latest addition to Oakland’s art landscape. The brainchild of sculptor Kari Marboe and her partner, glass blower Adam Green, MG gallery is a tiny 180 sq. ft. space spread out across two rooms with very white walls and skylights, which hopes to develop a niche in site-specific installations and art that the audience and patrons participate in.
There is a distance between saying you'd like to have your own art space, and actually creating it. For Kari and Adam, it was almost serendipitous. They wanted to take up a place with their best friend. And they stumbled on a place on Craigslist.org that had a garage in the back and a two room-unit in the front. “We worked really hard to get this place,” says 23-year-old Kari, a recent graduate of the California College of Art (CCA).
Their new home and gallery sit close to the Oakland-Berkeley border, a few blocks down from the popular Nomad Cafe. So while MG isn’t close to the popular art corridor in Uptown, it does have the advantage of being very close to Berkeley and pulling in people from there. But what they’re banking on is their neighborhood. “They have families," says Kari. "And they’re excited that this is going to be an art gallery.” And so, Kari and Adam are working to put together shows that ask the audience to get involved. Their next--and second-- show, which will open on October 11, is called Sentence Drawing Sentence, where visitors to the gallery will play a drawing game with the artist George Pfaw, who is a graduate student at CCA. “Everyone will also be welcome to join in games that will be played on the gallery walls themselves during the opening and for the rest of October when the gallery is open,” Kari explains. So, people in the audience become the artists, a theme that the gallery is taking seriously.
While galleries often tend to have art openings on first Fridays, MG gallery will have its openings on second Saturdays. “We want people to participate,” she says.
“And Adam’s at school on Fridays anyway,” she adds. Her 24-year old partner is a student at CCA. She works part time for an artist in Berkeley, Joshua Hagler.
The duo, though young, have smartly surrounded themselves with more experienced advisers, primarily from CCA. They’re planning to go the non-profit route so that they can apply for grants that allow them to undertake ambitious installations in their gallery. But as they move towards their goal, they understand that for now, the one-month-old MG is primarily a neighborhood gallery. And they’re tapping into that as they gear up for their first fundraiser this coming Saturday. It’s bingo night at MG, and they hope their neighborhood will put their money where their mouth is.
What: Bingo night with the Bingo Kings
When: September 20th, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Where: MG gallery, 5532 Shattuck, Oakland
For more information: www.marboegreengallery.com |
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