East Bay Open Studios
Salon Exhibition and Opening Party
Studio One Arts Center
365 45th St.
Oakland
May 30, 2024
My friend Emily and I stared at the white and yellow walls of Temescal’s Studio One Arts Center, filled with over 100 works of art, but could not help examining their ribbons instead. This was the opening night of the annual East Bay Open Studios, and we wanted to cram the worth of our free tickets in. We recognized the blue ribbon and guessed at the red for second, as we are “not equestrian enough” for certainty. A quick Google has confirmed our suspicion, and I would concur: despite both hailing from a horse farm filled state, we are both pretty entrenched in the pavement and paint of the city.
That first-place prize at Open Studios went to Fumiyo Yoshikawa’s “Forest Secret,” a delicate blend of sumi ink and gold on xuan paper, a soft rice pulp base for the sweeping splotches and minute floral and fauna. Second was Guillermo Navarrete Davis’ unnamed oil portrait of a young girl (pictured at top of this review), her face partially in shadow, green headscarf draped and baseball T‑shirt wrinkled, her eyes and soft pout, maybe a small smile, calling out from the moment you step in the room. Her skin is smooth, luminous, one eyebrow raised, chin jutting out over the darkened pit of her collarbone.
Nearby in the hall we spent time dissecting and peering closely at Toru Sugita’s small etching of busted, broken-down cars. So precise and yet ghostly, unreal. Or very real — it felt akin to the way some artists process Polaroids, their images separated from the paper and plastic backing, reimposed on another surface, fine details lost but the essence enhanced.
Rachel Ungerer’s painting “My Power My Love,” its own background blending beautifully with the surrounding wall, was swirls of pinks and reds and black-purple, a tender and intimate kiss between two figures, one kneeling, one seated in a wheelchair. Hands on a lap, another holding a collar, pulling her partner in close, the cavity between their chests a peach-hued blur. Ungerer’s work focuses on highlighting how strong and sexy the queer and disabled community is to themselves and others. Ungerer has developed their loose, emotive style by working within their own physical limitations as someone in a disabled body.
Other favorites included some of the 3D pieces, standing out in the crowd of paintings and other wall-bound works. Terri Scheid’s textured cairns, with each ceramic “stone” intricate and unique, a new color combination or delicate etching adorning its curves, sat below the program’s statement. Sarah Merola’s darkened bronze bird took flight from the wall. On that same wall, Emily gravitated towards Jasmine Kaslow’s miniature (not to be confused with micro) mosaic, a clean and pleasingly textured square of ivory rectangles, citrine and teal squares, and three bulbous, smooth black stones.
As a resident of the neighborhood and bonafide artist (and former gallerist) herself, Emily greeted more folks than I could count, each a warm welcome, thanks for coming, and sweet community catch up. Susan Brooks, a multi-media artist participating in Open Studios at her space in Berkeley, posed at my request with her poster. Paquerette, fellow artist and beam of sunshine, regaled us with insight on her process: those painstakingly sliced layers are reclaimed trash from her friend’s motorcycle shop, the mailed stickers given new and lasting life.
Two live performances brought most of us outside to the courtyard for the rest of the evening. First up was Mia Pixley, a “cellist, psychotherapist, mom, and composer” with original compositions on the most unique cello I’d wager we’ve all had the pleasure of viewing and hearing. Made in collaboration with a luthier in nearby Santa Rosa, the instrument, named Ripple for the swirls and striations in her grain, seemed small in stature to me but produced plenty of sound. With music rich in reverb and percussive elements (she wants to remind the world that “percussive potential”), Pixley’s lyrics were prescient and relatable, her quiet power clear. The first song, inspired by the earth’s core and the ever-bubbling magma and eruptive power beneath us, moved us with those forces, drawing us into her version of the world. Fingers a flutter, bow steady, and voice clear, she welcomed us into a slower, more contemplative way of being. She will be performing next at San Francisco’s Dance Mission Theater on June 14 with singer ASTU; get there if you can.
Next came Kiazi Malonga and his drummers. Most importantly, a pint-sized drummer and dancer in a bright blue batik dress and Hello Kitty Crocs, toting a drum wider than her waist and three-quarters her height. This was Kiazi’s daughter. While her timing may not yet be at 1.000, her infectious energy reached far and above what the assembled crowd could have anticipated. The three men (Malonga was joined by Eric from the Ivory Coast and “Little Bro from the Congo”) garbed in sunshine yellow, kept time on their ngoma drums, calling out, the golden hour glow infusing the performance with a singular magic, entrancing us through to the end. Their pride and joy evident on each face, with each movement, the trio plus child beat their way into our hearts. No one was left without a smile.
Curating and pulling together such diverse works from over 100 artists is no small feat, and should bring no surprise that some small details were overlooked. I wished for titles for the works along with the artists’ names and studio locations. I found several media incorrectly labeled, which felt like an understandable but unfortunate oversight. Since the pieces were hung in such close proximity, though arranged with an eye for content and color scheme, it was difficult to take in the works with the level of attention they deserved. It also made a good argument for visiting the artists you liked best in their own spaces to consume the works in congress with their own kind.
It was a beautiful few hours of true communal spirit, with friends greetings sending out shockwaves of love. The mixed crowd, leaning heavily towards the under 7 and over 65 ranges (“Probably no registered Republicans here, huh?” said Emily, as we studied the faces), all found more than a little something for each of us, and sent us into the dusk on a high of sound and light.
Ngoma drum (and dance) classes are held weekly on Saturdays at Kiazi’s Chinatown studio and are open to all levels.
East Bay Open Studios runs annually across the East Bay from Richmond to Fremont. This year’s participating artists can be found here, with studios open through June 9th.
