Spotted at the Lafayette Whole Foods, it’s huge! I bought the TJs kit and plan on making it soon. Who else is making one?
Spotted at the Lafayette Whole Foods, it’s huge! I bought the TJs kit and plan on making it soon. Who else is making one?
A new popup art gallery called A Tom Matousek Gallery will be open through the holidays in the alley behind Patxi’s Pizzeria in downtown Lafayette on Mt. Diablo Blvd. Several artists are represented in various mediums such as paintings, photography and sculptures. When I dropped by the first time the art seemed familiar to me, and that’s because the artwork was on display at Cypress restaurant in Walnut Creek. Recognize it? I think it looks incredible! You can follow the gallery on their Facebook page here. They will be hosting a poetry reading soon so keep checking their page for updates.
Check out the artwork by Susan Jenkins and Tom Matousek:
Check out the photography art by Mathew Carden on the walls:
This is really great stuff so if you’re in the area definitely drop by and check it out. The photos don’t do justice to how cool it really is. Can anyone name the musicians depicted in the artwork above?
Spotted at Misto Lino in downtown Lafayette.
If you have a local pet photo you’d like featured here send them in.
The Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts in downtown Walnut Creek is hosting an exhibit titled Captured: Specimens in Contemporary Art through November 18th. From their webpage:
The intersection of art and nature has inspired artists for centuries. Artists have looked to the natural world as a source book for creative projects and strategies. From Impressionist plein air painting, to medieval bestiaries art has been committed to exploring the unfamiliar and unknown creatures and environments that share our world. Artists in this show will illustrate how a complex and rewarding dialogue between the arts, scientific exploration, and organic, found materials has been staged in a contemporary context.
Looking to traditions as diverse as taxidermy, specimen boxes, and the cabinet of curiosities, this exhibition will address the changing nature of our relationship with the natural world. It will offer us a glimpse into the impermanence and vitality of wildlife and the botanical world, encouraging us to question our assumptions about the curious world of unique and unusual creatures around us.
The Vache Rouge by Marcus Kenney:
Check out this cool tent scene:
Yesterday I noted the opening of high-end guitar shop Mighty Fine Guitars in Lafayette. These fine guitars however are actually made from cardboard! How cool is that? They are on display at Hubcaps diner in downtown Walnut Creek at 1548 Bonanza St.
The artist behind this guitar art is Matthew Elium who has a webpage describing his collection on display at Hubcaps:
Over these past months since the creation of the first flying V, I had put four other models of guitars into production: The Explorer, the Moderne, the Jaguar, and the Les Paul. Until now they had all been hanging on my workshop wall just for me to look at, but finally it was time for them to get out and see the world.
Check out these 1958 Gibson cardboard replicas:
The guitars are available for purchase at http://matthewelium.com. Drop by Hubcaps soon as this display will be going away fairly soon.
In late August the recently installed Fountain Head in downtown Walnut Creek on N. Main St. was removed for restoration purposes, and it’s finally back now. It caused quite a stir when it was first installed, with many opposed. Has the opposition died down, or are folks still upset by the sculpture?
From a press release:
WALNUT CREEK (August 15, 2012) – Coming off last year’s triumphant 25th anniversary season, the California Symphony’s 2012-2013 season will focus on selecting a new music director to lead the acclaimed orchestra into a new era of world-class music-making for audiences here in the East Bay.
Seven internationally-renowned conductors, all having led major orchestras throughout the world, will audition for the position by leading the California Symphony in programs that showcase music’s most beloved and enduring works, including short pieces, concertos and symphonies by the masters — Rachmaninoff, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Berlioz, Sibelius, Prokofiev — and contemporary artists Gershwin, Porter, Lowe and Adams. The symphony’s innovative Young Composer in Residence D.J. Sparr will also offer up another world premiere.
The seven concerts take place at the Lesher Center for Arts in Walnut Creek on September 30, October 18, December 23, January 20, February 12, March 3, and May 4 and 5.
For his concert, each conductor has selected pieces that will delight audiences and showcase his musical chops and unique artistic vision. Some concerts also feature soloists who have emerged as rising stars in 21st century music: pianists Gregory Taboloff and Haochen Zhang, soprano Sarah Jane McMahon, clarinet player David Singer and violinist Caroline Goulding.
The symphony has been without a music director for the past two seasons, relying on the talents of guest conductors, several who are among this season’s finalists for the top job.
During the 2011-12 season, the symphony refined its focus as the Walnut Creek-based orchestra that brings audiences closer to the music they love in the more intimate setting of the Lesher Center’s 785-seat Hofmann Theatre. This focus and the stellar performances of the guest conductors, soloists and orchestra musicians during the 2011-12 season garnered the symphony some of the best reviews and most enthusiastic audiences of its quarter-century history. This success prompted the orchestra to add three concerts to its program for 2012-13. Two of these concerts are more accessible, constructed around the themes of Halloween and Valentine’s Day. The third is a holiday concert that will take place in December, after the symphony scored an audience hit with its first ever holiday concert in December 2011.
The Lesher Center for the Arts is located at 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. Single tickets start at $35, and season subscriptions start at $130. For tickets and information, call (925) 943-SHOW (7469) or visit our website atwww.californiasymphony.org
Last week I pointed out that the colorful murals from the now closed French restaurant Le Virage in Walnut Creek have been painted over. Several months before this happened I took extensive photos of the murals and looking back I find them pretty darn cool, don’t you think? They covered the entire building, in the back and on the second floor as well. It’s too bad they are now gone. For those that didn’t see the earlier post, you can check out a mural from the inside here.
Facing N. Main St:
Notice that even the hinges are painted:
Check out more photos of the mural including the Eiffel Tower after the jump…
Lucky Stiff – A Musical Murder Mystery Farce, will be performed at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek from August 31st through October 7th. Buy tickets here.
From the Center Rep website:
Tony Award winners Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once On This Island) exploded on the musical theatre scene in 1988 with this Off Broadway hit – a zany, offbeat and very funny romantic murder mystery farce complete with slamming doors, mistaken identities, six million bucks in diamonds and a corpse in a wheelchair.
