Camera, subject…& 80,000 volts of electricity? The Peninsula’s newest photo exhibit may shock you.

Art Ventures Gallery presents Robert Buelteman’s explorations around Stanford’s Jasper Ridge, and features an electrifying new technique. by Sheryl Nonnenberg Robert Buelteman was granted permission from Stanford University to document the protected habitat of Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. Pictured: “Black Oak” by Robert Buelteman (Image courtesy of Art Ventures Gallery) Art can take us to places we have never been and places we cannot access. Stanford University’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve has been ...

Read More

Palo Alto art show channels parenthood (and Tiger King) to find meaning in quarantining

10 local parent-artists unveil their pandemic projects By Karla Kane Robin Mullery’s “Mama?” explores the heaviness of being a parent during a pandemic. (Photo by Karla Kane) “Holding it Together,” the playful-yet-poignant new exhibition at the Palo Alto Art Center, is a collection of new works by artists that examine the experience of parenting during the pandemic in all its often chaotic, frustrating, humorous and sweet glory. The show is a reunion for Bay ...

Read More

Tired of 2020? You’re invited to the Party at the End of the World

Redwood City’s Dragon Theater team creates a video game-theater adventure for the pandemic era Dragon Productions Theatre Company’s “Party at the End of the World” combines theater and gaming. (Image courtesy of Dragon Productions Theatre Company) Live theater and video games: When done well, both have the power to magically transport participants into another realm. For its next major project, Dragon Productions Theatre Company is combining these two media in “Party at ...

Read More

Redwood City was dethroned as a world flower capital; now one mural pays tribute

Peruvian-born artist Claudio Talavera-Ballón talks Redwood City’s history of Japanese internment, farmworking and his addiction to oil painting “This is what I like so much about muralism — it’s that opportunity to reach the most humble, who are the greatest appreciators of art. The least able to afford a framed painting are the most likely to appreciate one.” — Claudio Talavera-Ballón. (Images courtesy of Claudio Talavera-Ballón) It took just over two months ...

Read More

Palo Alto welcomes renowned Bay Bridge light artist for exclusive new gallery show

Leo Villareal’s innovative union of art and technology takes center stage in Pace Gallery’s reopening exhibition Leo Villareal’s “Detector” exhibit, shown in Pace Gallery of London, 2019. (Image via Leo Villareal’s website) By Sheryl Nonnenberg If you have driven across the Bay Bridge, you have seen Leo Villareal’s large-scale, site-specific “The Bay Lights.” Installed in 2013, it consists of 25,000 LED lights installed on the span that continuously change, thanks to a custom ...

Read More

Meet the international artist behind Palo Alto’s mysterious new garage-door murals

Map out your tour of the streetside seascapes and portals to paradise The shelter-in-place life might mean containment for many things, but imagination isn’t one of them. Creativity doesn’t need a gallery space. Neighbors strolling the tree-lined Triple El neighborhood of Palo Alto have recently discovered al fresco art cropping up on house exteriors and across garage doors. Behind these pleasantly unexpected sights is international artist Martha Sakellariou and a fascinating dialogue on “home.” After ...

Read More

Peninsula-based Paint the Town introduces a new kind of party — Bob Ross style

Local artist and teacher Celia Ma thought outside the box while stuck indoors, and the result is cause for celebration Landscapes… because can you ever really tire of a gorgeous view? (Image via Paint the Town’s FB page) Sure. The first virtual wine night or two were great. But how many “Zinfandel and Zoom” sessions can we stomach? When COVID-19 hit, Celia Ma, San Mateo resident and owner of Paint the Town (a paint ...

Read More

The Pavement Picasso: Talking sidewalk murals with the Bay Area’s chalk art guru

Peninsula native Marlon Yanes gives us insider info on chalking like a street art pro Marlon Yanes blends the oranges and yellows in his chalk mural during the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts in 2018. (Photo by Adam Pardee) Have you noticed? Lately, our sidewalks have transformed into one very long art collaboration. If you’ve taken to stretching your legs for long neighborhood walks during the shelter-in-place, you might have noticed chalk art cropping ...

Read More