Oakland Museum of California *FREE ADMISSION*

The Boilerplate:

Most people are trustworthy and we thank those who keep this meetup running smoothly and enjoyably as a shared community. We have found it necessary to remove members who do not show up or cancel less than 4 days ahead two times. If you have problems finding the group, please call or text to find the organizer at the event:

Stephen Yeh at 510-589-5161.

The Event:

Because the Museum's holdings are so vast, any visit must pick and choose among the possibilities. This event will focus on the following Art Gallery exhibits:

1. Hung Liu "one of the most prominent Chinese painters working in the United States"

2. Early Bay Area Figurative Art after World War II that "contributed a significant new voice of painterly experimentation and zeal to the art of the times"

3. Arthur + Lucia Mathews who "brought the spirit of the Arts + Crafts to Northern California"

4. Gold Rush Era Works (Optional)

And the following History Gallery exhibit:

1. The Spanish Take This Land

The Schedule:

11:00 AM: Convene at Entrance

11:15 AM: Lunch (BYO Ok)

11:45 AM: Share + Enjoy Exhibit

2:15 PM: Unscheduled: Browse further, Shop, Eat, Etc.

Program Notes:

The Oakland Museum of California made national news rather infamously this January for the theft of an $800,000 gold and quartz encrusted jewel box which was recovered this month (March 2013).

The Museum deserves better recognition than this as a multi-faceted, hidden gem that highlights everything Californian. The institution comprises Californian Art, History, and Natural Science Galleries. Our group will focus on excerpts from the Art and History Galleries.

The Art Gallery is organized thematically between Californian Land, People, and Creativity. Dating back to 1916, the art collection features over 70,000 works from the early 1800s to the present featuring California artists depicting Californian subjects. Featuring works of all disciplines, the set includes painting, sculpture, photography, craft and decorative arts, conceptual work, and new media, as well as documentary materials such as artists' tools, maquettes, sketchbooks, scrapbooks, and other ephemera. Prominent names include Bierstadt, Diebenkorn, and Dorothea Lange.

From Wikipedia: "The History Gallery contains more than 1.8 million items representing California's history and cultures from the era before Europeans arrived, to the 21st century. The strongest collections are in photography; California native baskets and other material; California Gold Rush era artifacts; and material that relates to California technology, agriculture, business and labor, domestic life, and significant events such as World War II."

We will not visit the Natural Science Gallery, which contains over 100,000 natural specimens, documenting California as the most biologically diverse state of the Union.