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Time Traveling Through Cece Carpio’s New Exhibition at SOMArts
Cece Carpio. ‘Brass and Copper,’ 2017. (Brandon Robinson) Inside SOMArts gallery, the walls are adorned with sharp machete blades everywhere, and a pair of adorable, covertly embedded dangly earrings....
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At BAMPFA, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Eloquent Art Lives On
There are so many words in Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings that it can be a bit daunting to form a written response of one’s own. The retrospective at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film...
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SOMArts to Gather SF Arts Community During ‘State of Emergency’
In recent months, SOMArts Executive Director Maria Jenson has routinely found herself huddled in small groups, debriefing on street corners. It was always after an arts community meeting organized by...
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San Francisco Gets a Brand New Gallery — With a Focus on African Artists
Ayanda Mabulu, ‘The Load,’ 2025. (Courtesy of AOCA ) The first thing you see when you enter Art of Contemporary Africa (AOCA) — a brand new gallery at the Minnesota Street Project — are three stunning,...
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Tracing Her Black Ancestry, Trina Michelle Robinson Apprehends the Past
Trina Michelle Robinson is trying to talk to ghosts. For 10 years, the San Francisco-based artist has been on a journey to uncover and share the stories of her ancestors and the legacies of Black...
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At SF State, Slow Gestures Accumulate Into Acts of Resistance
As major institutions retreat from political controversy into safe exhibitions on anodyne subjects, it behooves the art lover to explore locations too often overlooked. If you seek art that makes you...
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Emory Douglas on His Iconic Black Panther Art, 60 Years Later
It’s no accident that the Black Panthers remain icons of resistance 60 years after their founding. That’s not only because of their groundbreaking survival programs or armed patrols against police...
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A ‘Carry-On’ of Tender Artwork Fills the New Chinese Culture Center
When Justin Wong left Hong Kong in 2021, in the wake of a national security law imposed by the Chinese government, he left suddenly, with just four days to prepare. He moved, he writes, “from the known...
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Jonathan Calm Photographs the Empty Spaces in American History
A photograph rarely shows us the whole picture. Jonathan Calm’s photographs tell us even more about what’s left out. Archives of Absence, a survey of Calm’s new and recent photographs and textile...
View ArticleContemporary Jewish Museum to Sell Its Downtown SF Building
Today, San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum announced it will put its downtown San Francisco building up for sale. In a press release, the museum stated it would “identify a buyer complementary...
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Diedrick Brackens’ Monumental Textiles Hang in Splendor at YBCA
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is, let’s admit, a tough space to fill with art. Its largest gallery is hangar-like, with impossibly high ceilings, one wall of windows and no interior divisions to...
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The Cure-All of Annie Vought’s Intricate Worlds
It’s a sign of something (a not-great something) when an arts writer develops a persistent eye twitch — in both eyes. In retrospect, the cause was clear: too many screens and not enough sleep. The...
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Digital Underground’s MC Was Secretly a Genius Illustrator
Editor’s note: This story is part of That’s My Word, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history. For many listeners, Bay Area rap from the late ’80s and early ’90s calls to mind the dark...
View ArticleSoon, You Can Visit Ruth Asawa’s Art Whenever You Like
For those who visited the Ruth Asawa retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and left awestruck, wishing they could partake in the artist’s work more frequently, I have good news. On...
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Everyone’s an Artist in April Thanks to South Bay’s We Create 408
As an educator, Tricia Creason-Valencia works to empower young people’s creative drive. In her classroom she often asks two questions together. First, “How many of you have a background in...
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At San José Museum of Art, Technology Is Women’s Work
In a 1969 Neiman Marcus catalog designed to shock, an elegantly attired woman leans against a $10,600 Honeywell “Kitchen Computer.” A basket of fresh produce balances on the machine’s smooth fiberglass...
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What’s the Future of the Many Cesar Chavez Murals in San Francisco?
When the sexual abuse allegations against Cesar Chavez appeared in The New York Times, the call for renaming streets and holidays erupted swiftly on social media channels and news outlets. Less present...
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Four Bay Area Artists Awarded $100,000 Rainin Grant
The Rainin Foundation has given four Bay Area creatives an unrestricted grant of $100,000 each through its Rainin Arts Fellowship, the organization announced this morning. Public Space Fellow Cece...
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A Conversation About Black Feminist Art Takes off at SFO
In an average year, over 50 million people pass through San Francisco International Airport. Most of them are rushing to catch a plane or greet their loved ones. But how many travelers take time to...
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San Francisco Appoints Matthew Goudeau to Top Arts Job
Matthew Goudeau, current chief development officer for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, will soon become San Francisco’s first executive director of arts and culture. The new top arts job, created by...
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Celebrating Oakland’s Betti Ono Gallery, a Decade-Long Cultural Anchor
From 2011 until 2021, the Betti Ono art gallery served as a community anchor in the heart of downtown Oakland. As a cultural incubator, it benefited a number of local and national creatives — myself...
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SFMOMA Announces Winners of 2026 SECA Art Award
Four Bay Area artists are the latest recipients of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s long-running SECA Art Award. The collaborative duo CrossLypka (Tyler Cross and Kyle Lypka), and solo artists...
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How a Small Team Is Bringing the AIDS Memorial Quilt into Sharp Focus
On a recent morning in an unmarked, unfinished San Leandro storefront, Michael Berg and Will Roczkos crouch over a bright blue block of AIDS Memorial Quilt panels. Each of the eight panels in the...
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Forget the Roman Empire — Think About the Etruscans Instead
Empires get all the credit. And yet it was the Etruscans, the people who lived in present-day Tuscany between 900 and 100 B.C., who taught the Romans about viticulture, urban planning and complex...
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Looking At The Ground: A Photo Walk Through Frisco
It’s just after 9 a.m. Saturday morning, and I’m late for my adult field trip. No bag lunch, forgot my name tag and I’m rolling solo — clearly not adhering to the buddy system. But I got my camera....
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In ‘Off Track,’ a Photographer Finds Beauty on His Caltrain Commute
During his Caltrain commute from Gilroy to Palo Alto, Spencer Enriquez usually covers his face with his beanie to get some shut-eye before clocking into his day job as a graphic designer. From my...
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The 10 Best Museum and Gallery Shows to See in the Bay Area This Summer
Be sure to check out our full 2026 Summer Arts Guide to live music, movies, art, theater, festivals and more in the Bay Area. Five months into 2026, a lot has happened in the Bay Area’s visual art...
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A New Oakland Comic Book Unpacks Black Mental Health
Before she became a screenwriter and author, Janell Grace worked as a case manager in juvenile hall, and she saw firsthand the effects that unprocessed trauma had on young people. “I didn’t like how...
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17 Bay Area Arts Groups Receive Grants for Further Triennial Shows
Back in September 2024, when the Further Triennial was first announced, the coordinated program of exhibitions and events seemed awfully far away. Now, March 10–June 10, 2027 is just around the corner,...
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‘Aztec Stories in Modern Mexico’ Brings Vibrant Artwork to Walnut Creek
A small crowd of near-identical human figures, painted in Day-Glo colors, dance across handmade paper. The figures move in sinuous, stacked rows of flattened perspective, reminiscent of the...
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