WALNUT CREEK
Valley Art Gallery hosting ‘Layers of the Heart’ exhibit
The Valley Art Gallery is hosting an exhibit until July 24 of its new selection of artwork augmented by the paintings of Dee Tivenan, its featured artist.
Tivenan’s series, titled “Layers of the Heart,” is dedicated to Dorothy Gerson who recently died a few weeks short of her 100th birthday. Gerson, who was caring, empathic and devoted her life to helping others, also was an avid art collector. Many of these paintings are quiet, symbolizing grief and hope.
Tivenan works in a style that is gestural, colorful and appears nonobjective, which nonetheless often contains a landscape reference. Her paintings are composed with multiple layers, ensuring a rich texture and sometimes combining different mediums. The more than 300 works on display in the gallery represent the best of the best of East Bay artists; all artists are juried into membership, and all shows are individually juried.
All two-dimensional works are available for sale or rent. Also available is a wide selection of juried, high quality, hand-made crafts and jewelry. The Walnut Creek gallery is at 1661 Botelho Drive, Suite 110. For more information, call 925-935-4311 or go to valleyartgallery.org.
— Valley Art Gallery
ORINDA
Reception to honor artists at library’s reopened gallery
The Lamorinda Arts Council will host a reception on Saturday honoring 40 artists at the newly reopened Art Gallery at the Orinda Library, 26 Orinda Way. The outdoor event will take place from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., and light refreshments will be served. It’s our first fully opened gallery event since March 2020. For more information, call 925-984-1751 or go to lamorindaarts.org.
— Lamorinda Arts Council
LAFAYETTE
Pacific Chamber Orchestra returns to the stage July 17
Pacific Chamber Orchestra’s 2021-2022 season will open July 17 and continue through to March 27, 2022. Music Director Lawrence Kohl will debut four live programs on the concert stage in Lamorinda and Livermore for its 32nd season.
The theme for PCO’s first program is “Renewal,” which will run July 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Moraga’s Campolindo Performing Arts Center and July 18 at 3 p.m. in Livermore’s Bankhead Theater. Kohl chose “Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony” because it embodies a snapshot of our current emergence from a tempestuous journey to some kind of new normal. At the end of such a journey comes “Renewal’’ or a return to freshness and vigor.
“Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony” also known as the “Pastoral,” weaves a harmonic background into a stream. The stream reaches a pool alive with a chorus of birdcalls. Beethoven penned this note to describe his final movement: “The Shepherd’s Song After the Storm.” For tickets or more details, visit pacificchamberorchestra.org online.
— PCO
ANTIOCH
See award-winning German film ‘The Silent Revolution’
The 2018 German drama “The Silent Revolution” will be screened as part of the foreign film series in El Campanil Theatre at 2 p.m. July 11. Directed by Lars Kraume, the film tells the story of a group of 12th-grade students who decide to show their solidarity with the victims of the 1956 Hungarian uprising by staging two minutes of silence during their lessons. The heartwarming film stars Leonard Scheicher, Tom Gramenz and Lena Klenke. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for youths. Go to elcampaniltheatre.com for tickets and more details.
— El Campanil Theatre
DANVILLE
New art exhibit, opening reception at Blackhawk Gallery
The Alamo Danville Artists’ Society will host the opening of Blackhawk Gallery’s new exhibit, “Renaissance,” which will be on view Wednesdays through Sundays from July 10 through Oct. 10.
Free and open to the public and curated by Debby Koonce, Julia O’Reilly and Andrea Schwartz, “Renaissance” features 30 Blackhawk Gallery member artists. Members’ artworks include paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, photographs and wearable art. The Blackhawk Gallery is at 3416 Blackhawk Plaza Circle in Danville’s Blackhawk Plaza Shopping Center. Regular gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, 11a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call 925-648-8023 or visit adas4art.org/blackhawk_gallery online.
— Blackhawk Gallery
WALNUT CREEK
‘Recology’ exhibit features art from repurposed materials
The Bedford Gallery through Oct. 17 is presenting “Reclaimed: The Art of Recology,” a survey of artists who have participated in the Artist in Residence program.
This special exhibit of work created from unwanted materials encourages viewers to perceive “trash” in a new light. Through introspective, playful and highly original explorations, these artists reveal the hidden stories our rubbish tells us about ourselves and our relationship with the world. Since 1990, more than 150 professional artists and 50 student artists have completed residencies, making art from scavenged materials.
“Recology” is meant to empower communities to conserve natural resources. Also, the Artist in Residence program is driven by a mission to amplify the voices of systemically marginalized populations; offer a community space for learning; and host a public education program that inspires children and adults to reimagine their role in creating a just and sustainable world. The gallery is inside the Lesher Center for the Arts at 1601 Civic Drive. For more information, call 925-295-1417 or go to www.bedfordgallery.org/recology.
— Bedford Gallery
MORAGA
Town Hall Theatre hosting ‘Bay Area Celebration’ July 10
Town Hall Theatre is pleased to go live again, starting with “Bay Area Celebration,” a fundraiser July 10 at the Moraga Commons that will bring Bay Area artists together through song and spoken word.
The event features local singers and spoken-word artists based in five Bay Area counties. The summer stage comes to life with themes of hope, renewal, equity, resilience, home, inclusion and celebration. The show, directed by Town Hall’s former education director, Madison Gerringer, will bring together eight unique acts by local artists.
“The goal of this celebration is to hand the mic to the community and ask, ‘What do you want to share? What do you want to say?’’ Gerringer said. “We have all collectively had a difficult year, of course. But my hope in directing this showcase is that we get a glimpse into the lives of these Bay Area individuals to see how this year has changed them and how they are going to move forward.”
Accompanying the performances will be the Steve Carter Trio, an East Bay groove-funk band with a modern style rooted in the rhythm-section innovations of Tower of Power, The Headhunters and Sly and the Family Stone. The troupe plans to open for live theater this fall. Tickets for the fundraiser are on sale at TownHallTheatre.com. The cost is $17 for adults, $13 for kids and $55 for a family four-pack.
— Town Hall Theatre
‘Midsummer Synergies’ art show July 14 until Sept. 19
The Moraga Art Gallery will present a new show, “Midsummer Synergies,” from July 14 to Sept. 19 featuring Lafayette artists Donna Arganbright, a ceramicist, and Danguole Rita Kuolas, a printmaker and etching specialist.
Along with an diverse array of appealing mugs, trays, bowls and plates, the Arganbright collection includes unique “attitude figures” — vases, each one different and each one rendered as a posturing human figure with hands on hips and clothed in a fresh, bright-hued glaze. All are for sale.
Kuolas attributes her etching expertise to a lifelong fascination with the drawn line that has evolved into environmental concerns, as evinced not only by renderings of plant life but also by replacing the usual solvents and acids in her work with water-soluble inks, nontoxic etching processes and by recycling scraps of etching paper into new sheets. The images in the exhibit show the artist branching out from her usual abstract imagery into more naturalistic representations. Kuolas will demystify printmaking by doing a free public demonstration at the gallery from 1 to 4 p.m. Aug. 8.
The show also includes arresting papier-maché sculptures by guest artist Francine Garcia and scores of works by the gallery’s roster of sculptors, painters, jewelers, photographers, ceramicists, woodworkers, printmakers and more. The gallery is in the Rheem Shopping Center at 432 Center St. in Moraga and is open from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. For more information, visit moragaartgallery.com or call 925-376-5407.
— Moraga Art Gallery
Submit area On Tap items to Judith Prieve at jprieve@bayareanewsgroup.com.
