Featured: MoAD – Black Refractions – Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem
See it before it is gone. This traveling exposition created by the American Federation of Arts makes its first stop in the Bay Area at San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD). Encompassing a century of creative achievement by artists of African descent, the exhibit will effectively take over MoAD with highlights from the permanent collection from the Studio Museum in Harlem. Works by Leroy Clarke, Kerry James Marshall, James VanDerZee, and William T. Williams draw out the themes and challenges impacting the African diaspora. Go now; the exhibit moves out on April 14. 415.358.7200.
MUSEUMS
MARIN
Hands-On Harley-Davidson
Thru May 5
Families are given an opportunity to learn about STEM in action against the backdrop of a replica Harley-Davidson — and even hit a (simulated) open road.
Bay Area Discovery Museum (Sausalito)
415.339.3900, baykidsmuseum.org
Bolinas Museum
Exhibitions, programs and events focusing on contemporary coastal Marin artists.
415.868.0330, bolinasmuseum.org
Marin History Museum
Numerous collections with historical articles, documents, artifacts and photographs commemorate traditions, innovation and creativity in Marin.
415.382.1182, marinhistory.org
Viola Frey: Her Self
Thru April 21
Mounted 15 years after Frey’s death, this exhibit traces the artist’s career with a focus on self-portraits in multiple mediums. From drawings to oil paintings to ceramics, the show presents a more personal view of the artist and includes her work gloves and boots too.
Marin Museum of Contemporary Art (Novato)
415.506.0137, marinmoca.org
Native Expressions
Thru June 28
Featuring the works of Becky Olvera Schultz, whose art is inspired by peoples indigenous to the Americas, the exhibit includes clay and mixed-media masks, rawhide shields and other works by this well-known California artist.
The Museum of the American Indian (Novato)
415.897.4064, marinindian.com
BAY AREA
Lifting Barbells
Thru May 12
Artist Kim Heecheon uses letters from his girlfriend, images of Seoul and data from his late father’s smart watch to come to terms with his father’s death.
Asian Art Museum (SF)
415.581.3711, asianart.org
Ink, Paper, Silk: One Hundred Years of Collecting Japanese Art
Thru April 14
A selection from BAMPFA’s Japanese art collection, featuring woodblock prints, lacquerware and more.
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley)
510.642.0808, bampfa.org
Giants of Land and Sea
Discover the forces that make Northern California a place unlike anywhere else. Step inside an immersive fog room, feel a jolt in an earthquake simulator, and explore marine mammal skeletons and models.
California Academy of Sciences (SF)
415.379.8000, calacademy.org
Peace, Love, and Woodstock
Through September 8
The smallest, dare we say flightiest, Peanuts character gets his own exhibition exploring all things Woodstock, from namesake to nest.
Charles M. Schulz Museum (Santa Rosa)
707.579.4452, schulzmuseum.org
Predicting the Past: Zohar Studios, the Lost Years
Thru July 7
Arranged by L.A.-based artist Stephen Berkman, this exhibition of photography and environmental installations examines the New York City work of 19th-century Jewish immigrant photographer Shimmel Zohar.
Contemporary Jewish Museum
415.655.7800, thecjm.org
Matt Mullican: Between Sign and Subject
Thru Jan 26, 2020
Using color to map five worlds of his own creation, Matt Mullican showcases a personal cosmology represented by 50 works across collage, video, sculpture and other mediums.
de Young (SF)
415.750.3600, deyoung.famsf.org
Open Studio
April 6
Reopening after sustaining extensive fire damage in October 2017, this home to a permanent collection of notable works by Northern California artists is holding a community open studio event open to all ages, April 6.
di Rosa (Napa)
707.226.5991, dirosaart.org
Explorables: Electricity
Apr 20
Using squishy circuits (playdough’s saline character is a natural conductor of electricity), explore salty and sugary doughs and their circuit power to build sculptures that light up.
Exploratorium
415.397.5673, exploratorium.edu
The Future of the Past: Mummies and Medicine
Thru April 7
Examine two 2,600-year-old Egyptian mummies via a virtual interactive dissection table, as well as amulets and tomb furnishings, through April 7 (SF).
Legion of Honor (SF)
415.750.3600, legionofhonor.famsf.org
Material Domestication
Thru July 14
The process of physical repetition in weaving, knitting and other fiber-based techniques is revealed via the works of six contemporary artists who investigate the notion of craftwork as women’s work,
Museum of Craft and Design (SF)
415.773.0303, sfmcd.org
Queer California: Untold Stories
Thru Aug 11
Experience social activism, push past mainstream narratives, and share personal history through the participatory gallery in this major exhibition about California’s LGBTQ+ history and culture.
Oakland Museum of California (Oakland)
510.318.8400, museumca.org
The Sea Ranch: Architecture, Environment and Idealism
Thru April 28
A full-scale architectural replica of the Sea Ranch, a beacon of modernism on the Northern California coast, anchors an exhibit focusing on the vision and the reality of this community.
SFMOMA (SF)
415.357.4000, sfmoma.org
Richard Shaw and Wanxin Zhang
Thru April 7
An exhibit of recent clay works by two Bay Area artists, touching on exploration of the cultural exchange between China and the West.
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (Sonoma)
707.939.7862, svma.org
People, Paper Power: Building Community Through the Tenderloin Times
Thru April 30
This exhibit explores the collective power, amplified by the neighborhood newspaper, of the diverse voices — Khmer, Laotian, Vietnamese and others — that call the Tenderloin home.
The JCCSF Katz Snyder Gallery (SF)
415.292.1200, jccsf.org
The Walt Disney Family Museum
Exhibits highlighting Disney Studios artists and the life and times of Walt Disney.
415.345.6800, waltdisney.org
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Leading-edge contemporary art and cultural programs that spur and support societal movement are at the heart of this cultural institution (SF).
415.978.2787, ybca.org
WALKS/TALKS
Jon Meacham
Apr 1-4
The renowned presidential historian and 2009 Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House brings his expert knowledge of religion and politics to Marin.
Marin Veterans’ Auditorium (San Rafael)
415.473.7000, marincenter.org
Destiny Beyond Earth: Interstellar Travel and Immortality
Apr 8
Dr. Michio Kaku, the co-founder of string field theory, explores the scientific possibility of moving the human experience to outer space.
Sydney Goldstein Theater (San Francisco)
415.392.4400, cityarts.net
Still Processing
Apr 10
Co-hosts of the New York Times arts-and-culture podcast Still Processing, Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris take their show on the road.
Sydney Goldstein Theater (San Francisco)
415.392.4400, cityarts.net
Window on the Work: Jazz
Apr 16
With a focus on the production, design, casting, and rehearsal process, this month’s program looks at Marin Theatre Company’s Jazz.
Mill Valley Public Library (Mill Valley).
415.389.4292, millvalleylibrary.org
Blossoms, Bees, and Barnyard Babies
Apr 27–28
Meet farmers and producers, discover your local food shed and experience the vibrant colors and smells of springin Sonoma in this annual farm tour.
Various locations (Sonoma).
Combating Climate Change
Apr 30
Author Bill McKibben (Falter, The End of Nature, Deep Economy) and Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior vice president of Climate, Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization for the Hip Hop Caucus, sit down for a chat with 350.org’s executive director, May Boeve.
Sydney Goldstein Theater (San Francisco)
415.392.4400, cityarts.net
Christina Mueller is a long-time Bay Area food writer. She hails from the East Coast and has spent way too much time in South America and Europe. She discovered her talent as a wordsmith in college and her love of all things epicurean in grad school. She has written for Condé Nast Contract Publishing, Sunset, and the Marin Independent Journal, among others. She volunteers with California State Parks and at her childrens’ schools, and supports the Marin Audubon Society, PEN America, and Planned Parenthood. When she is not drinking wine by a fire, she is known to spend time with her extended family.
