Oakland Museum of California Announces Holiday Festivities for 2015 and Special Holiday Museum Hours
(OAKLAND, CA)—The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) announces 2015 holiday events with a focus on craft and the handmade throughout the Museum galleries, programs and OMCA Store. The Museum offers special holiday hours during the last two weeks of the year, with more chances for visitors to share a uniquely California experience with out-of-town guests. The Museum is open for both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve from 11 am to 3 pm, and stays open Monday, December 28, through Wednesday, December 30, from 11 am to 5 pm. The Museum is closed for Christmas Day on Friday, December 25 and New Year’s Day on Friday, January 1. The New Year starts up with Free First Sunday on January 3, 2016.
Two OMCA Store pop-up markets focus on works made by hand, at the two-day California Indian Market on Friday, November 13, and Saturday, November 14 and also the Bears for Humanity pop-up shop on Friday, December 4. The OMCA Store also offers curated artisanal local crafts and merchandise, where shoppers can expect to find unique, museum-quality gifts for everyone on their list. A special collaboration with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage on Free First Sunday on December 6 brings the Sounds of California front-and-center in an interactive performance and dialogue with artists from a range of immigrant communities. The new exhibition UNEARTHED: Found + Made opens in the Gallery of California Art on Saturday, December 12.
Friday Nights @ OMCA, the popular late-night weekly event featuring gourmet Off the Grid food trucks, live music, DJs, dancing, half-off gallery admission, and more, kicks it into high gear for the holiday season with a special Black Friday edition on Friday, November 27, including a screening of award-winning tattoo documentary SKIN STORIES. On Friday Nights @ OMCA throughout December, families can make holiday cards in a free art activity. A Quilting Show-and-Tell on Friday, December 4 inspired by exhibition Yo-Yos & Half Squares: Contemporary California Quilts invites visitors to learn about quilts from the artists and collectors who love and make them. On the final Friday Nights @ OMCA for the year, Friday, December 18, kids and families are invited to enjoy story time with the Oakland Public Library and a talk with artists from the special exhibition Rituals + Remembrance. After Friday, December 18, Friday Nights @ OMCA takes a hiatus, returning for a new season in January 2016.
HOLIDAY EVENTS AT OMCA
2nd Annual California Indian Market
Friday, November 13, 2015, 3–9 pm
Saturday, November 14, 2015, 10 am–4 pm
In celebration of Native American Heritage Month—and just in time for the holidays—shop the second annual California Indian Market at OMCA, presented in partnership with News from Native California. The event features jewelry, baskets, prints, and other modern interpretations of Indian artistry. Find exquisite creations to share with your loved ones, and meet and support artisans from the California Indian Community. On Friday after 5 pm, enjoy half-off Museum admission during Friday Nights @ OMCA, featuring Off the Grid food trucks, live music, family activities, and more.
Friday Nights @ OMCA: ‘Black Friday’ Night
Friday, November 27, 2015, 5–9 pm
Take a break from cooking, cleaning, and hosting, and let OMCA throw the party for you and your out-of-town guests with fun, festivities, and food trucks from Off the Grid. Savor California beer and wine, check out the galleries, live music, dance lessons, food demos, activities for kids, and more, all for half-price admission for adults, free for ages 18 and under! Join OMCA for a special screening of SKIN STORIES, the award-winning documentary on Pacific traditions in tattooing, inspired by special exhibition Pacific Worlds. Still need some gifts for your list? Visit the OMCA Store, full of artisan crafts and uniquely Californian wares. Make your Thanksgiving weekend a warm one with OMCA.
OMCA Film | SKIN STORIES
Friday, November 27, 2015, 7–8:45 pm
Enjoy a can’t-miss screening of SKIN STORIES, an anthology of stories and stunning images depicting the transformative power of an art inscribed on the body, as a way to honor the past, explore one’s inner self, and preserve a culture for the future, highlighting individual stories and the evolution of cultural traditions in the Pacific. Following the screening, join a Q&A session with special guests from Pacific Islanders in Communications. This screening connects to OMCA special exhibition Pacific Worlds. Included with Museum admission. On Friday after 5 pm, enjoy half-off Museum admission during Friday Nights @ OMCA, featuring Off the Grid food trucks, live music, family activities, and more.
Free First Sunday | December 2015
Sunday, December 6, 2015, 10 am–6 pm
Enjoy a free day at OMCA! Visit major exhibition Pacific Worlds, exploring California’s relationship to the Pacific through objects from the collection, community voices, and interactive experiences. Don’t miss special exhibition Bees: Tiny Insect, Big Impact in the Gallery of California Natural Sciences. Pick up a treat for yourself or a loved one in the OMCA Store, or enjoy a lunch or snack in Blue Oak café. Join an OMCA Docent for the Architecture Tour at 1 pm, the Gallery of California Art Tour at 2 pm, or the Gallery of California History Tour at 3 pm. Free to the public.
OMCA Community | Sounds of California
Sunday, December 6, 2015, 2 pm
Enjoy a unique musical event co-produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, and Radio Bilingüe, in collaboration with the Oakland Museum of California, celebrating the expressive power of music through performances by and dialogue among artists, cultural activists, and you. With a particular focus on migration, identity, and cultural transformation, Sounds of California is part of a collaborative initiative that explores music and sound repertoire in California communities. Today, fifty years after the Hart-Celler/Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, landmark legislation that changed the face of America, public discussion around immigration is clamorous. Sounds of California documents how musical culture and soundscapes record the movement and energies reshaping the state. This program will be presented in English and Spanish and recorded for future broadcast by Radio Bilingüe. Tickets are $5.
Fridays Nights @ OMCA
Friday, December 4, 2015, 5–9 pm
Friday, December 11, 2015, 5–9 pm
Friday, December 18, 2015, 5–9 pm
Off the Grid food trucks, live music, a holiday card-making family activity, quilt demonstrations, artisan trunk shows, special shopping events from the OMCA Store, and extended Museum hours make Friday Nights @ OMCA a bright way to ring in the holiday season. Gallery admission is half-off for adults, free for ages 18 and under. Garage parking is available for a $5 flat fee starting at 5 pm.
What to expect in December:
5–9 pm: Half-off gallery admission for adults, free for ages 18 and under
5–9 pm: Local beer and wine specials in the Blue Oak beer garden
5–9 pm: All Museum galleries open late
5–9 pm: Gourmet food trucks from Off the Grid
5–9 pm: Select featured artists at the OMCA Store pop-up market
5–6:30 pm: December resident DJ spinning hits
5–8 pm: Family-friendly drop-in art activity: make a holiday card inspired by special exhibition Pacific Worlds
6:30–7 pm: dance instruction
7–9 pm: Live band playing music
December 4 only:
5–9 pm: OMCA Store pop-up featuring Bears for Humanity
7:45 pm: A Snack Size Docent Tour, a fifteen-minute un-tour in the galleries
6–8 pm: Makers & Tasters series, featuring a Quilting Show-and-Tell where guest artists and collectors talk about what they collect and make and why, , inspired by exhibition Yo-Yos & Half Squares: Contemporary California Quilts
December 18 only:
6–6:30 pm: Story time with Oakland Public Library
7–8:30 pm: An in-gallery talk with artists from exhibition Rituals + Remembrance
OMCA Store Pop-up: Bears for Humanity
Friday, December 4, 2015, 5–9 pm
Can a teddy bear change the world? Find out how at a special OMCA Store pop-up market featuring Bears for Humanity! A Union City-based organization, Bears for Humanity is one of the only 100% certified organic toy companies in the US. For every Teddy Bear sold, one is given to a child in a need. Visit the Friday Nights @ OMCA pop-up shop and pick out your very own bear, with special OMCA swag! For every bear sold, a bear will be donated to the young patients of Children’s Hospital Oakland. On Friday after 5 pm, enjoy half-off Museum admission during Friday Nights @ OMCA, featuring Off the Grid food trucks, live music, family activities, and more.
UNEARTHED: Found + Made
Opens December 12, 2015
In a unique mash-up, UNEARTHED: Found + Made, a new exhibition at OMCA, intermixes work by a contemporary artist with the creative practice of amateur local clubs. Oakland-born, Los Angeles-based artist Jedediah Caesar imitates geological processes in making his sculptures, sometimes encasing found objects from the urban environment in clear or colored resin. The California Suiseki Society and the San Francisco Suiseki Kai practice a Japanese tradition of carefully collecting, appreciating, and displaying stones on carved wooden platforms. Placing Caesar’s sculpture alongside suiseki by members of these clubs highlights a similarity in process they share: each collects loose material from the landscape, reworking and presenting it for shared appreciation. Highlighting the mashing-up of two distinct types of activity and the literal act of taking things from the earth, UNEARTHED: Found + Made, on view December 12, 2015 through April 24, 2016, features the comparisons between these two practices to generate conversation and mutual understanding across communities and creative ways of working.
OMCA Artist Talk | Rituals + Remembrance
Friday, December 18, 2015, 7–8:30 pm
Get a peek inside the minds and practice of two prolific Bay Area artists featured in this year’s Días de los Muertos exhibition, Rituals + Remembrance. Join exhibition curator Evelyn Orantes for a moderated conversation with Nancy Hom and other artists featured in the exhibition. Learn more about the multicultural focus of Rituals + Remembrance and hear from these unique artists about their approach to their work, the mediums they use, and how art practice is a conduit for honoring the past and remembering. Included with Museum admission. On Friday after 5 pm, enjoy half-off Museum admission during Friday Nights @ OMCA, featuring Off the Grid food trucks, live music, family activities, and more.
Special Holiday Hours
Wednesday, December 23, 2015, 11 am–5 pm
Thursday, December 24, 2015, 11 am–3 pm
Monday, December 28, 2015, 11 am–5 pm
Tuesday, December 29, 2015, 11 am–5 pm
Wednesday, December 30, 2015, 11 am–5 pm
Thursday, December 31, 2015, 11 am–3 pm
Make the last days of 2015 memorable. OMCA stays open until 3 pm on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and opens for extra days this holiday season, so you can bring out-of-town guests to take advantage of all that the Museum has to offer. Visit for the final weeks of special exhibitions Pacific Worlds and Rituals + Remembrance. Check out the great end-of-year sales at the OMCA Store. Enjoy the view of Lake Merritt from the gardens and grab a bite at Blue Oak café.
Free First Sunday
Sunday, January 3, 2016, 11 am–5 pm
Welcome in the New Year at OMCA with the first Free Sunday of 2016! Visit the Galleries of California Art, History, and Natural Sciences. Special exhibitions on view in the Gallery of California Art include UNEARTHED: Found + Made and Yo-Yos & Half Squares: Contemporary California Quilts. The whole family will love Bees: Tiny Insect, Big Impact in the Gallery of California Natural Sciences. Don’t miss the final day of special exhibition Pacific Worlds and check out the tour at 3 pm. And it’s also the last day for Rituals + Remembrance. Check out the Architecture Tour at 1 pm, and the California Art Tour at 2 pm. Pick up a treat for yourself or a loved one in the OMCA Store. Enjoy a lunch or snack in Blue Oak café. Free to the public.
ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHTS @ OMCA
The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) presents Friday Nights @ OMCA, a regular evening series every Friday from 5 to 9 pm, in partnership with Off the Grid: Lake Merritt @ OMCA—the first major food truck market in the East Bay. Friday Nights @ OMCA features extended Museum hours, in-gallery programming, a beer garden from Blue Oak café, live music, dancing, hands-on family activities, and more. Gallery admission is half-off for adults, free for ages 18 and under. Event parking in the Museum garage is $5. Presented in partnership with Off the Grid: Lake Merritt @ OMCA. Friday Nights @ OMCA is made possible in part by generous support from Bank of America and the Koret Foundation. Friday Nights @ OMCA art programs are made possible by generous support from the Walter and Elise Haas Fund. Makers & Tasters Series sponsored by Whole Foods Market on final Fridays in 2015.
ABOUT THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA
The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) brings together collections of art, history and natural science under one roof to tell the extraordinary stories of California and its people. OMCA’s groundbreaking exhibits tell the many stories that comprise California with many voices, often drawing on first-person accounts by people who have shaped California’s cultural heritage. Visitors are invited to actively participate in the Museum as they learn about the natural, artistic and social forces that affect the state and investigate their own role in both its history and its future. With more than 1.9 million objects, OMCA is a leading cultural institution of the Bay Area and a resource for the research and understanding of California’s dynamic cultural and environmental heritage.
VISITOR INFORMATION
Museum admission is $15.95 general; $10.95 seniors and students with valid ID, $6.95 youth ages 9 to 17, and free for children 8 and under and Members. OMCA offers onsite underground parking, with validation for Museum visitors, and is conveniently located one block from the Lake Merritt BART station, on the corner of 10th Street and Oak Street. The accessibility ramp is located at the new 1000 Oak Street main entrance. Regular hours are 11 am to 5 pm, Wednesday through Sunday, 11 am to 9 pm Fridays.
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