Oakland Museum of California Acquires Significant Contemporary Works By California Feminist Artists Centering Voices of Women, People of Color, People with Disabilities, Lesbians, and Others
| (OAKLAND, CA) June 5, 2023 — Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) has announced the acquisition of significant works by artists featured in its popular recent exhibition Hella Feminist, which explored the multifaceted history of feminism in the Bay Area and beyond and was on view in the Great Hall July 2022 through January 2023. OMCA has added nine works to its permanent collection by artists Xandra Ibarra, Inés Ixierda and Lacy Johnson, Lena Wolff and Hope Meng, Shizu Saldamando, Katherine Sherwood and Miriam Klein Stahl. A list of the works may be found below. Images of the works are linked here. “We are proud, humble and grateful to add this significant group of works to OMCA’s collections by artists that speak to the experience of historically marginalized people such as women, people of color, people with disabilities, lesbian communities and others,” says Lori Fogarty, OMCA Director and CEO. “This group of artworks expands the Museum’s ability to tell the stories of the diverse peoples and cultures of California, their identities and the dynamics of power between and among them, and help people and groups find and tell their own stories.” “The works we have added to the collections include large-scale painting, photographs, video, multimedia, sound collage and sculpture,” says Peggy Monahan, OMCA Director of Content Development. “Each represents compelling points of view based on lived experience and activism. Collectively, they convey a strong sense of the relevance and issues feminists face in Oakland and internationally in a time of great challenge and change.” Hella Feminist was the first major exhibition in OMCA’s history to focus explicitly on feminism. The exhibition featured stories of everyday people and acts of intersectional feminist resistance. Organized by Carin Adams, Erendina Delgadillo, and Lisa Silberstein, the exhibition unabashedly examined this complex topic by exploring powerful, lesser-known stories about feminism in the Bay Area and California over the last 100 years, as well as the timely issues that our society faces today. The interdisciplinary project highlighted the OMCA’s collection; artifacts that had never been on view were exhibited alongside important artworks created by Ruth Asawa, Judy Dater, Agnes Pelton and Anne Brigman, among others. However, it was the important work of contemporary California artists not currently represented in OMCA’s collection that animated the gallery and defined the exhibition experience. Each of these unique works was essential to the relevance of the exhibition and proved vital to uplifting untold and under-told stories. New Acquisitions of Works from Hella Feminist Exhibition Xandra Ibarra Triptych from the Spic Ecdysis photographic series 2014 Archival Pigment Print Edition Courtesy of Xandra Ibarra Spic Skin (Cucaracha) Vacuumed 2016 Artist made costume, plastic bag, pest control vacuum, vacuum hose Courtesy of Xandra Ibarra Fuck My Life 2012 Video,Color, Sound, 3:45 min Edition Courtesy of Xandra Ibarra Inés Ixierda and Lacy Johnson Hex The Patriarchy T-shirt 2022 Shizu Saldamando Patty’s Crew 2016 Colored pencil, spray paint, glitter on paper Courtesy of Shizu Saldamando, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles California Gabriella with Tree 2021 Oil, water color, metal leaf, sign paint, washi paper, colored pencil on wood Courtesy of Shizu Saldamando, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles California Katherine Sherwood Olympia 2014 Acrylic and mixed media on recycled linen Courtesy of Katherine Sherwood, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles California, Gift of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park by exchange Miriam Klein Stahl WORK 2020 Papercut portraits, title artwork, custom fabric jumpsuit Additional components: Zine: Miriam Klein Stahl (artwork) and Kate Schatz (text) with Imani Diltz and Jason Pontius(graphic design) Sound collage: Kate Schatz (interviews), with Alaa Mostafa (digital production) Courtesy of Miriam Stahl, Another Country Studios, Berkeley California, Gift of Mark and Lisbet Nielsen, Mark Burnside, Mary Burnside, David Chen, Milton and Mimi Faber, Gene and Judy Flath, Judy and Van Fucilla, Glenn and Gabriella Isaacson, John and Daryl Lillie, Richard Strayer and Linda Tirado, and Donald and Geri Thayer by exchange Lena Wolff and Hope Meng VOTE! For ReproductiveFreedom VOTE! For Trans Rights 2022 Work on paper Courtesy of Lena Wolff and Hope Meng |
| ON VIEW Into the Brightness: Artists from Creativity Explored, Creative Growth and NIAD Great Hall In collaboration with three profound Bay Area institutions, Into the Brightness: Artists from Creativity Explored, Creative Growth & NIAD celebrates myriad works from contemporary artists with developmental disabilities. From painting to sculpture to multimedia, these world-renowned artists are producing work of incredible power, exuberance, humor, complexity, and joy. Into the Brightness presents a variety of dynamic perspectives from the artists’ personal experiences of the world. This original, collaborative exhibition is the largest museum exhibition in over a decade featuring artists from the three local organizations –Creativity Explored in San Francisco, Creative Growth in Oakland, and NIAD (Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development) Art Center in Richmond. Featured artists include: Saul Alegria, Peter Cordova, Tranesha Smith-Kilgore, Marlon Mullen, Dorian Reid, William Scott, Dinah Shapiro, Nicole Storm, and Marilyn Wong. Angela Davis — Seize the Time Great Hall Through June 18, 2023 Angela Davis — Seize the Time is an exhibition focused on Davis and her image. Organized in partnership with the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, the exhibition provides a compelling and layered narrative of Davis’s journey. Using the Angela Davis Archive in Oakland as both the heart of the exhibition and a source, visitors are given the opportunity to investigate how we remember, preserve, and activate radical Black history, while also allowing us to re-imagine the construction of the image of Davis as an icon of American Black radical resistance, female empowerment, and a threat to the white patriarchal status quo. Beyond the archive and popular culture references, the exhibition positions Angela Davis as a continuing touchstone for contemporary artists referencing mass incarceration, Black Lives Matter, and economic disenfranchisement. Contemporary artworks assert Davis’s significance as a Black feminism intellectual and engage with her as a historical participant in a larger narrative, not simply as an unmoored image of radical chic. OMCA Kids: Nature Playspace Gallery of California Natural Sciences Ongoing For Children Ages 2 to 5 Little learners can unleash their curiosity and imagination in the newly-created OMCA Kids: Nature Playspace. Located in the Gallery of California Natural Sciences, the playroom is focused on the unique needs of children ages 2 to 5, along with their families and caregivers. Play is critical to every child’s healthy development and the playroom offers something for everyone, from building materials and nature-themed puzzles to hands-on activities that spark creativity, wonder, and joy. Our youngest museum visitors can also discover the animals that make their homes in Oakland’s streams, hills, and backyards. The playroom gives families a fun, safe place to play and to build community with other families. Admission to OMCA is free for kids 12 and under. |