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Beauty [Sleep]
Alexander McQueen, the sleep patterns of parenthood, holiday markets, and a promise to not use the word grateful
Sleep has never been my strong suit. My childhood home was engulfed in perpetual chaos as we juggled soccer, piano, fencing, wrestling, and a multitude of obligations that came with five hyperactive siblings. But once bedtime rolled around, it was finally just me. I became habitually ready to sacrifice an hour of sleep for an hour of silence and solitude. Maybe it's in the genes: My dad kicked it as an emergency room doctor with six kids and zero caffeine, with some founding on the side; and I’m still ready to sacrifice my sleep for morning runs and evening socializing.
Here’s to finding moments of sensory deprivation this week along with plum liqueur, print sales, and an ode to Alexander McQueen.
Chapbook Launch: Half Past Eight: Sleep Optional
Category: Literary
Date: Sunday, December 1st @ 7pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Black Bird Bookstore and Café (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: There's no better time than Thanksgiving to remember that family relations can be... complicated. Seven Bay Area poets have come together to wrestle with familial ties, parenthood, and the taxing nature of caregiving in their chapbook, or short booklet, Half Past Eight: Sleep Optional. The book's launch event will celebrate their collaboration and include a reading that dives into what it means to be a family member and the fluidity of the roles we play.
Opening Night: East Bay Print Sale
Category: Art
Date: Thursday, December 5th @ 3pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Max’s Garage Press (Tiny Splendor) (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Prints are the art collector’s starter drug. The medium allows artists to experiment with color, form, and technique while still selling for less than a two-person DoorDash dinner. The East Bay Print Sale will include prints from local and international artists: a perfect mix for the aspiring collectors among us. The sale will run all weekend, if a school night art adventure isn’t in the cards.
Proceeds support the community print studio and the artists, which reminds me… I totally have a risograph workshop gift certificate at Max’s Garage Press. Note to self: sign-up before next year’s print sale comes around.
Gallery 3630 Presents: McQueen
Category: Film
Date: Tuesday, December 3rd @ 7:30pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Balboa Theater (SF)
Price Range: $15
Why I Care: I lived halfway across the world when Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty came to the Met and became one of the top 10 most visited exhibitions in the museum’s history, joining the ranks of King Tut and Mona Lisa. I still regret missing that exhibition, but I've since had the privilege of attending other fantastic couture shows, like Guo Pei at the Legion of Honor, where I’ve tried to wrap my head around how a material like fabric can make both my cozy (read: raggedy) sweatshirt and the work of art on the mannequin. This documentary outlines how McQueen went from East London high school drop out to l’enfant terrible of the fashion world, all before he took his own life at the age of 40.
Wonderland: Holiday Art Market & Gallery Openings
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, December 7th @ 12pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Minnesota Street Project (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Get your mulled wine mugs ready, because holiday markets will be in full force these next few weeks. Every market will have its special touch, but a market paired with gallery openings is an irresistible mention. Minnesota Street Project will have wreathing-making, holiday crafting, and works for sale by artists across their Foundation and galleries. Five of the space’s galleries will have openings later that evening accompanied by Lady Victory bartending and a Bored Lord DJ set. So if the market doesn’t deliver, you can find a gift for that really special someone on the gallery walls. Like really, really special.
California Umeshu Launch Party
Category: Culinary
Date: Friday, November 29th @ 2pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Umami Mart (East Bay)
Price Range: Free to enter
Why I Care: If Thanksgiving’s put you in an I-need-a-drink mood, have I got the cultural affair for you! Umami Mart will be there to support you in the aftermath of sibling drama and political juggernauts with the launch of its California Umeshu. Ume is a Japanese plum and shu means sake, which is an appropriate portmanteau for the plum liqueur. This particular vintage has been a two-year joint project with Berkeley bottler Pekut & Carwick, so resist the phantom urge to make umeshu at home and take the easy, designated-driver way out.
East Bay Alternative Book & Zine Fest
Category: Literary
Date: Saturday, December 7th @ 12pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: David Brower Center (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: The unknown unknowns are hard to stumble on in this age of algorithmic discovery. The East Bay Alternative Book & Zine Fest makes those happy accidents all the more possible by providing a space for local creators to present works that anchor in the unexpected. Artist collective Rock Paper Scissors is sponsoring the event as a non-profit that also believes in the mission of creative affordability in the Bay.
Can’t wait that long for your zine fix? Check out Albany Print & Zine Fest this weekend, which will include a live screenprinting workshop with Sunset Printshop.
Creative Growth 50th Anniversary Holiday Show
Category: Music & Art
Date: Friday, December 6th @ 6pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Creative Growth Art Center (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: 50 never looked so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Creative Growth is rounding out its 50th anniversary celebrations with a Holiday Show that includes artwork, jewelry, and ceramics by the space’s roster of artists. All works sold will support the center’s mission of “empower[ing] artists with disabilities” while giving you yet another chance to leave a holiday market with something for someone other than yourself. The event will include live music, snacks, and, as is always the case at Creative Growth, an inclusive space people of all ages and abilities.
Next Drop: Monday, December 9th