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Moral [Fiber]
A festival of textile arts, opening at the ICA San Jose, tinned fish, and French-American gamers
Textiles have fought hard for their place on museum walls. Fiber art, which includes embroidery, knitting, and quilting, has historically been neglected due to its designation as ‘women’s work’, but blockbuster exhibitions at the Met and the Whitney demonstrated the medium’s power. I recently listened to a podcast on Gee’s Bend, an influential 200-plus year old community of Black quilters from Alabama, whose work is currently exhibiting at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. These shows expose that craft becomes art not when the work changes but when the reception does.
This week we’re traversing the Bay from North to South and East to West in pursuit of textile arts, studio visits, banned books, and tinned fish.
**Paid subscribers: scroll to the end to snag free tickets to the sold out SF Ballet Orchestra performance tonight in Oakland.
Fiber Fest
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, March 15th @ 12pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Museum of Craft & Design (SF)
Price Range: $10 (free for 12 and under)
Why I Care: Fiber is an important part of your artistic diet. The Museum of Craft and Design just celebrated its 20th year of bringing its eponymous art forms to the Bay Area. Fiber Fest is a day of interactive participation with knitting, felt, embroidery, punch needling, and crochet as the inaugural event for their Craft Connections series. The day is meant for everyone, from the uninitiated to the rocking-chair pro whipping out socks in their sleep. No promises on novices coming out with full blown sweaters, so bring your own protection against Karl the Fog.
Ticket includes entry to the RugLife exhibition, which includes 14 contemporary artists participating in one of the most ancient art forms known to humankind: the humble carpet.
Opening Reception: Blood Be Water
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, March 22nd @ 6pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Institute of Contemporary Art San José (South Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: I first met artist Esteban Raheem Abdul Raheem Samayoa at his COL Gallery opening back in July 2024, and we’ve been crossing paths ever since. Whether it’s catching up at the Root Division auction or stealing a hug at vintage anniversary parties, Raheem is always a joy to run into and an artist to be respected. I couldn’t be more excited for his first institutional solo exhibition, Blood Be Water, which explores the role of community as family and the evolution of identity through history and lived experience.
The opening will be accompanied by a night market with live music, art, and local artisans, so find a carpool buddy down to the ICA San José to make a evening of this joyous opening.
The Fishwife Cookbook Party
Category: Literary & Culinary
Date: Thursday, March 13th @ 5pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Golden Sardine (SF)
Price Range: Free to enter
Why I Care: Tinned fish has come a long way in respectability, design, and (let’s be real) price since my pescatarian days of stacked Starkist Chunk Light. Fishwife founder Becca Millstein has been a key figure in that transformation, which is why she’s been named “the CEO who made tinned fish a girl-dinner staple.” Her maritime gems will be front and center tonight to celebrate the release of Millstein’s The Fishwife Cookbook at Golden Sardine in partnership with Pierreclos Imports and Omnivore Books. Free tote bag for the first 75 attendees, so maybe wrap up that last 1:1 in front of Golden Sardine.
Looking for a more seaside book party? Check out the Coastal Book Launch tonight at Dad’s Luncheonette from 4-6pm.
Holding Ideas Hostage: Resisting Book Bans and Literary Censorship
Category: Literary
Date: Saturday, March 15th @ 2pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: African American Museum and Library at Oakland (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: This one feels pretty straightforward: don’t ban books? The plea has a centuries-long history as those in power have long recognized that words wield influence. This panel will discuss what it means to protect and disseminate thought through the written word and the implications of the digital age for the preservation of literature. The speakers will be composed of speakers from the California Librarians Black Caucus, UC Berkeley, the Design Action Collective, The New Press, and most timely, Campus Free Speech at PEN America.
Come early to peruse the African American Museum and Library at Oakland, whose collection holds 12,000+ volumes of work by or about African Americans in this non-circulating reference library.
Artists At Work: ICB/ART Open Studios
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, March 22nd @ 11am (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: ICB Artists (North Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: I’d become an artist just to have a studio on the Sausalito waterfront. ICB/ART has served thousands of artists the past fifty-plus years with its studio from its WWII-era shipbuilding hangar overlooking the Bay. The waitlist for a studio is more congested than the line for Butter & Crumble croissants, with artists waiting years to nab a coveted spot. The studio’s Artists At Work event is an even more intimate version of their open studios, with the artists opening their doors as they actively produce their artwork.
Pop in, be curious, and let inspiration wash over you from the studio on the bay.
Beyond Play: Meet the French-American Gaming Community
Category: Art
Date: Sunday, March 16th @ 5pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Gray Area (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Let the games begin! Next week is the Game Developers Conference (GDC), “the world’s premier event for developers who make the games we love.” Last year, GDC took us to Day of the Devs (back again this year), but this round we’re diving into the French-American gaming community. Villa Albertine and Game France have organized this event to include panel discussions, a presentation by artist Mélanie Courtinat, and a chance to meet with the French studios participating in Villa Albertine’s Game Changer program.
And if you’re just getting your gaming sea legs, when in doubt, respond “oui”.
Book Launch | STUFF: A New York Life of Cultural Chaos
Category: Literary & Art
Date: Friday, March 21st @ 5pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Creative Growth Art Center (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: The first words that popped out from this book were “I live with a lot of stuff”… and I took that personally. Tastemaker Kim Hastreiter is traveling from east coast to best coast to discuss her book and life as “The Queen of Stuff.” The co-founder of Paper Magazine is as comfortable running in circles with directors Pedro Almodóvar and Nora Ephron as she is with John McEnroe or Jackie Kennedy. A cultural mover and shaker, Hastreiter will discuss how she came to be a champion and collector of creativity, including discussing her personal archives of Keith Harings, skateboards, and Jean-Michel Basquiats, with whom she apparently shared a weed dealer.
Next Drop: Monday, March 24th