Such Messy Messy Photos

So the Messy Monkey Arts live painting event was a blast, whip yourself with a banana if you missed it. But check out a few photos from the event to console yourself. Apparently Messy Monkeys, a little wine and a good cause make for great, or at least really fun, artwork. Thanks to Kelly Vaagsland Wainwright for the photos.-kwan

11/14 O-Scene Weekend

Friday, Nov. 14

Reception: Final Dream Fringe

Swarm Gallery’s latest show, Final Dream Fringe, with Erik Friedman and Reuben Margolin explores the inspiration drawn from the beauty of nature and urbanity, and the logic of mathematics and technology.
Erik Friedman’s work focuses on investigating the industrial and severely depressed section of East Oakland where he lives. He looks closely within the seemingly bleak visual landscape and discovers where bright, beautiful, and hopeful intrusions occur.
Reuben Margolin’s large-scale kinetic sculptures invite contemplation from a variety of perspectives: as a mesmerizing kinetic sculpture; as a visualization of the complexities of wave motion and related scientific and mathematical concepts; and as an intricate and beautiful mechanical device. Reuben’s work combines the logic of mathematics with inspiration drawn from the beauty and patterns of nature. The artists will discuss the exhibit on Nov. 19 at 6pm.

Final Dream Fringe
Free
6-8pm
Swarm Gallery
560 Second St.,Oakland
http://www.swarmstudios.net

Womansong Circle with Betsy Rose and Evelie Posch and

The Womansong Circles are monthly participatory singing groups for women welcoming all voices and skill levels for stress relieving sessions of Chants, rounds, simple harmonies, and improvisation. The Circles are the creation of healing singer and writer Betsye Rose, and features sessions led by Evelie Posch, a sacred singer, writer musician and educator who blends tribal, fusion and devotional music.

Womansong Circle with Betsy Rose and Evelie Posch and
$15-20
7:15pm-12am
First Congregational Church of Berkeley
2345 Channing St, Berkeley
:510-525-7082
www.betsyrosemusic.org

Build and They Will Come w/KRS-One

The Blast Master, Mr. Temple of Hip Hop himself, is back in the Bay for a series of shows kicking it with the talented local talent. While his claims a few years ago that “KRS-One is hip hop” might be an overstatement, it’s not much of one. One of the 1st MC’s to combine social observations with his rhymes while ushering in the era of tongue twisting lyrical niceness back when most heads were still working with nursery rhyme deliveries, Kris has been there at every stage of the game. And at 43 years old, dude is still one of the illest freestyle MC’s out there. He’s joined by Oakland’s freestyle king Mistah F.A.B., Mavrik, Bo-Rat and DJ True Justice.

Build it and They Will Come: KRS-One
$25
9pm
Shattuck Downlow
2284 Shattuck Downlow, Berkeley
www.shattuckdownlow.com

Green Festival

The nation’s longest running green living event stops in San Francisco this weekend with 125 lectures and live presentations, workshops, green films, kids’ activities, live music and over 350 eco-friendly vendors.
The festival highlights economic and environmental sustainability issues and celebrates what’s working in our communities-for people, business and the environment. Featured guests include Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Cornel West, Winona LaDuke and Van Jones.

Green Festival
$15/day $35 3 day package
Friday 12-7pm, Saturday 10am-7pm, Sunday 11am-6pm

San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center
635 8th St., San Francisco

Giftcenter Pavillion Theater
888 Brannan St. San Francisco

http://www.greenfestivals.org/san-francisco

10/31 Code Switching at Swarm Gallery

Last week Swarm Gallery unveiled two new exhibits, both by members of San Francisco arts collective Quorum:

Code Switching

“Linguists define “code-switching” as an alternation between two or more languages within a single conversation between people who have one or more language in common. What this means for most of us is that we participate in, and practice a type of verbal syntactic shape-shifting, frequently changing terms of speech and expression to accommodate the fluctuating needs of discourse within different social and cultural interactions. Often an unconscious act, code-switching is used for many purposes, including protection, identification, recognition, approval, and control.
With this exhibition, Quorum artists address these aspects of code-switching, exploring when and where the switch occurs and why the switch happens.”–Swarm