Alameda’s dual poet laureates, Gene Kahane, top with a local barista, and Cathy Dana, bottom, have launched a new literary program to encourage poets. The “Poem of the Week” project now has displays in three coffee shops and all three branches of the Alameda Free Library thanks to the laureates. In addition to the libraries, local poets are having their works displayed in Coffee and Tea Traders on Bay Farm Island, Julie’s on Park Street and Spritzer’s on the West End. Poems are swapped out weekly at each location.
Local artists have until this Saturday, Nov. 10, to register for the 2018 Downtown Alameda Holiday Window Contest. The contest is presented by Flax Art & Design, Alameda Artists and the Downtown Alameda Business Assoiciation. All Bay Area artists are invited to participate. Voting on the windows begins Thursday, Nov. 29, and ends Dec. 17 with winners announced Dec. 20. Winners will be chosen in people’s choice, most original, most traditional, best use of lights and best use of merchandise categories.
Bringing the community together for a celebration of global cultures through dance, music, art and food, Rhythmix Cultural Works presents its third annual ‘Round the World Festival this Sunday, Oct. 7, from noon to 3 p.m. Guests of all ages are invited to take a journey through West Africa, Brazil, Japan, Persia, India, Spain and Latin America with hands-on arts activities, demos, delicious treats and more.
For the past six months, RCW has been bringing art and music to the streets of Alameda with the theme of Radical Beauty as part of its Love Our Island Art Walk series. Showcasing a diverse range of Bay Area artists and musicians, Love Our Island Art Walks feature temporary art installations in empty storefront windows, accompanied by free live musical performances to activate Alameda’s downtown districts.
So far 12 art installations along with 17 performance groups have been presented as part of this project along Park Street, Webster Street and South Shore Center.
Alameda teen Malcolm Fooks has been drawing since he was a very small boy. In the first-ever solo exhibition of his works, he revisits drawings that his mom kept over the years and recreates their essence, using his current skills with graphite. Each simple drawing from his past has been transformed into a hyperreal masterpiece, showing significant artistic growth along the way.
From simple portraits to planes and suits of armor, Fooks’ imagination and incredible detail make the exhibition a fun journey from Then to Now, also the show’s title.
