Inside Out Issue 9

Inside | Out

a n e w stat e o f m i n d at t h e Oa k l a n d m useu m o f ca li fo rn ia

A retrospective of the art of Hung Liu

Suburban Dreams / Photographs by Beth Yarnelle Edwards we/customize / A new look at California’s love affair with maker culture

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welcome

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Dear OMCA Family

e begin the new year with much to be thankful for and even more to look forward to in the months ahead. We are grateful for and honored by the recent recognition OMCA has received in both awards and through generous grants in support of Museum programming (see page 5 for more details). But more than the accolades or even the financial investment that these awards represent, we believe they signal the meaningful role OMCA is playing in our community and in the museum field, and we hope you, our Members, share in our pride for receiving these tributes.

Not ones to rest on our laurels, however, the Museum staff is hard at work on current projects to launch this spring. Our major exhibition opening in March is the well-deserved retrospective of beloved Oakland-based artist Hung Liu. Many of us know Hung’s work best from the breathtaking glass wall installation, Going Away, Coming Home, at the Oakland Airport, which greets us upon arrival or signifies our departure in the way many of Hung’s works embody transitions, remembrances, and crossings. We know you will not want to miss this exhibition or the wide range of programming we’re pleased to present in conjunction with the show, including opportunities to meet one of the warmest and most generous artists one could ever hope to encounter.

In addition, we continue our ongoing series of California Photography exhibitions with the works of Beth Yarnelle Edwards, an artist who explores the familiar but strangely compelling tableaus of suburban life. And our Oakland Rover will continue its missions into customizing communities as we explore how Californians modify, hack, and transform everyday objects into creative expressions of personal and communal identity. The Rover is a component of our experimental project, we/customize, an exhibition that taps into the maker in all of us with weekly opportunities to come into the gallery and create!

The countdown begins, as well, for the unveiling of our Gallery of California Natural Sciences. You’ll want to save the date for weekend festivities from May 31 through June 2 as we not only celebrate the opening of our Natural Sciences exhibits but also mark the culmination of the Museum’s five-year physical transformation and the completion of our $63 million capital project. What a journey!

As always, we thank you for your support and wish you and your families all the best for 2013.

Lori Fogarty Director and CEO

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contents

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Hung Liu, detail, September 2001, 2001.

Oil on canvas. Collection of Driek and Michael Zirinsky.

features 8

Summoning Ghosts A major retrospective of the work of acclaimed painter

Hung Liu explores the elusive nature of memory, history, and identity.

departments 4 Thought Leader A conversation with Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist and East Bay resident Michael Chabon.

12 Stalker of the Real

Photographer Beth Yarnelle Edwards captures

riveting moments from everyday life in her new exhibition,

Suburban Dreams.

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Rove On! Meet the Oakland Rover, a special vehicle designed

to foster and promote California’s culture of customization.

5 Recognition Over the past few years, the Museum and its partners have been

Beth Yarnelle Edwards, Art and Carol, 1997.

Collection of OMCA, gift of an anonymous donor.

widely honored for their many achievements.

6 Faces of OMCA Participants in the Museum’s school programs explain why OMCA is such a special place to learn.

16 Retail Tales The OMCA Store offers a selection of handcrafted treats, one-of-a-kind indulgences, and gifts galore.

17 Member Services An overview of the many advantages of OMCA Membership.

18 Calendar A guide to OMCA’s exhibitions, events, and programs.

The Story of California. The Story of You.

Oakland Museum of California

On the cover: Hung Liu, Mu Nu (Mother and Daughter), 1997. Oil on canvas. Collection of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Museum purchase.

Inside Out is published three times a year by the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak Street, Oakland, CA 94607. museumca.org ©2013 Editor: Kelly A. Koski

Caption tk.

Contributors: Lori Fogarty, Maggie R. Pico, Loretta Lowery, Joni Hess, Gail Bernstein, Nathan Kerr, Claudia Leung Photography: Terry Lorant Produced by: Diablo Custom Publishing dcpubs.com

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Thought Leader

A conversation with

Michael Chabon Pulitzer Prize–Winning WRITER Michael Chabon’s latest novel, Telegraph Avenue, takes place in “Brokeland,” the eclectic region straddling Oakland and Berkeley, where the author has lived since 1997. INSIDE OUT recently caught up with Chabon to talk about how the diversity of his hometown helped inspire his new book.

In the OMCA Store Telegraph Avenue, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and other works by Michael Chabon are available in the OMCA Store.

Telegraph Avenue has such a rich sense of place.

What about its setting most appeals to you?

I really value and love the diversity of this area, however you want to define it—ethnic, religious, age, economic, and all other aspects. There are very few parts of the country where you can find so many types of people living in such close proximity—and not always harmoniously, by any means. In other parts of the U.S., things start to feel a lot more segregated, but it’s always very apparent to me when I come back here that this is where I feel most comfortable. you grew up in Columbia, Maryland, a planned community that was intentionally integrated.

What’s different about where you live now?

Leader Lunch with Michael Chabon Monday, Feb. 25, 11:30 am–2 pm Tickets to attend this special event are available to Members of OMCA's Donor Forum. For more information or to upgrade your membership to the Donor Forum level, contact Emily Macenko at 510-318-8502 or emacenko@museumca.org.

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In Columbia it was just black and white, nothing else. Here it’s much more complicated and intricate and interesting. There was a much higher degree of willed diversity there, where people moved to Columbia in the early days because they were attracted to its stated mission to be racially integrated.

Here it’s more circumstantial; people value that diversity and it’s part of their reason to want to live here, but that diversity is also something that just kind of grew, as opposed to being deliberately planned.

A CENTRAL theme of Telegraph Avenue is what independent businesses mean to a community’s SENSE OF identity. How do you see that manifested HERE in real life?

I do think the East Bay is unusually rich in those kinds of places and has managed to resist a little more successfully the inexorable tide of corporate retail chain homogenization. It’s another form of diversity and another form of affording individuals the opportunity to pursue their own paths. To own a business here can be a form of self-expression in a way that’s pretty much impossible in a lot of other places. It's rare for an area like this to keep such a distinct personality over the years, but it has kept its character. Hopefully it will be able to continue retaining it.

recognition

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Awards, Accolades, and Grants OMCA and its partners have recently received the following honors for creativity, programs, community engagement, and much more RECENT AWARDS

RECENT GRANTS

• 2012 Hank Rosso Outstanding Fundraising Professional to Lori Fogarty by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Golden Gate Chapter

Funder: The Kresge Foundation

• 2012 American Alliance of Museums’ Special Distinction for Exemplary Inclusion of Community Voices Award to the Gallery of California History • 2012 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Certification • Mark Cavagnero Associates Architects The San Francisco-based architects won the following awards for designing OMCA’s recent reinvention: - 2012 California Preservation Foundation Design Award - 2011 AIA San Francisco Excellence in Architecture Award - 2011 AIA San Francisco Historic Preservation and Innovation in Rehabilitation Award - 2011 AIA East Bay Citation for Architecture • Skidmore, Owings & Merrill The renowned firm won the following awards for designing OMCA’s new graphic identity: - 2012 California Preservation Foundation, Preservation Design Award - 2011 Communication Arts, National Design Award

• Project: Creative Placemaking Amount granted: $500,000 This grant supports OMCA's dedication to connecting communities to one another through strategic community partnerships and enriching public programming.

Funder: The James Irvine Foundation • Project: Exploring Engagement Amount granted: $600,000 With this new initiative, OMCA will engage community organizations and underserved individuals through participatory projects that nurture citizen artists both on-site and outside the Museum’s walls.

Funder: Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Museums for America Program • Project: Building Family Audiences, Enriching Family Experiences Amount granted: $149,919 OMCA is conducting this two-year audience development and community engagement project to investigate new ways to attract East Bay families and deepen relationships with family audiences.

Gallery of California History.

• Project: What’s Happening California?

The CSU Community History Project Amount granted: $150,000 This collaboration between OMCA and California State University aims to produce a series of installations that will bring stories and artifacts from throughout the state into the Gallery of California History.

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A Special Place to Learn

OMCA school program participants

explain why they can’t get enough

of the Museum

| » The fun factor was high when a class

from Oakland’s La Escuelita Elementary visited OMCA recently, previewing the Cordell Bank section of the upcoming Gallery of California Natural Sciences.

As the students examined a model of undersea organisms, OMCA Docent Brenda Quan was quick to share that one underwater creature, the sea cucumber, spews out its intestines when a predator approaches. The fifthgraders found that little bit of information delightfully disgusting, giggling and making faces before directing their attention back to Quan to learn more.

Many teachers in the Bay Area depend on OMCA for learning experiences that grab their students’ imaginations—to lead them into the mysteries of nature, transport them back in time, and open their minds to the beauty of art. “Our school programs are a very concrete way we serve the community,” says Amy Billstrom, assistant director for learning initiatives. “We offer experiences that are often extremely hard for teachers to access otherwise.” Here, Inside Out asked participants in the Museum’s school programs what they like best about OMCA.

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« Amina Yee, Museum Teacher Museum Teacher Amina Yee says that when her Chinese grandmother visits the Gallery of California History, she can read in her native language about immigrants coming to California from China. “It was very important for me to work at a museum where visitors see their own experience,” says Yee. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley with a degree in art history, Yee feels that OMCA is an example of an institution that includes and reflects its community, going well beyond the traditional museum experience.

“The Museum went to great pains to incorporate the voices of Oakland in the transformed galleries,” says Yee, who teaches a program integrating art, science, and history to children in grades four through eight. “OMCA epitomizes the best things about living in California, especially the cultural diversity.”

Wilson Fong, Student » Fifth-grader Wilson Fong visits OMCA about two times a month with his family, not to mention the many school trips he’s made to the Museum. What keeps him coming back so often?

“You always learn,” says Fong. “They have models and slide shows and interactive stuff.”

As a student in John Rosa’s class at La Escuelita Elementary, Fong was able to preview the Cordell Bank exhibit before it opens later this year. “It was cool,” Fong says. “It really helps with science.”

At the preview, Fong stood at the rail of a simulated boat, a video of waves projected on a screen before him. As a docent told Fong and his classmates they were headed out to sea to do underwater research, the waves in the video rose and fell convincingly enough to give Fong the feeling of just what it would be like to be a marine researcher. “It was like I was really there,” Fong says.

« John Rosa, Schoolteacher For twelve years, ever since he started teaching at Oakland’s La Escuelita Elementary, John Rosa has brought his fifth-graders to Museum programs, ranging from a junior docent school partnership program to a sneak peek at the Museum’s new Cordell Bank exhibit. “Everything the Museum has offered my classroom has been incredible,” Rosa says. “Sometimes the Museum needs instant feedback on a program or an exhibit, and I’m delighted to have the kids participate,” he says. The most beneficial offerings at OMCA for his classes, Rosa says, are the hands-on science programs.

Personally, Rosa enjoys all kinds of exhibits at the Museum. His latest favorite was The 1968 Exhibit, which ran through November 25. “It was stunning,” Rosa says. “I was so impressed how they put it all together.”

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OMCA presents a major retrospective of work by artist Hung Liu, whose masterful creations explore the transitory nature of memory and history

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t is impossible to separate the work of Hung Liu from the arc of history—from Liu’s life story to the epic saga of her native China. In Liu’s deeply expressive paintings, historical narratives are considered and reprocessed in unexpected ways, resulting in a body of work that is emotionally affecting and artistically virtuosic.

Visitors will have the opportunity to learn more about Liu’s art and life when Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu opens in OMCA’s Great Hall on March 16.

The first comprehensive retrospective of her work, Summoning Ghosts features some eighty artworks, including paintings, photographs, sketchbooks, and drawings. Organized by Senior Curator of Art René de Guzman, the exhibition is

a sweeping look at Liu’s work that speaks to the mutability of memory and history, and the power of art to create identity and transfigure loss.

Portrait of the Artist Born in 1948, Liu lived through many of modern China’s most significant

Above: Hung Liu, Sister Hoods, 2003. Oil on canvas.

Collection of Robert A. and Julie T. Berlacher.

Right: Hung Liu, September 2001, 2001. Oil on canvas.

Collection of Driek and Michael Zirinsky.

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moments, including the formation of the People’s Republic of China (a year after the artist was born), the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. Coming of age during the height of Mao Zedong’s influence, Liu was trained to create art that reinforced ideas

Summoning Ghosts The Art of Hung Liu

of the state and represented the official view of Chinese society rather than freely express her personal experience as a creative being.

Already a promising artist, Liu was dispatched in 1968 to a remote part of the Chinese countryside as part of the Cultural Revolution’s “proletariat re-education.” It was during this period that Liu took a remarkable series of black-and-white photographs, highlighted in the exhibition, that recall the village where she lived for several years during a time of cultural and social upheaval.

In 1972, Liu returned to Beijing to continue her art education. During this time, she surreptitiously produced a series of small, informal landand cityscapes titled My Secret Freedom. The title refers to how making these innocuous-seeming works was a subtle act of rebellion against the state’s restrictions on art making. In My Secret Freedom, Liu explored personal visual pleasures and the expressive possibilities of paint.

Liu immigrated to the United States in 1984 to pursue an M.F.A. at U.C. San Diego. There,

Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu will be on view in the Great Hall from March 16 through June 30, 2013.

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Hung Liu, By the Rivers of Babylon, 2000. Oil on canvas.

Collection of Peter and Dorothea Perrin.

she studied with Allan Kaprow, a self-described “un-artist” known for his “happenings” in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Upon arriving in the United States, she was drawn to the most cutting-edge art of her time,” notes de Guzman. “This is extraordinary when you consider how she grew up and where she came from. This highlights how she was—and continues to be—an independentminded pioneer, always way ahead of the game.”

Liu, who has made the United States her home ever since, is now recognized as one of the most important and influential Chinese American artists.

She has exhibited widely, received many honors, and trained countless emerging artists at Mills College in Oakland, where she has taught for the past twenty years.

Morphing Memories Summoning Ghosts will present works from much of Liu’s life, including

Special Previews Donor Forum Preview: Thursday, March 14, 6–8 pm Member Sneak Peek: Friday, March 15, 3–7 pm

In the OMCA Store: The exhibition is accompanied by a 250-page, full-color catalog, Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu, published by the University of California Press.

drawings she made as a young girl in China (one remarkably shows a political rally, with Mao posters raised by the crowd) all the way to Liu’s most recent paintings, including To Live, an homage to her late mother. Visitors will be able to trace certain recurring themes, such as loss, otherness, and sympathy toward the world’s dispossessed. In addition, the exhibition will show how Liu’s choice

of subject matter and artistic techniques have evolved over the course of her illustrious career.

Many of Liu’s paintings ruminate upon the history of the Chinese in both China and America, offering insightful views on the Chinese American experience, the last dynasty, Mao’s revolution, Tiananmen Square, 9/11, and more. Liu’s masterful handling of these subjects makes her

Hung Liu, Chinese Profile III, 1998. Oil on canvas.

Collection of Judy and Bill Timken.

meditations on the past more than just historical renditions. They bring history to the present and connect the individual viewer to the experience

Hung Liu, Refugee: Woman and Children, 2000.

Oil on canvas. Collection of Joan and Roger Mann.

of humanity at large.

“Liu’s artistic career has been a process of artistic innovation and personal discovery,” explains de Guzman.

“Of the many ideas embedded in her work, the one she keeps coming back to is the elusive nature of memory, both her own and China’s.”

This exhibition is made possible in part through the generous support of the Oakland Museum Women’s Board, OMCA Art Guild, National Endowment for the Arts, Koret Foundation, Quinn Delaney and Wayne Jordan, Barclay and Sharon Simpson, Rena G. Bransten, Stephen and Susan Chamberlin, Philip D. and Shirley Dichek Schild, Gail Severn Gallery, Roselyne Chroman Swig, Bill and Judy Timken, and other generous friends of the exhibition. Media sponsor: San Francisco Chronicle.

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Stalker of the Real A new exhibition of works by photographer Beth Yarnelle Edwards casts a compelling light on everyday domestic scenes Photographer Beth Yarnelle Edwards peeks into households and explores at-home dynamics in the new exhibition Suburban Dreams, opening January 19 in the Gallery of California Art. The exhibition, the second in OMCA’s California Photography series, features twenty-two carefully staged photographs of scenes from subjects’ daily lives, examining the complex relationships among people, their homes, and their possessions.

Edwards began photographing in the suburbs of Silicon Valley in 1997, hoping to tell textured stories about the area’s predominantly affluent population. The resulting images are similar to film stills, capturing distinct and truthful moments that lie somewhere between the mythic and the mundane. Inside Out sat down with Edwards to ask her about the process, challenges, and rewards of creating these arresting photographs.

[Q & A] What draws you to the suburbs, and Silicon Valley in particular, as the setting for your photographs?

I lived in Silicon Valley for thirty years before moving to San Francisco in 2004. I started the project because I was bored there, and everyone else seemed so happy. Silicon Valley felt sleepy, and I was longing for a noisy, busy urban center. So I began to photograph there because I was interested in what people enjoyed about their lives in the suburbs as well as the prices they paid to live there, to maintain big homes and lawns but not have much street life.

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Describe the process of earning your subjects’ trust and gaining access to their homes.

I begin by interviewing them. I show them my work and explain where the photos might end up.

I ask them a few open-ended questions about their lives, and I ask for a house tour. People are almost always open. There is something about my personality that puts people at ease. I have an ability to assess situations and

Beth Yarnelle Edwards, Erin, 1997.

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be sensitive, and I am good at figuring people out.

Describe the process of staging the photos.

Once we have the concept for the shoot, I set up the frame, and then I ask my subjects to improvise within this space. I keep things as truthful as possible. I don't pose them but rather wait for an authentic expression or gesture to appear.

Does the fact that you stage your photos detract from—or add to—their authenticity?

I think they are more authentic because of it. I don’t believe that just because someone made a candid snapshot, it is any truer than a staged photo. I am trying to tell a layered story with a lot of information in it.

What are the challenges in doing this kind of photography?

A lot of people want to be seen in their best light, but I tell them that I am not there to make a glamour photo. I am there to make an interesting scene that says something. It’s a collaboration, but some people are more collaborative than others.

To what extent would you call your work voyeuristic?

It’s definitely voyeuristic! I consider myself a stalker of the real.

Sometimes, I pinch myself that I've created this gig where I can meet all these interesting people and learn about their homes and their lives.

Besides California, you have done a lot of work overseas— in France, Iceland, Germany, and elsewhere. What commonalities have you found between the middle classes in these cultures?

There are a lot of universal things. Because of the pervasive influence of the media, I think the middle class in Western countries is becoming more and more similar. Some of the homes I photographed in Europe are indistinguishable from American living spaces.

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Beth Yarnelle Edwards, Art and Carol, 1997.

Collection of OMCA; purchased with funds from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.

Suburban Dreams will be on view from January 19 through June 30, 2013, in the Gallery of California Art.

Do you plan to photograph other socioeconomic groups, or will you continue to concentrate on the middle class?

I want to stay focused on the middle class because I think it is neglected. But the truth is, I am intrigued by all kinds of people and their homes and their things.

I want to look under everybody’s beds. I want to see into everybody’s closets!

This exhibition is made possible in part through the generous support of Dr. Philip D. Schild and Shirley Dichek Schild. Media sponsors: San Francisco Chronicle and BOOM: A Journal of California.

In the OMCA Store Suburban Dreams, a monograph featuring fifty-six photographs by Beth Yarnelle Edwards, is available in the OMCA Store.

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Tell us how you customize!

Visit wecustomize.org.

Rove On!

Californians have always put their own spin on things. Whether they’re retrofitting bicycles, customizing skateboards, or tweaking anything they can get their hands on, the Golden State’s creative residents are at the epicenter of maker culture. As part of the we/customize project, opening this winter in the Great Hall, OMCA launched the Oakland Rover—an electric vehicle ingeniously altered by Martin Sprouse and Dan Rosenfeld—to cruise the state, meet makers, and return to the Museum chock-full of new ideas. Here, meet the Rover, the team behind the project … and the Rover’s famous role model!

My Roving Eye What’s up? This is the Oakland Rover, coming straight to you from OMCA. I’m the customized electric truck that’s been hitting the streets lately, bringing the Museum out to the people and finding out all the ways you mix and mash up things to make them more “you.”

I spent the past few months cruising around, checking out Oakland Art Murmur, the East Bay Mini Maker Faire, the Renegade Craft Fair, and more. I’ve got my truck loaded up with cameras; work spaces for sewing, bike, and toy

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customization; and more—just to see what you’d do with it. You didn’t disappoint. Tyrone Stevenson shared how to make scraper bikes. Elsa Rudolph Swanson and Annabel Blue Dudash showed how they “hack” toys; these girls are only eleven years old, but they’ve got mad creative spirit. Then I got Jaz Davis to swing by and airbrush T-shirts at OMCA’s Days of the Dead celebration.

What really made these events pop, though, was the love you showed me.

When I asked what spots I should hit up,

OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA

I got shout-outs on OMCA’s Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr pages, plus on my Tumblr site (wecustomize.org). At the events, you were excited to make your own pieces. Best of all, you generously let me keep the things you created.

Now, I’m bringing all that stuff back home. This winter, I’ll be set up here at OMCA. I’ll have some of the things you made on display, and you’ll have more chances to get hands on. Because that’s the thing: This exhibit is about how you modify things to express your identity.

At the same time, it’s about how we bring creativity to our lives. Guess that’s just how we roll on the West Coast.

the team behind the scenes Meet the crew behind the Oakland Rover: Evelyn Orantes, senior experience developer; Sean Olson, research and experience coordinator; and Carin Adams, associate curator of art and material culture.

Q: Where did the idea for this project come from?

Sean Olson: Bicyclists have their own culture, and computer people have their own culture, and these sorts of cultural subgroups have become really interesting—how they form around specific objects, and how they take those objects and expand them.

Evelyn Orantes: This became a really exciting idea because OMCA is about finding ways to bring people together around a commonality.

Carin Adams: It’s a different way to talk about diversity and in particular the way people form their identities.

Q: How did people react to the Rover at events?

E.O.: So many exhibitions have been about coming to our doors, and the fact that we’re going out to the public has been a pleasant surprise for everyone. There is a lot of excitement about OMCA launching a mobile museum!

Q: How does the rover tie in with OMCA’s mission?

E.O.: OMCA is community-minded, and we’re responsive. We see our role as a bridge to bring communities together.

C.A.: As the “Museum of the people” we are dedicated to including the voice of the people.

TOP: SHAUN ROBERTS

rover face-off

we/customize is made possible in part through the generous support of the Oakland Museum Women’s Board. Additional support is provided by Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Media sponsor: San Francisco Chronicle.

The Oakland Rover is made possible by Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

The Oakland Rover may be a cool project, but how does it stack up with its famous role model? Here’s a comparison to another rover, the Mars Curiosity.

Oakland Rover

Curiosity Rover

Top speed

25 miles per hour in California

13,000 miles per hour in space; 295 feet per hour on Mars

Distance traveled

317 miles

352 million miles

Power source

72V, 25-horsepower motor, powered by 245ah 12 x 6V lead-acid battery pack

A radioisotope thermoelectric generator powered by 4.8 kg of plutonium-238 dioxide

Mission

Two years

Two years

Goal

To investigate creativity in California

To investigate climate and geology on Mars

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RE TAIL TALES

1. California Cuisine and Just Food Foodies won’t want to miss this new book, which traces the evolution of efforts in Northern California to achieve food democracy and sustainability.

2. Michael Mischer Chocolates These irresistible sweets, made

by Oakland-based confectioner Michael Mischer, are as beautiful to look at as they are good to eat.

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Special Sale!

Members receive a special 20 percent discount at the OMCA Store on February 16 and 17. Drop by during

3. The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee In this book, James Freeman, founder of the Bay Area’s renowned Blue Bottle Coffee, offers tips on selecting, roasting, and brewing the perfect cup of coffee.

OMCA’s Lunar New Year festivities!

4. Blue Chair Fruit Jams Oakland’s own Blue Chair Fruit Company makes artisanal jams out of the finest ingredients available.

5. Bay Area Bee Company Honey The OMCA Store offers an assortment of all-natural honey made by this leading local producer.

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6. 80 Acres Body Care McEvoy Ranch, one of the Bay Area’s premier producers of olive oil, has launched a line of luxurious body care products called 80 Acres. Products include lotions, scrubs, soaps, and more.

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1: MIT Press; 2: Michael Mischer; 3: James Freeman, CAITLIN FREEMAN, AND TARA DUGGAN; 4: Blue Chair Fruit; 5: Torreya Cummings; 6: Mcevoy ranch

TREATS for body and soul in the omca store

Member Levels and Benefits

member services

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individual $60 • Unlimited yearlong admission for you and a guest • Subscriptions to Inside Out and Member e-News • Invitations to previews and special events • 10 percent discount in the OMCA Store, additional savings on special Member Sale Days • Free admission to public programs • Discounts at Bay Area businesses through the Community Partners program

FAMILY $75 All Individual Member benefits for two adults plus: • Unlimited free admission for two adult guests and Members’ children or grandchildren under 18, when accompanied by a cardholder.

• Advance notice of family events and programs • Two one-time-use guest passes

Supporter $150 All Family Member benefits plus: • Free admission to more than 600 participating museums in the North American Reciprocal Museum program • Two additional one-time-use guest passes (total of four passes)

SPONSOR $300 All Supporter Member benefits plus: • Guest privileges (two additional guests per membership when accompanied by cardholder) • Acknowledgment in Annual Report

patron $600 All Sponsor Member benefits plus: • A private docent-led tour for up to ten people

donor forum $1,250 All Patron Member benefits plus: • Unlimited guests when accompanied by cardholder • Invitation to the annual Leader Lunch with a California visionary • Special opportunities to interact with curators and artists • Recognition on the Museum’s Donor Wall • Four VIP parking passes for the Museum garage

special memberShips Proof of status required • Golden State $50 All Individual Member benefits for residents living more than ninety miles outside of the 94607 zip code • Individual Senior $45 | Student $45 | Educator $45 All Individual Member benefits • Dual Senior $55 All Individual Member benefits for two seniors

Join an OMCA Guild Explore California and the world of art, history, and natural sciences with OMCA’s Guilds. In addition to providing valuable support to the Museum, the Guilds offer Members many special learning opportunities, including out-of-town and day trips. Annual dues are $20 per Guild in addition to OMCA Membership contributions. For information and travel schedules, visit museumca.org/guilds. To join a Guild or renew your Guild dues, please contact us at 510-318-8520.

How to Join or Renew To learn more about Membership, call us at 510-318-8520, visit museumca. org/membership, or stop by one of our ticketing desks during your next visit to the Museum.

Cultural Passport As part of the North American Reciprocal Museums (NARM) program, OMCA validates Supporter level and above membership cards with a special NARM sticker. Members who present this card at any of the more than 600 participating museums receive free admission and discounts at museum shops.

(Please note that some museums restrict benefits, and family benefits are defined by each institution.)

GO GREEN! Members at any level can choose to receive all communications electronically, including Inside Out.

All Membership gifts are fully tax-deductible as provided by law.

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calendar

Check out the full lineup of events and programs at museumca.org.

exhibitions, events, and programs NEW! Friday Nights @ OMCA Fridays, starting Jan. 25 | 5–9 pm The Bay Area’s most talked-about food truck party comes to Oakland! Join OMCA and Off the Grid on 10th Street every Friday starting this winter for a festive night market. Savor beverages at the Blue Oak café pop-up and enjoy live music, half-price admission to OMCA galleries, OMCA Store specials, film screenings, and more!

Lunar New Year Celebration and Other Asian Traditions: Year of the Snake Sunday, Feb. 17 | 12–4:30 pm Ring in the Lunar New Year with a spectacular lion dance, and join in OMCA’s tradition of Japanese mochi pounding. Delight in a Malaysian 24 Seasons drum performance, view Japanese ikebana flower arrangements, watch performances by the Magic of Jade and Red Panda Acrobats, enjoy a dance lesson for the viral hit Gangnam Style by UC Berkeley’s Korean Performance Group, and make your own Tibetan prayer flags and “lucky money” red envelopes. The celebration will close with a fiery dragon dance.

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OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA

BOTTOM: JASON LEW

OMCA Family: Celebrate MLK Day Sunday, Jan. 20 | 12–3 pm Honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at OMCA. Create a dream bottle to hold your hopes and wishes, and enjoy many more fun-filled activities for the whole family!

Exhibition-Related Programs we/customize Customizer-in-Residence Open Studio Series Jan. 18–May 26 Fridays | 5–8 pm Saturdays and Sundays | 1–4 pm Watch expert customizers and participate in activities like clothing mash-ups, toy hacking, music remixing, and more!

OMCA In-the-Mix: we/customize Saturday, March 9 | 1–2 pm Saturday, April 13 | 1–2 pm OMCA Family: Customize-It-Yourself Workshop Sunday, March 24 | 12–3 pm Sunday, April 14 | 12–3 pm Friday, April 26 | 6–8 pm

White Elephant Preview Sale Sunday, Jan. 27 | 10 am–4 pm Don’t miss this chance to preview the best rummage sale in the West! Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 on the day of the sale.

White Elephant Sale Saturday, March 2 and Sunday, March 3 10 am–4 pm Proceeds from the sale support OMCA’s exhibitions and programs. Free admission. Free shuttle bus from Fruitvale BART. The White Elephant Sale takes place at 333 Lancaster Street in Oakland. whiteelephantsale.org.

Beth Yarnelle Edwards: Suburban Dreams Meet the Artist: Gallery Tour and Book Signing Saturday, Jan. 19 | 2:30–3:30 pm Artist Stroll with Beth Yarnelle Edwards Friday, April 26 | 7–8 pm OMCA Family: Glass Magic Sunday, March 10 | 12–3 pm Watch glass artist Demetra Theofanous in action and learn about this extraordinary art-making process. Presented in conjunction with Playing with Fire: Artists of the California Studio Glass Movement.

OMCA Family is made possible by generous support from Chevron.

Museum Hours

R I G H T: F L O R I A N K A I N Z

Monday Closed

Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu

Tuesday Closed

Lecture and Book Signing with Hung Liu Saturday, April 20 | 2–5 pm

Wednesday

11 am–5 pm

Thursday

11 am–5 pm

Friday (beginning Jan. 25)

11 am–9 pm

Saturday

11 am–5 pm

Sunday

11 am–5 pm

Meet the Artist: In-Gallery Talk with Hung Liu Friday, April 26 | 5–6:30 pm OMCA Family: Fun with Paint Drop-In Workshop Sunday, April 28 | 12–3 pm

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NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE Oakland Museum of California 1000 Oak Street Oakland, CA 94607-4820

PAID

SALT LAKE CITY, UT PERMIT NO.6563

OMCA MEMBERS SEE IT FIRST! Friday, May 31, 5–9 pm

SAVE THE DATE! Gallery of California Natural Sciences Opening Weekend

May 31–June 2, 2013