Photo: Artist Michael Murphy “Partita”, acrylic on canvas, 2018, 36″x36″

WHEN: Friday, October 5, 2018, 6-9pm and then October 6 – 28 daily from 11am – 6pm

WHERE: 5700 Horton Street in Emeryville – across from The Broken Rack (directions below)

WHAT:

This year 115 artists ignite the space with 165 works – including acrylics, ceramics, glasswork, multi-media installations, oil paintings, photographs, sculptures, textiles, woodcuts and poetry – at the 2018 Emeryville Art Exhibition, sponsored by Celebration of the Arts. This is the largest group of artists in its 32-year history. The individual pieces demonstrate the diversity of Emeryville artists and show their engagement with a host of aesthetic, political and social concerns.

Frank Cole – New House (If It Were Up to Me)
108″x72″, acrylic on canvas drop cloth, 2018

The sheer number of artists living or working in Emeryville illustrates the city’s cultural vibrancy with its new designation as Rotten City – Emeryville Cultural Arts District.

Independent curator and exhibition designer Kathleen Hanna is curator and juror of the Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition. 
“For thirty-two years the Emeryville Celebration of the Arts has been a catalyst sparking a truly community event inspiring new and returning artists to create specific works and stimulating community support for their efforts,” said Kathleen Hanna. “This year, the record 165 works represent a community as lively and talented as it is diverse.”

The other 2018 jurors are Tim Buckwalter, director of exhibitions for NIAD Art Center on 23rd St. in Richmond and Ruth Santee, co-director/owner of Transmission Gallery on Grand Ave. in Oakland.

Linda Lee Boyd – Dillon Beach Dog
20″x23″, woodcut, 2018,

Each year in October the City of Emeryville partners with Celebration of the Arts, Inc., the business community, residents and volunteers to honor its dynamic art community with the Annual Emeryville Art Exhibit. The  juried show is held at a different location each year – generously donated by a local Emeryville business. East Bay Therapeutics and East Bay Drone Zone have donated the space for the 2018 Exhibition

Packard Jenning’s Police Mindfulness Meditation Chair, a multimeda presentation

New this year is a multimedia installation by a new contributor to the show, conceptual artist Packard Jennings, who employs humor and interventionist tactics in pursuit of social commentary and change. According to Celebration of the Arts, “Packard’s new piece Police Mindfulness Meditation Chair, is an immersive sound/seating installation created with the premise that excessive police force and poor decision making are often the result of being immersed in a stressful situation and/or a lack of empathy.”

Modernist painter M. Louise Stanley  has entered her artwork in the Emeryville Art Exhibition for many years. Her new piece One Dozen Protest Signs (acrylic on canvas, 2017-18) will be featured at the show. According to Celebration of the Arts, “Stanley’s work follows in the tradition of history and narrative painting documenting current and fictitious events using myth and allegory. The human condition and political issues are often explored.”

. M. Louise Stanley “The Good Old Days”, acrylic on canvas, 2014, 44″x54″

All works in the 32nd Annual Emeryville Art Exhibit are for sale! More information here.

About Celebration of the Arts, Inc.

Emeryville Celebration of the Arts is a nonprofit organization committed to fostering an appreciation of the arts and artists in Emeryville, CA, and to promote the city as a culturally vital and progressive center for living and working.

The purpose of the organization is to produce and coordinate community-based events and programs that increase awareness of the arts and artists in all forms of creative expressions. The annual art exhibit, a juried show featuring works of 115 artists who live or work in Emeryville, is sponsored by the city of Emeryville and held each year in October. Ongoing for more than twenty years the annual art exhibit offers the opportunity to discover emerging talent along with new work by established artists.

Sharon Wilchar is a long-time resident of the 45th Street Artists’ Cooperative, serves as its Community Liaison and is a founding member of the Emeryville Celebration of the Arts. She has coordinated the juried Emeryville Annual Art Exhibition for 30 of its 32 years, serves as Chair of the City of Emeryville’s Public Art Advisory Committee, and coordinates the Artists’ Cooperative’s successful artist-in-the-schools program at the Emery Unified School District.