blankspace news, open calls and indie biz

OPENING RECEPTION THIS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th 6-9PM

It's Gonna be Awesome
New work by Narangkar Glover

September 10 - October 11

*Sunday Tea: September 20th 3-6pm
First Friday reception: October 2nd, 7-10pm

*sponsored by NUMI Tea of Oakland

It's Gonna To Be Awesome features large scale oil paintings, one large scale (40 x 60 inch) embroidered painting, and a number of smaller studies. In this body of work Glover deals with personal space and individuality. The curvilinear shape depicted in her paintings is the homemade concrete skate bowl in her back yard. This is a landscape built for a single leisurely and social activity: skateboarding. The paintings serve as homage to the individualistic lifestyle around it, and the efforts made by individuals to sustain it.go to blankspacegallery.com for more info.GALLERY HOURS: THURS-SUN 12-6pm

image: Today, oil on canvas, 2009
60" x 72"
PS- there are 2 other opening receptions happening next door at The Compound and Swee[t]art galleries during the same hours 6-9pm on Saturday Sept. 12th....3 great reasons to come to the Golden Gate Gallery District!!

INDIE BIZ NEWS

Things over here at the Blankspace camp have been very busy. So I apologize for slacking on the Indie Biz of the Week section of the blog.

Sadly I have to report that Magnet, one of my favorite boutiques on the East Bay is closing their doors next week. It is not all doom and gloom, Camille jsut had a baby and the decision to close came more from starting a new chapter in her life and not from the messy economy. Sad for me, but I wish her many happy days with her new baby. I have feeling we will be seeing other projects from her in the future.

I have not been out of my Blankspace bubble in the pasr few weeks, so I have not much to report, but I did go to Slash jeans today and they have tons of great new jeans in stock.

Open Calls

Pro Arts has a new open call:

Juried Annual 2010

Selections by Sherman Sam, Independent Curator, London

Registration Deadline: Friday, October 2, 2009, 6 pm

Exhibition Dates: November 24, 2009 - January 15, 2010

more info and to register online go to proartsgallery.com

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Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue is now accepting applications for the Artadia Awards 2009
from all visual artists living and working in the 5-county San Francisco Bay Area.
APPLY NOW! APPLICATIONS CLOSE OCTOBER 15, 2009

Individual artists and collaboratives working in all media and at any point in their career are strongly encouraged to apply. Awardees will be selected in the fall of 2009 through Artadia’s two-tiered jury process. This is Artadia’s seventh awards cycle in the San Francisco Bay Area.

For eligibility requirements and to access the web-based application, please visit:

www.artadia.org

Indie Biz of the Week August 13, 2009

Indie Biz of the Week
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Charles Chocolates
Yes, my neighborhood seems to have had more than it's fair share of chocolate factories in the past..well with Scharffenberger closed we are sadly down to just one within walking distance (jealous much).
As if making delicious artisan chocolate is not enough to bring you into their store, they now serve Blue Bottle coffee!!!! Yep, that coffee, blue bottle + chocolate= happy days.

At first Charles Chocolates can seem a bit intimidating, like you may not be worthy if you are not versed on the history and origin or the precious cacao bean. From the super designed packaging ( I admittedly tried the chocolate for the first time, solely based on the aesthetics of the packaging, ah, marketing...) to the ultra clean store, it can be scary.

I have to say though, what made me more inclined to go check out the factory/store in person was seeing the owner Charles on the Food Network challenge program. He was competing in a chocolate challenge and pretty much bombed. Not that I am happy he failed, but it humanized the chocolate for me. Somehow seeing him showing us his vulnerabilities on TV, in front of millions, felt comforting to me. So I walked down to the store and went inside. What I found was a friendly staff and lots of free samples!! mmm chocolate.

So I am a big fan of mixing chocolate and fruit, Charles has these "Orange Twigs" that melt in your mouth. Here is the description online..." delicate milk chocolate ganache with a hint of fresh orange is coated in a thin layer of 65% bittersweet chocolate and then finished with a sprinkling of confectioner's sugar."...if you want to be my new BBF bring me a case of these...just saying....

all images are from the Charles Chocolates website..and that gift box pictured....edible..

Charles Chocolates
6429 Hollis St
Emeryville, CA 94608
510-652-4412
charleschocolates.com
Showroom Hours :Tuesday through Friday 8:30am - 4:00pm
to find out about taking tours see the website

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What's up at Blankspace?
"How Do You Know" a group exhibit of 16 Irish Artists curated by Gallery 126 in Galway, Ireland.

The show at Blankspace runs through August 30th. We are hosting a Tea this Sunday 3-6pm, come by and check it out. Participating artists include: Vera Klute, Paul Murnaghan, Padraig Robinson, Christopher Banahan, Jackie Nickerson, Emma Houlihan, Adelle Hickey, Bernie Masterson, Emmet Kierans, Fiona Chambers, John Jones, Theresa Nanigian, Paul Hickey, Helena O'Connor, Tanya O'Keefe and James Hayes.

Blankspace is proud to present a group exhibition curated by Gallery 126 in Galway Ireland. Blankspace has worked with 126 for over a year to produce exchange opportunities for local artists from both cities.

Local Bay Area artists will be exhibiting work in Ireland at the end of August. Both galleries share similar missions and goals when it comes to producing exhibitions; 126 and Blankspace are both artist run exhibition spaces that promote strong conceptual approaches and experimentation in artmaking.

In other news I rearranged the gallery store and brought in some cute new items. I am very excited to launch our online site, if all things go well it will launch at the beginning of September...I will keep you posted.

I also created a mural for the back wall, it had been a while since I had done a wall drawing, so I just went for it..here is a pic.


Blankspace would like to thank everyone who lent us equipment and time to make this exhibit happen including: Kala Art Institute, Eric Sanchez, John Wehrle, Sam Lopes, Brian Caraway, Keith Boadwee and The Compound Gallery as well as the Irish Arts Council and Gallery 126's Jim Ricks.

Indie Biz of the Week and other tidbits August 8th

Indie Biz of the Week
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Urban Ore
So I am sure you all know about Urban Ore, but I have recently rediscovered how great it is. Until recently I had no particular hard to find item that I was in want or need of until I started restructuring the store area of Blankspace and then I began to realize I needed to take a walk over and check out the goods.

Not too surprisingly I found what I needed, some decent base board and some other cool stuff. Well... I may be getting a bit addicted to going over and checking what new items they have. Mostly I don't need a thousand old doors or windows, but I find a bit of inspiration from being around all the old wood and furniture.

The best part for me is that the people who work there seem to being going back to the old ways (I am referring to the old location in Berkeley) when you could haggle and often come away with free stuff included in your purchase. That makes me happy to be able to haggle a bit, for a while it was frustrating to go in and get attitude AND pay high prices at a salvage shop.

Most of the uber hipsters of the past have moved on to working record shops or install crews at various arts institutions, being replaced by some nice folks who have cute style and nice demeanor, yay, yay.

If you have never been, it is worth checking out.

Urban Ore
900 Murray St.
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 841-7283
Open Mon-Sat 8:30am-7pm; Sun 10am-7pm

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What's up at Blankspace?
We just re-opened this past Friday (hence the late blog post) August 7th with "How Do You Know" a group exhibit of 16 Irish Artists curated by Gallery 126 in Galway, Ireland.

The opening went smooth and was well attended. We had our neighbors two piece band called Front Junk playing outside between the galleries, fun stuff. We were also celebrating the opening of Obi Kaufmann's new space called Sweet[art] gallery. Located next door on the 6602 side of the Compound Studios. Yay Obi.

The show at Blankspace runs through August 30th. Come by and check it out.

In other news I rearranged the gallery store and brought in some cute new items. I am very excited to launch our online site, if all things go well it will launch at the beginning of September...I will keep you posted. I also created a mural for the back wall, it had been a while since I had done a wall drawing, so I just went for it..here is a pic.

Indie Biz of the Week July 30th 2009

Indie Biz of the Week
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Cal Overstock & Surplus
So I am sure you all know about Urban Ore, but what you may not know is that right down the street is a U.C. Berkeley building that houses many of the University's surplus items.

I was just in there this week looking for a table and wow, they have rows of chairs, desks, filing cabinets and random wonderful finds like bike parts old library card catalog files and large wooden drawers that looked like something out of a 1950's science lab...cool stuff.

The best part is most items are really priced to sell..cheap. Almost everything in the
warehouse can be purchased on the spot, but the more valuable equipment and computers are available twice a week at the public auctions. I have never attended, but my guess is if you really
want something , you will probably get it.

If you have never been, it is worth checking out.

Cal Overstock & Surplus

1000 Folger Avenue

The Marchant Building

Berkeley, CA, 94720

Phone 510-642-1186

http://businessservices.berkeley.edu/overstock/public

Showroom Hours of Operation:
Tuesday through Friday
8:30am - 4:00pm

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What's up at Blankspace?

Nothing right now, we are still closed for a summer break and will re-open August 7th 7-10pm
with "How Do You Know" a group exhibit of 16 Irish Artists curated by Gallery 126 in Galway, Ireland. Come by and check it out.

Indie Biz of the Week July 23rd 2009

Indie Biz of the Week
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Paco Collars
If you looove dogs (and cats) than you will love this company. Born in Oakland, the people who started and work for Paco collars truly love what
they do. Paco collars has a great variety of handcrafted, high quality leather collars and leashes for your four legged friends. Now they are also making leather belts and bracelets for people big and small.

Paco has a nice variety of stock items and will also work with you to make a custom order. Recently they opened a store front on Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley. I have not made it over to the store yet, but I go online all the time.

I have included some photos from the Paco website, but to get the full appreciation of their appreciation of dogs, you need to check out the website gallery page with some over the top cute pics.


Paco Collars Store
2905 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94705
(510) 848-PACO
pacocollars.com
Tues-Sat 11-7

all images are © of Paco Collars

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What's up at Blankspace?

nothing right now, we are still closed for a summer break and will re-open August 7th
with "How Do You Know" a group exhibit of 16 Irish Artists curated by Gallery 126 in Galwaw, Ireland. Come by and check it out.

On vacation

Hey All,

Sorry for the late notice, but I am on vacation.. I promise new updates next week. Hey, I am beginning to feel like nobody loves me, leave a comment so I know that someone out there reads this!!

Enjoy the beautiful summer weather, see you soon-k

In the mean time some venues with shows worth checking out if you are in the Bay Area:

Johansson Projects
Rowan Morrison
Hatch Gallery
Bell Jar-heard it was going to be good, have not seen it yet myself

ps -blankspace will re-open August 7th

Indie Biz of the Week July 2nd 2009

Indie Biz of the Week
Barlata is a tapas bar located in the Temescal district of Oakland. I recently went there with some friends who were visiting, we were looking for someplace to get tapas that was easy going and not too pricey. Barlata fit the bill.

The restaurant is small and feels comfortable yet wonderfully cosmopolitan. I love that when you sit down they give you a bowl of mixed olives. Awesome. I love olives.

The wine ranges from somewhat pricey to very pricey, but the house red I had was yum.

When I go back I want to try the 3 gazpacho sampler, people around me had ordered it and it looked intriguing.

Extra points for a good espresso with a lemon rind twist to finish off my meal.
Barlata
4901 Telegraph, Oakland
510-450-0678
www.barlata.com

HOURS:

Monday to Sunday: 5pm to 11:00 pm,

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BLANKSPACE NEWS
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From July 6th - August 6th, Blankspace will be closed for vacation.
We will not be resting but making changes and improvements, including adding an oline store. stay tuned.....

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