Past Exhibitions at Abrams Claghorn Gallery
Liberation, Celebration & Defiance
Curated By: Orlonda Uffre
Participating Artists
Zoe Boston | Donna Meke’da Bradley | Tiffany Conway | Andrea Harvey | Fan Lee Warren | Orlonda Uffre
Show Dates: June 3 – June 30
Artist Talk| Thursday June 18 | 4 – 6pm
The artist talk will be online, please contact us to get the Zoom link:
https://abramsclaghornshop.com/pages/contact-us
The Ground Upon Which We Stand
Curated By: Elizabeth Addison
Show Dates: April 2 – May 31
Work and Worship: Blended in Muslim Women artists from the Bay area.
Curated By: Salma Arastu
Show Dates: March 3 – March 31, 2020
Reception: March 14, 5pm – 7pm
Particles
Curated by Tali Grinshpan
Show dates: Febuaury 1 – Febuaury 29
Reception: Febuaury 8, 5pm – 7pm
facets: The Art of Julianne Wallace Sterling
Show dates: December 3, 2019 – January 15, 2020
Reception: December 14, 5pm – 7pm
Contained: Sculptures by Ofra Fisher
Show dates: November 2 – 30
Reception: November 9, 5 – 7pm
Playing With Light by Doug Lawler
Show dates: October 2 – 30
Reception: October 12, 5 – 7pm
Dog Park
Show dates: September 4 – 30
Reception: September 7, 5 – 7pm
12 Artists, hundreds of dogs!
Kate Leffler
Showing at Salon 1757
June 1st – August 30th
Emerging Artist Program Summer 2019
Show dates: July 2 – August 30
Reception: July 13, 5 – 7pm
Abrams Claghorn Gallery is excited to announce a professional development course designed to mentor and prepare selected artists ahead of a summer exhibition debuting new works!
This year we have accepted three fantastic emerging Artists:
Allie Phillips, Mailee Vang, and Moxie Evan.
Natasha Dikareva
Evolution of Shell Dweller
Show dates: June 1 – 30
Reception: June 8, 5 – 7pm
Natasha Dikareva’s work expresses the desire for security in an insecure world. Her hybrid figures are both static and animated, withdrawing into their shells yet visually narrating their stories. Engravings and paintings on their surfaces identify their unique experiences and tell us why they might be seeking safety at the moment. As they slowly evolve out from their shells, they see a bright future where the need for hiding is no longer a necessity, when all stories are shared and intertwined through common understanding.
Kieren Dutcher
Showing at Salon 1757
February 1st – TBA
More info!
5th Annual Albany High A.P. Group Show
Show dates: May 4 – 30
Reception: May 11, 5 – 7pm
We are pleased to announce our 5th Annual Albany High School advanced placement group show. More details coming soon! Please join us for the reception. Many awards will be announced, plus this is a great chance to meet the artists.
Soft Science
The dominant narrative of our culture equates softness with weakness, impotence, and inaction. To be soft in one’s character suggests a distastefully tentative or passive nature; as a simple mechanism of language, the implication is generally lesser-than/‘lite,’ or too nebulous to be credible, in comparison to a solid counterpart (see: “soft opening,” “soft skills,” and of course, “hard science”). Considering this alongside the very real cultural binary of associating softness-as-feminine, hardness-as-masculine, it begs the question of not only why we are so firmly bent in this slant, but how it serves us.
“On the Edge of Eden”
Showing: February 9th – February 28th
Reception: Saturday, February 9th, 5 – 7pm
“On the Edge of Eden” will showcase select Bay Area artists’ use of foundational shapes and planes to encapsulate the beauty of symmetry across several disciplines including painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed media. Participating artists include: Natalie Aleman, Megan Cerminaro, Herrada-Rios, Megan Low, Nicholas Murella, Andrew Nilsen, David Polka, Dani Robison, Brendan Tidd, Madeleine Tonzi, Crystal Townsend.
Visions of Democracy
Co-Curators
Mary Martin DeShaw, Holly Wallace, Nancy Rubin, Carol Thomas, and Becky Jaffe
Showing: December 4 – January 29
Reception: Saturday, December 8, 5 – 7pm
In these times of cultural and political upheaval, democracy is at stake. This exhibit is a photographic exploration of what defines, strengthens and sustains a healthy democracy even in chaotic times. It showcases artistic interpretations of our evolving democracy, re-visioning foundational principles such as basic human rights, separation of powers, freedom of opinion, religious liberty, equality under the law, and governmental ethics. Who are “We the People” becoming? Join us for a photographic inquiry into the State of our Union.
Doug Lawler: Light and Color
Showing: November 3 – 30
Reception and Book Signing: Saturday, November 10, 5-7pm
Join us for the launch of Doug Lawler’s new book, The Island of Za. Doug will be signing copies during the reception.
The ongoing theme of Doug’s current work is light and color. He explores light as the driving force in our understanding of the universe and the laws of physics. Complex color is the total effect of the environmental influences on the objects we perceive. The color we see is really a combination of surfaces, reflections, and shadows. Light emerges from objects, light also penetrates objects. Color then becomes the essence of things, rather than the description of things. He tries to capture an image where color and light combine to form a moment of grace.
Alison Moncrieff: And You Were There Too
Showing: October 4 – November 15
An ongoing meditation on loss, transformation, and the fluidity of identity, my empty-dress paintings are witness to that which is mourned, transmuting, or being born. Historically, clothing has communicated social information such as sexual availability or fertility, class, religious status. Garments communicate the restrictions and the freedoms of a culture, narrowly defining the people who wear them. What would the world would be like if the message a garment carried were under the purview of its wearer and not that of their society? Empty clothing is emblematic to me of how much we do not know about other people, how much is theirs to define. Inside every garment can be a personal sovereignty that holds out hope for freedom, spiritual opening, and change.
Ana Maria Gower: Life as Potential
Showing: October 3 – 31
Reception: Saturday, October 13, 5-7pm
“The most effective representation of the ideas of life’s path and potential can be found in a simple tree branch. In the process of development, it selects a path out of multitude and each choice contains new alternatives. I started noticing branching structures all around me. A very straightforward observation, that became the impetus behind the “Transfusion” series, was focused on the fact that everything – from a body to a culture – contains such branching structures, both literally and symbolically. To me it was an evidence of a transfused potential, that seems to be the foundational quality of our reality.”
Susan R. Kirshenbaum: Drawing from Life
Showing: July 5 – September 30
Artist Reception: Friday, August 24, 6:30 – 8pm
Susan R. Kirshenbaum is an SF-based figurative artist whose expressive, gestural work reflects a fresh, contemporary perspective on the female form capturing a moment and reflects an intimacy with her subjects.
Faces of the Body Positive Movement
The Photography of Larry Dyer
September 4 -29
Reception: Saturday, September 8, 5 -7pm
Abrams Claghorn is excited to present The Body Positive as part of Bay Area Month of Photography. We will be showing work by Larry Dyer, photos in collaboration with The Body Positive, a non-profit in Berkeley, CA.
More info!
Jilian Monribot: Facets
Showing: April 1 – June, 2018
Reception: June 29, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
at Grove Salon
Pilinio De Oliveira: Color Rhythm
Showing: March 26 – June 2018
at Salon 1757
What inspires me the most about painting is being able to use as many colors as possible and to connect them using repetitive brush strokes and patterns. For me my completed artwork allows me to visualize a magic splendor on canvas.
Have You Heard Us Yet?
Showing: June 5 – 30 2018
Artist Reception: June 9, 5 – 7 pm
Artist’s Talk: June 20, 5 – 7 pm
Poetry Evening: June 27, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Exhibiting the works of 10 female writers, the Abrams Claghorn Gallery will be showing poems visually represented as interpreted by 15 Bay Area artists; collaborating but having never met!
The show is centered around what women’s hopes are for 2018 in regards to equality as well as being a voice for the issues that they feel have largely not been heard, digested, and acted upon by those currently in power within our society.
Albany High School Advanced Art Student Showcase
Showing: May 1 – May 31, 2018
Artist Reception: Saturday May 12 , 5 – 7 pm
Fourth Annual showcasing by Albany High’s Advanced Art Students.
Pamela Blotner: Refuge
Showing: April 3 – April 29
Artist Reception: April 14, 5 – 7 pm
Every day we are bombarded with disturbing images of displaced people fleeing or driven from their homes because of ethnic cleansing, poverty, and climate change. But what does “refuge” mean? Refuge from whom, and from what? If a haven is found, is it truly safe and can it last? Can lives be rebuilt? And dreams pursued, if refuge is denied or taken away?
Speaking Out – 9 Myanmar Artists
Showing: April 10 – April 29
Artist Reception: April 14, 5 – 7 pm
Artist Talk begins at 4:30 pm before Reception
Nine contemporary Myanmar artists explore urgent issues challenging their country today. Htein Lin, Ko Z, Kyi Wynn, Nge Lay, Phyu Mon, Soe Yu Nwe, Cynthia Theint Soe, Zoncy and ZZDD, who explore a range of human rights issues, including civil conflict, repression, displacement, and environmental exploitation.
Curated by Mie Preckler and Pamela Blotner. The exhibition is inspired by the Artists Beyond Boundaries exhibition and workshop Project that Blotner and Preckler brought to the American Center of the U.S. Embassy and Pansodan Center Art Scene in Yangon, Myanmar, in June, 2017.
Three Generations: Moving Beyond Boundaries
Showing: March 6 – April 1
Artist Reception: March 10, 5 – 7 pm
This exhibition showcases three different approaches to the question of place. The experience of displacement becomes sublimated; all three artists carry their worlds within, irrespective of their geographic location. Yet each finds a distinct path, transcending limitations of language and focusing on their individual gift of imagination, sharing their worlds of possibilities and transformation.
Participating Artists: Vladimir Dikarev, Natasha Dikareva, & Anya Dikareva
Alison Moncrieff: I See You
Showing: November 28, 2017 – TBA
Showing at: Salon 1757
This series – I See You – is a meditation on loss, transformation, and the fluidity of identity. I see empty dresses, empty clothing, as representing what is mourned, transmuting, or being born. The dresses are space-holders for the self.
Ana Maria Gower at Grove Salon
Showing: January 15 – March 15, 2018
In my work, I uncover hidden properties of our existence by studying moments of such emotional intensity reverberating in our memories, dreams, and myths. Dreams of our families, memories of violence, myths of ancient gods and heroes allow us to take a snapshot of the underlying reality that secretly guides our lives.
Georgia Carbone: Healing Images- A Prescription For America
Showing: February 6 – March 4
Artist Reception: Saturday February 10, 5 -7 pm
Artist Talk: Tuesday February 27, 5 – 7pm
Georgia Carbone has created two complimentary sets of images in response to the intense emotional and psychological climate of social and cultural upheaval in America. Using bright concentrated pigments and simple geometric forms Carbone’s healing images are drawings designed to address ailments that the individual experiences in such an environment: self doubt, negative thinking, the desire to love and be loved.
Craft Rebels
Showing: December 5 – January 31
Artist Reception: Saturday Dec. 9, 5 -7 pm
Craft Rebels is a group show featuring resident and local artist from the Bay Area utilizing traditional crafting methods to make artworks that make a statement about current events and social issues.
Participating Artists: Annamarta Dostourian, Sheila Halali, Sandi Goldstein, Emily Dvorin, and Natasha Dikareva
An Li Liu at Grove Salon
Showing: October 13 – December 15, 2017
An Li Liu, Ontario born and currently residing in Berkeley, is a traveler at heart. She finds inspiration from South East Asia where colors and energies are very potent. An Li delved into yoga practices with a special interest in Buddhist philosophy. While An Li took formal art classes in University, she is mainly a self-taught artist.
Night Gallery
Showing: November 3 – December 3, 2017
Artist Reception: Saturday November 4, 5 – 8 pm
Closing: Saturday December 2, 5- 8 pm, More Info on Facebook!
Night Gallery is an art show inspired by Rod Serling’s television series. The exhibit features artwork based on stories from the darker realms of the imagination. Each piece of art is matched with component literature; including poems, short stories, personal narratives, and episodes from the television show itself. We invite you to explore this world of shadows, dark visions and tales of the supernatural.
Kent Jolly
Showing: August 8 – TBA, 2017
Showing at: Salon 1757, located at 1757 Solano Ave. Albany CA
The photos here reflect a fascination with symmetry and it’s ability to suggest new lifeforms as well as abstract the subject. It creates a drone like resonance that I try to both embrace and break from.
Sonja Hinrichsen: Cycles and Lines between Destiny and Decision
Showing: October 3 – 31, 2017
Artist Reception: Saturday, October 14, 5 – 7 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, October 21, 5 – 7 pm
Heather Capen: Sweets
Showing: August 1 – October 13, 2017
Showing at Grove Salon, 1483 Solano Ave Albany, CA
My paintings are a reflection on the underlying beauty of the places we see, and often don’t see, in our world.
Call Me What You Want
Showing: September 3 – 30, 2017
Artist Reception: Saturday, September 16, 5 – 7 pm
Artist Talk with Eleanor Schnarr: Saturday, September 23, 5 – 7 pm
In these times of turmoil how can we as a society sit back and stay silent? Eight women artist cast a light through the shadows of unseen and unacknowledged biases, forcing society to examine treacherous paradigms with fresh eyes.
A group exhibition featuring works by Alyssa Stanghellini, Marnika Shelton, Lettie McGuire, Hellenmae, Olivia Chen, Zoe Boston, Eleanor Schnarr, and Natasha Dikareva.
Gathering: A Venison Magazine Retrospective
Showing: July 5 – August 31, 2017
Reception: Saturday, July 15, 5 – 7 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, August 12, 5 – 7 pm
Check out our Facebook Event for more details!
For this maiden voyage, we are gathering up the family for the very first Venison Magazine reunion.
Eleanor Schnarr: Experimental Fragments
Showing: April 28 – August 7, 2017
Showing at: Salon 1757, located at 1757 Solano Ave. Albany CA
Schnarr’s new series depicts nebulous tableaus of abstraction, drawing the viewer into a fractal drama populated with seas of glowing red freckled and teal archipelagos circling endlessly in watery radiance.
Michael McConnell: Alternative Forms of Domestication
Showing: May 20 – July 25, 2017
Showing at Grove Salon, 1483 Solano Ave Albany, CA
Making art is how Michael McConnell makes sense of the world and his forgotten childhood. Observing his own anxieties and awkwardness he creates visual narratives that examine loneliness, responsibility, and choice. In his work the innocence and vulnerability of children and animals is constrained. The stories unfold in the space between memory and nostalgia, and focus on the tension between youth and maturity.
Doug Lawler: The Island of Za
Showing: June 3 – 30, 2017
Reception: Saturday, June 10, 5 – 9 pm
This series of 100 original intaglio prints by local artist Doug Lawler tells a story without words.
Albany High School Advanced Art Students Showcase
Showing: May 3 – 31, 2017
Reception: Saturday May 13, 5-7pm
The Abrams Claghorn Gallery is proud to partner with Albany High School for the third annual Advanced Art Students Showcase. Join us for this month long exhibit to see what the newest generation of artists are creating!
Anna Vaughan at Grove Salon
Showing: March 24 – May 20, 2017
Showing at Grove Salon, 1483 Solano Ave Albany, CA
Abrams Claghorn Gallery is proud to continue collaborating with Grove Salon to show Anna Vaughan’s beautiful, surreal artwork inspired by nature.
Alyssa Stanghellini: For What It’s Worth
Showing : March 7 – April 18
Showing at: Salon 1757, located at 1757 Solano Ave. Albany, CA
Zoë Boston: Black Gold
Showing: January 15 – March 15, 2017
Showing at: Grove Salon, 1483 Solano Avenue, Albany CA
Reception: Saturday February 18, 6-7pm
Check out our Facebook Event for more details!
Abrams Claghorn is proud to continue collaborating with Grove Salon for our fourth show featuring the serene the bold, innovative and intriguing paintings by self-taught artist Zoe Boston.
Kevin Proctor: Things in Bold
Showing: January 21 – February 28, 2017
Showing at: Salon 1757, located at 1757 Solano Ave. Albany CA 94706
Abrams Claghorn and Salon 1757 are proud to collaborate again to show the artwork of Kevin Proctor: Things in Bold.
Tali Grinshpan: Of Innocence and Experience
Showing: February 3 – 28
Reception: Saturday February 11, 5-7pm
Check out our Facebook Event for more details!
Abrams Claghorn is proud to present a new body of work by talented glass artist, Tali Grinshpan.
Hellenmae: The Stuff Dreams are Made of
Showing: January 10 – 31, 2017
Artist Reception: Friday January 13, 5 – 9pm
As with our dreams, Hellenmae’s new works for The Stuff Dreams are Made of have many layered meanings. Her work evokes themes of sustainability, decay, industrialism, extinction, conservation, and transformation. Each piece is interwoven to complete the complex narrative of this exhibit.
Salma Arastu: Golden Moments
Showing: October 20 – January 15, 2017
Showing at: Grove Salon, 1483 Solano Avenue, Albany CA 94706
Abrams Claghorn is proud to continue collaborating with Grove Salon for our third show featuring the serene paintings of everyday life by Salma Arastu.
Art of Seeing Group Exhibition
Showing: December 3 – 26, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday December 10, 5-7pm
Becky Jaffe’s advanced photography students seek to define how looking through the camera lens can change their perspective.
Natasha Dikareva: Enter & Escape
Showing: November 3 – 30, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday November 12, 5-7pm
Natasha Dikareva’s work pushes the boundary between reality and imagination, bringing to life previously unknown creatures. In her sculptures, she offer a moment of contemplation, a glimpse of an unseen world, and a playful recombination of the familiar and the foreign.
Elizabeth Addison: They Come from Outer Space
Showing: October 3 – 31, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday October 8, 5-7pm
Elizabeth Addison drew inspiration for her solo show, They Come from Outer Space, from Dr. Andrew Tomkin’s images of ancient fossilized micrometeorites, only a hair’s width in size.
Rena Charles: Tree-N-A
Showing: August 20 – October 15, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday August 27, 6-8pm
Showing at: Grove Salon, 1483 Solano Avenue, Albany CA 94706
After painting trees for many years, Rena Charles has been continually fascinated with capturing the expressions of certain trees that resonate with her. She believes that the trees she paints share the same root system, but much like humans, it is their ideologies, or “thought-DNA,” that separates them.
Pamela Blotner: Menacing Beauty
Showing: September 3 – 30, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday September 10, 5-7pm
Pamela Blotner’s Menacing Beauty at its’ heart is an exhibit created to instill a love, appreciation and, ultimately, a desire to preserve wild spaces and animals. Inspired from her own travels around the globe, this show highlights Blotner’s own deep belief in land and species conservation.
Amber Imrie-Situnayake: It’ll Do Rd.
Showing: August 3 – 31, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday August 13, 5-7pm
It’ll Do Rd is a collection of work spanning the last 2 years, with the bulk of the show being shown for the first time. In this exhibit, Amber explores her homeland through different fibrous mediums. The show includes a video/ performance piece, wall works, and an interactive installation.
Anya Sophe Behn: Dreaming Space
Showing: July 3 – 31, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday July 9, 5-7pm
Anya Sophe Behn’s work in metal and wire explores the concept of the self and space. Her figurative wire sculptures border on realism and serve to transport the viewer into Behn’s conceptual world.
Leah Tumerman: Variations on A Flying Thing
Showing: May 17 – July 31, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday June 3, 6-8pm at Grove Salon, 1483 Solano Ave, Albany CA 94706
Abrams Claghorn is staging an exhibition for eight weeks at the Grove Salon, a local fixture on Solano Ave, featuring the whimsical works of Leah Tumerman.
Albany High School Advanced Art Students Showcase
Showing: June 3 – 30, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday June 4, 5-8pm
Join us for the month long exhibit to see what the newest generation of artists are creating. The opening reception will feature a makers market in the grassy lot to the left of the gallery, food trucks, live music and a chance to meet and greet all the student artists!
Claudia Chapline: Water Works
Showing: May 4 – 31, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday May 14, 5-7pm
Claudia Chapline’s poetry often finds its way into her two-dimensional art, as it has for her upcoming exhibit at Abrams Claghorn Showroom. Aptly titled “Water Works,” the exhibit focuses on her intense connection to water, the ocean, and her continued belief in recycling and conserving natural resources.
Michelle Gregor: Tributary
Showing: April 3 – 30, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday April 9, 5-7pm
Art is a tributary that runs deep through the great, creative current of humanity. The process of sculpture in clay- with its slow beginning, heavy physicality, and transformation through both water and fire- is compelling.
Anna Vaughan: My Darling
Showing: April 3 – 30, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday April 9, 5-7pm
Performance times : Wednesdays & Saturdays, 1 – 5pm, thru April
My Darling is an exhibition of painting, sculpture and performance that investigates the quest for bliss.
Crossing to Safety
Showing: March 3 -31, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday March 12, 5-7
“Crossing to Safety” showcases works by eleven artists in the San Francisco Bay Area who draw and reflect upon their families journeys to, and settlement in, a new land. Featuring Bay Area Artists: Emmanuel Montoya, Judy Shintani, Priscilla Otani, Art Hazelwood, Salma Arastu, Sharon Siskin, Ernest Jolly, Judy Johnson-Williams, Patricia A. Montgomery, Anthony Julius Williams, and Rene Yanez.
Stacy Jo Scott: Rise Out of the Scattered Deep
Showing: February 3 – 29, 2016
Artist Reception: Thursday February 4, 6-8pm
This exhibition, Rise Out of the Scattered Deep, borrows its’ title from The Golden Ass (Metamophoses) by Apuleius of Madauras. It emerged from a similar longing from the artist to understand her own experiences, both tangible and intangible
Crimson: Valentine’s Day – A Little Darker Than Usual
Showing: February 3 – 29, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday February 13, 5-7 pm
This take on Valentine’s day will explore the changing nature of this holiday by seeing it through the dark filter of the holiday’s ever-changing nature.
Greensmith: An Exchange Exhibition of Eco and Ethical Jewelry
Showing: January 5 – 31, 2016
Artist Reception: Saturday January 9, 5-7pm
This exhibition will address issues involved in ethical material selection, production techniques, design principles and the conceptual development of environmentally conscious ideas.
Bambi Waterman: Reflection
Showing: November 4 – 30, 2015
Artist Reception and Talk: Saturday November 14, 5-8pm
“An idea arising in the mind. Comment.Our Planet is in the throes of what Scientists call The Sixth Major Extinction, triggered not by a catastrophic and “unavoidable act of Nature” but by the impact of Human Society alone.”
Jennifer Brazelton: Bumpy Terrain
Showing: October 1 – November 3, 2015
Artist Talk: Saturday October 24, 5-8pm
Artist Jennifer Brazelton wants you to experience nationalism in new and unexpected ways.
The September Show
Showing: September 1 – 30, 2015
Featuring Bay Area Artists: Margaret Keelan, Freya Prowe, Anna Vaughan, Crystal Morey, Michael McConnell, Danielle Schlunegger
In The Garden
Showing: August 1 – 31, 2015
Featuring Bay Area Artists: Kent Jolly, Judith T. Irwin, Beth Roberts
I Expected Flowers
Showing: July 1 – 30, 2015
Featuring Bay Area Artists: Sue Galaviz, Justin Moran, Daniel Velasco, C.S. Novus, John Palega
Albany High School Advanced Art Student Show
Showing: June 1 – 31, 2015
Featuring nineteen students from the Advanced Art class at Albany High School.
True Story
Showing: May 1 – 31, 2015
Featuring Bay Area Artists: Stella Furtado, Christine Trudeau, Arinthia Jones, Marnika Shelton, Melinda Gray
April 11th Opening Preview Show
Showing: April 11 – 30, 2015
The Abrams Claghorn Gallery debut show, featuring over 30 local artist.