BAMPFA Art Insiders 

As part of our ongoing commitment to support and sustain the vitality of the Bay Area arts community, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive is launching an exciting new series of on-location conversations with local artists, curators, art historians, and collectors. 

This is a course designed for people who want to deepen their understanding of contemporary art and our local creative community, take a behind-the-scenes look at the variety and complexity of contemporary practice, and have opportunities for intimate conversations and connections with notable Bay Area artists. 

Over the course of three Saturdays each semester, an intimate group of enrollees will visit a different artist each day in order to discuss and experience their work either in situ or in the artist’s own studio. Each Saturday trip will be led by a prominent curator or art historian who will start us off with an overview presentation that situates the artist in his or her contemporary context.

FALL 2019

Our inaugural Art Insiders course will include the following:

September 21, 2019

3–6 PM

Apsara DiQuinzio, senior curator of modern and contemporary art and Phyllis C. Wattis Matrix curator at BAMPFA, and artist Alicia McCarthy will take us on a guided tour of several key San Francisco art locations and discuss both McCarthy’s involvement in the San Francisco's Mission School movement and her contemporary practice. Included will be visits to the Lab, Clarion Alley, and a stop at McCarthy’s recently completed mural at the Proper Hotel. We will finish with a convivial, casual reception including hosted drinks and small bites.

October 5, 2019

10 AM–2 PM

BAMPFA Director and Chief Curator Lawrence Rinder takes us to the home and studio of artist Sylvia Fein, an important American surrealist painter and subject of the upcoming exhibition MATRIX 275. Fein, who will turn 100 in November 2019, continues to explore themes such as dreams, cosmic consciousness, and the psychological power of the sea. Her work draws on the style of Northern Renaissance artists such as Pieter Breughel and she employs an ancient egg tempera technique to achieve uniquely radiant colors and surfaces. For this excursion, we will start at BAMPFA with an illustrated presentation by Larry Rinder that will provide an overview of Fein’s career and the contemporary context for her art. A shuttle will take us to Fein’s home and studio, where we will enjoy a discussion and tour, followed by a boxed lunch catered by BAMPFA’s Babette cafe. Our shuttle will return us to BAMPFA by 2:00 PM.

November 9, 2019

3–6 PM

Julia Bryan-Wilson (UC Berkeley’s Doris and Clarence Malo Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art) accompanies the group to visit Josh Faught, a San Francisco-based fiber artist who creates sculptures, textiles, collages, and paintings. We will meet at Faught’s San Francisco studio, where Professor Bryan-Wilson will start us off with an art historical contextualization of and introduction to Faught’s artistic practice. Next, Bryan-Wilson will engage Faught in conversation, followed by an opportunity for questions and a closer look at Faught’s most recent work. We will finish with hosted drinks and nibbles at 47 Hills biergarten, across the street from Faught’s studio.

MORE DETAILS

BAMPFA will provide transportation between program locations if needed, as well as a hosted lunch or happy hour reception as part of each program.

Impact

Participation in BAMPFA’s Art Insiders program will not only deepen your knowledge of and connections to the Bay Area creative community, but also provide critical financial support to ensure the ongoing vibrancy and sustainability of our local arts ecosystem. All proceeds from the Art Insiders program will go to compensating the artists and to supporting BAMPFA’s cutting edge art and film programming. Your contribution, less tangible benefits, is fully deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Course fee

$1,500 ($1,250 is tax-deductible)

Registration

Please contact BAMPFA’s Major Gifts Officer Jennifer Sime at 510-643-9632 or jlsime@berkeley.edu with any questions or to register. Space is limited, and registrations will be taken on a first come, first served basis.

We hope you will join us for these exciting art excursions!