Trans-Pacific Art Show at the Bay Street Cafe

Kimi designed this beautiful postcard to promote the show


The inside of Kimi's flier

Last night, I helped set up an art show which, for the first time, included some of my own paintings!

Earlier this month, on January 1st, my friend Kimi asked if I would consider participating an a Trans-Pacific Art Show that she participating in with five artists from Japan. She had been contacted via twitter by an artist in Japan who, along with 4 others, were interested in sharing their art with artists here in the Bay Area, hosting a show here, then having the Bay Area artists send art to be shown along with the Japanese artists in Japan. Kimi already had 4 bay area artists, including herself, but was looking for one more.

Something I haven't mentioned here on my blog is that my New Year's resolution this year is to get back into painting. (there! I put it out on the internet. that makes it real!) I was a little apprehensive to accept at first, as I'm really quite rusty and perhaps a little gun shy. Not to mention that the opening reception for the art show was already scheduled for January 21st! Kimi suggested that I could simply display some of my old paintings (and when I say "old" I'm talking 15+ years old!) and not worry about producing anything new. It was such a generous offer, and really, what better way for me to get back in touch with my artistic side!

I chose 4 different pieces from "the archives". I don't consider these my strongest paintings (those are living in my house, or in the houses of my family members), but they are decent examples of some of my work. :)

We met at the beautiful Bay Street Cafe in Fremont, (where the show will be on display for 3 weeks) to set up yesterday around 5:00. We had a lot of help (thanks to Lotfi, Davin, and the rest of the crew) who brought in metal/grid walls to hang the art from. There was a lot of individual pieces, so it took a while to figure out where everything would look best. It took about 4.5 hours or so, but were quite pleased with the end result.

The opening reception is tomorrow night, Saturday, January 21st from 6:00-9:00pm.

Bay Street Cafe
4000 Bay Street
Fremont, CA

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the opening reception, as my family had already planned our Chinese New Year dinner for the same evening.

If you're in the area, please stop by. There are some really nice pieces of work, and the Bay Street Cafe is such a lovely venue.

Thank you, Kimi for offering me the opportunity to partake in such a neat, artistic collaboration!

here are some photos that I took after we finished setting up last night:


one of Kimi's large paintings displayed in the front of the cafe


the back left shows smaller pieces by a Japanese artist. Another large canvas by Kimi is next to it. One of Rica's paintings is in the front


on the left (the red ballerina painting) is one of mine called "To Newt, with Love" (it was created in 1995 during the time when he was largely responsible for cutting funding to the National Endowment of the Arts). to the right of that painting are bags by a Japanese artists, ceramics on the shelf by Yukie and another painting (masks of my face) on the right.


another shot of the small paintings by a Japanese artists, and Kimi's painting


on the left is a piece by Kimi, the middle is mine, and smaller pieces by another Japanese artist


one of my oil paintings next to a display of Yukie's ceramics


a closer shot of Yukie's ceramics and my creepy mask painting


a closer shot of my Ballerina/Newt painting, and the bags by a Japanese artist


Lovely oil paintings by Chiori


tired artists after we finished hanging the show at 9:45 last night