Category: Gallery

OPEN CALL – Local Bay Area Artists invited to submit

Post author By Rachel Holmstrom
Post date March 13, 2025

The Junior Center of Art & Science is excited to announce a call for art for an upcoming exhibition. We seek work from artists who show innovation in form, content, and ideas. The upcoming show themes will be resilience, healing, and unity.

Book your RENTAL

SUBMIT YOUR WORK

DEADLINE: MAY 9

Selections are based on an evaluation of the works submitted and/or proposed artwork. We will look for consistency in style, execution, and aesthetic vision.

Artists will have an opportunity to lead a community workshop at the Junior Center. Artist will be compensated.

There is a $15 application fee.
Note: Fees must be paid online when you register on ShowSubmit. All fees are non-refundable.

For more information email [email protected]

SPROUT & BLOOM

Post author By Rachel Holmstrom
Post date February 4, 2025
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Seeds, soil, plants, and flowers are creative materials utilized to foster healing and connectivity through the process of tending, sowing, drying, and creating.

We welcome you to Sprout & Bloom, a group exhibition by Lana Williams, Sigrid Hubbell, and Alex Arzt.

Join us for the opening reception on Friday, March 21st from 6:30 – 8:30pm. The exhibition will run from March 17th – May 23rd.

About the Exhibit

The artworks transform the gallery into a beautiful space of knowledge and reflection—where we can learn about ourselves, co-existence, and our connection to the land and the earth. Most importantly, how we can all heal collectively through seeds, flowers, and potted ecosystems.

COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS

In addition to the exhibit, Lana and Sigrid will also be holding two workshops

Micro Bouquets

with Sigrid Hubbell
Saturday, April 19th 10am -12pm
for ages 3 & up, $30-$45 sliding scale

Celebrate spring with ecologically grown, freshly harvested, Oakland-grown botanicals! In this workshop, you’ll explore the unique textures, scents, and forms of flowers, herbs, and seed pods grown by our host, Sigrid Hubbell, just two miles from JCAS. Drop-in to design a micro bouquet to take home and tend. All botanicals and small glass vases provided. No experience necessary and children are welcome!

Book your RENTAL

BUY TICKETS TODAY

Container Gardening 101

with Lana Williams
Saturday, May 17th 10am -12pm
All ages, $45-$60 sliding scale

Join Lana Williams for a Container Gardening 101 workshop! Learn all the basics from how to select plants and pots, design techniques, to caring for your container garden arrangements. Williams will teach you all the best practices so you can start your own container garden with confidence.

Book your RENTAL

BUY TICKETS TODAY

About the Artists

Lana Williams

Lana Williams is an author, artist, and the owner of The Tender Gardener, a plant shop and design company that opened in 2020 in Oakland, California. Her book, The Container Garden Recipe Book, published in 2024 by Artisan Books is an in depth guide to ornamental container gardening. She leads local workshops on plant care basics, repotting, plant design principles, wreath making, and flower arranging. When she is not tending to her garden or greenhouse, you can find her in her studio painting and making ceramics.

Sigrid Hubbell

Awestruck by the endless diversity, adaptations, and resilience of the natural world, Sigrid Hubbell spends the majority of her time in her urban garden cultivating flowers, herbs, food, medicine, and habitat. Growing and preserving the botanicals that comprise her work, she observes the vivid lessons revealed by natural rhythms. She hopes that noticing the contour of a leaf, the color of a petal, or the plumage of an individual seed invokes deep appreciation for the elegant intelligence and healing qualities of plants.

Alex Arzt

Alex Arzt is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, gardener, and grant writer based in Oakland, CA. Rooted in a connection to place and material explorations, she facilitates connections between human and nonhuman spaces by creating projects in the form of publications, interactive objects, workshops, group performances, lectures, videos, and experimental gardens.

Join us for the Artist Talk

Tend : Share : Grow is an open dialogue forum with the Sprout and Bloom artists: Lana Williams, Alex Arzt, and Sigrid Hubbell. Come join these artists as they talk “shop” about plants, flowers, shrubs, trees, and all the many forms of gardening care that are a part of their art practice, and daily life. Patrons are welcomed and encouraged to share their knowledge and experience with plants and gardening.

Saturday, May 3rd 6:00 – 8:00 PM

Support Our Work

Support our nonprofit gallery space and help us continue fostering creativity, community, and access to the arts. Your contribution directly empowers emerging artists and makes inspiring exhibitions and programs possible for all.

Book your RENTAL

Support our work

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Set Ups: An Installation in Flux

Post author By Rachel Holmstrom
Post date November 18, 2024

As children, Luka Vergoz and their brother used to make ‘set ups’ – worlds of animals, train tracks, cars, blocks, and people. These ‘set ups’ grew quickly, sprawling across the room, on the floor, and on the furniture. They didn’t know it at the time, but this was their introduction into landscape and installation…

We welcome you to Set Ups: An Installation in Flux , a collaborative installation by Luka Vergoz.

Join us for the opening reception on Friday, October 25th from 6:30 – 8:30pm. The exhibition will run from October 25th – December 13th.

Add to the exhibit. Every Saturday during the exhibition, the community is welcomed to create objects and add to the installation.

Meet the artist. Luka is hosting two workshops, Nov 16th and Dec 7th from 10am-12pm.

About the Exhibit

Children have an incredible ability to shift scales, transforming a room into a world. The title Set Ups comes from the worlds Luka built growing up and plays off the tension between planning and improvisation in art-making. The phrase also addresses the literal action of setting an object, placing it up, or down, as a basic unit of the creative process. As the plural title suggests, there will be several areas of ‘set up’ around the room, all contributing to an overall transformation of the interior into a larger, connected world.

Community Collaboration

Viewers are able to walk through the space and participate by adding their own elements. Every Saturday during the exhibition (Oct 26 – Dec 7), the community is welcomed to create objects and add to the installation. This installation will continuously grow and evolve each time someone adds to it.

Set It Up: A Workshop in Repurposed Materiality

In addition to our weekly invitations to add to the exhibit, Luka will also be holding two workshops on Saturday Nov 16 & Dec 7 from 10am – 2 pm.

These workshops are an opportunity to meet Luka and learn their process. They will demonstrate how to use discarded and recycled materials to create objects, as well as explore scale and landscape. Participants will build and create objects with discarded materials such as paper, cardboard, and wood, and then add their creations to the installation.

These are drop-in, donation-based workshops.

About the Artist

Luka Vergoz (they/he) is an Oakland-based installation artist who finds, alters, and arranges scraps of material to create installations that incorporate sculpture, painting, drawing, and sound. The arrangements address themes in physics, language, environmental concerns, and the trans experience.

Luka is a member of the Imaginaries of the Future Collective and is currently a Graduate Fellow at Headlands Center for the Arts.

Support Our Work

Donate Today

LOVELAB: Celebrating our Creative Educators

Post author By Rachel Holmstrom
Post date July 29, 2024
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The Junior Center of Art and Science is celebrating our teaching artists both past and present…

The Junior Center of Art and Science (JCAS) is pleased to invite you to LOVELAB, a celebration of our teaching artists both past and present for their immense contribution to our organization, student body, families, and the broader community. This exhibition is a love letter to the unique perspective and artistic diversity of our JCAS community, which is the driving force behind everything we do. Join us in honoring and appreciating the creativity, dedication, and passion that these remarkable individuals have brought to our programs.

Our opening reception on Saturday, August 10th will feature a curated display of their work, alongside interactive installations and performances. Experience firsthand the vibrant spirit and artistic excellence that has shaped our community. Your presence will help us pay tribute to these inspiring artists and celebrate the collaborative journey that has enriched the lives of many.

Can’t make it for the Opening Reception? Stop by anytime during our open hours until September 6th to view the exhibition.

Some works will be for sale. Don’t miss this opportunity to directly support arts education in our community.

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