Oakland Museum of California

As our Member Premiere Weekend comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to thank our Members for their amazing support. We hope you had as much fun as we did seeing you walk through our galleries! Through your Membership, you support the Museum’s mission of inspiring all Californians to create a more vibrant future for themselves and their communities. #OMCAisOpen OMCA Members can bring guests, enjoy discounts in the store, preview exhibitions before they open to the public, and gain inside access to all the programs, events, and happenings at OMCA. Not a Member yet? Find the level that's right for you! Click here:https://bit.ly/34MxxFB : Odell Hussey Photography

Get the first taste of Town Fare by Tanya Holland! Members, you’re in for a treat get the first taste of Town Fare by Tanya Holland, OMCA’s new restaurant, when you visit during Members Premiere weekend this June 1113! Choose from four custom to-go picnic boxes with freshly made bites inspired by California and Southern cuisine. Pre-order today or order onsite at the Museum and enjoy a beautiful meal outdoors in OMCA’s brand new garden setting. Choose your favorite box along with the date and time of your visit and pick up your order once you’re at OMCA inside Town Fare. Members also receive a 10% discount with the code membersweekend at checkout. Don’t forget to follow @town_fare for more updates! #TownFare #OMCAisOpen

Our staff picked some favorite artworks, exhibitions, and spots that we’ve missed while we’ve been closed this past year. We can’t wait to share them with you again when you visit! What OMCA fave are you most excited to see? Read our blog post here: https://bit.ly/3w53Trt

Say HI to our Director and CEO, Lori Fogarty! Today we are excited to welcome back our OMCA Members to enjoy an exclusive preview of our newly transformed gardens as well as our Galleries of Art, History and Natural Sciences. We are very appreciative of your continued support over these past 15 months and love to see you back on our campus! #OMCAisOpen

Planning your visit this month? Here are some key points to consider as we welcome you back to our galleries and gardens. All new protocols are designed to support a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. Although CA will relax a variety of COVID-19 restrictions on June 15th, including capacity restrictions, mask wearing for vaccinated individuals, and social distancing, OMCA will maintain our safety policies and ask that our visitors adhere to these protocols. To read our Safe Community Agreements, please click the link in our bio.

Lunar New Year is celebrated in East Asia and Southeast Asia and is also known as Chun Jié (traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: ) or the Spring Festival, as it marks the arrival of the season on the lunisolar calendar. Across many Asian countries, the color red represents luck and prosperity. The giving of red envelopes (known as lai see in Cantonese and hóng bao in Mandarin) is one of the biggest traditions of the Lunar New Year celebration. The envelopes contain... money inside as a way of wishing prosperity among the recipient and are traditionally given to children by parents and grandparents to symbolize wishes of good fortune, health, and well-being for the upcoming new year. The recipient in turn wishes prosperity to the giver by saying, Gong Xi Fa Cái. Teach your little ones how to make, design, and personalize their own red envelopes to help celebrate the Year of the Ox! Click here: https://bit.ly/2OEfJHY #LunarNewYear #OMCAatHome #MuseumfromHome : Odell Hussey Photography

Travel with snowy_tung and friends as they celebrate Lunar New Year in Taiwan!! What is your family’s favorite tradition? #OMCAatHome #LunarNewYear2021

Travel with @snowy_tung and friends as they celebrate Lunar New Year in Taiwan!! What if your families favorite tradition? #OMCAatHome #LunarNewYear2021

This week #MuseumofThePeople is highlighting some awesome community photography! Don’t forget to show some love here and spread the word for a chance to be featured next Thursday! What do you think? Should we have themed submissions? @harveycastro.co Montee - Oakland... @kaseylee_art_ Reminding myself that creating doesn’t have to be defined by commissions completed projects or tangible artworks and it is enough to simply find joy in being creative. Heres some fun sand arts. Gratitude is such a wonderful tool for when I feel behind or stalled in some way. @afatasitheartist Black Space: Gray Area San Francisco has a history of revitalization projects that benefit newcomers and not local communities. Public beautification, but for whom? So too with Sundial Park, formally known as Hilltop Park. For years, decades even, the park sat without a play structure for local children, and without safe infrastructure in the ‘dish’ skate park portion. Even then, local community children would make due; still play in its dilapidated conditions, because there were few options for them. The park was truly rundown, until renovations were completed almost 5 years ago. Since then, I have seen people outside of the Bayview-Hunter’s Point community using the park, feeling awkward and out of place around our local community children, who finally do have a safe place to play, and who also happen to be Black. If you are reading this, and come from outside Bayview-Hunter’s Point to use the park, respect the local children who have access to fewer parks, with facilities they enjoy. They may not have the luxury of accessing parks in your neighborhood. @clydecaptures derek on the phone @joyousevery #cesarchavezpark #green grass mounds caught my eye.

Experience an interactive performance that acknowledges a history of oppression and celebrates the contributions of African Americans. A Cappella group SoVoSo will lead us on a journey through the experiences of the African American community. https://bit.ly/2Z438zX

We've been digging into our poster archives this week and came across one who's message feels very fitting. If you only have time to do one thing today, make sure it's that you VOTE! : Vote Today, Northern Alameda County Voter Participation Project, circa Late 20th- Early 21st Century. Offset: Lithograph on Paper, Collection of the Oakland Museum of California, All Of Us Or None Archive. Gift of the Rossman Family.

Thank you for highlighting this historical moment in the Oakland arts community. To read more: https://bit.ly/31W8pv7

CBS This Morning recently came by the Museum to check out two masks held in our collection from the 1918 pandemic.

The Unity Council started the Fruitvale Dia de los Muertos Festival 25 years ago to help change the narrative of Fruitvale. The tradition continues with a new video project called the Real Fruitvale, just in time to kickoff the 25th Anniversary of the Festival online. Join Dia Oakland tomorrow at 6pm for Cocktails and Conversation with the Creators of the Real Fruitvale Mini-Series.

Here's a sneak peek at OMCA's garden re-design by @ranacohabitat in collaboration with @hooddesignstudio. Looking forward to welcoming our visitors back soon! : @ranacohabitat

Teachers and Parents, to support the education community during a challenging school year, OMCA is offering virtual field trips free of cost in November and December 2020. Join us, grade K-6 for a live Día de los Muertos Virtual Performance on October 30th, 2020! Celebrate California’s cultural roots as you explore the diverse traditions, stories, and indigenous heritage of El Día de los Muertos with your students, families, and loved ones. Discover how this holiday is a sou...rce for cultural strength, healing, and social change. This virtual performance includes: A 30-minute live performance with Cascada de Flores (or access to a video of the performance) Videos of interviews with Latinx community members and OMCA curators Accompanying hands-on papel picado art activity Teacher guide Once again, a huge thank you to OMCA's Día de los Muertos Volunteer Community Committee for their tremendous support! For more information visit OMCA at Home. : Scott, MacLeod

As our celebrations continue to look a little different, don't forget to register for this year's virtual 26th annual Día de los Muertos Community Celebration on October 25th! Explore the full Virtual El Día de los Muertos offerings at OMCA at Home including an hour community celebration full of Mesoamérican traditions, resources for teachers and parents, and a look back on historical content from 2019's ¡El Movimiento Vivo! Chicano Roots of El Día de los Muertos, about... Chicano activists who introduced Día de los Muertos traditions to the United States in the 1970s. This virtual program is free with an RSVP! : Odell Hussey

This year, the OMCA El Día de los Muertos Volunteer Committee members welcome you to join us virtually October 25th, for one-hour of community celebration with Mesoamérican traditions! Explore the full Virtual El Día de los Muertos offerings at OMCA at Home including resources and videos for teachers and parents, as well as a multigenerational conversation between the teen Isabela Perez and the founding curator of OMCA’s Days of the Dead special exhibition, Bea Carrillo...-Hocker. Learn how to make papel picado with educator Rebecca Rocco, and explore historical content from 2019's ¡El Movimiento Vivo! Chicano Roots of El Día de los Muertos, part of OMCA's virtual exhibition tours, to learn about Chicano activists who introduced Día de los Muertos traditions to the United States in the 1970s. To RSVP: https://bit.ly/3nBVs31 : Scott MacLeod

We were sorry to hear of Robert Bechtle's recent passing. In celebration of his life, we would like to share this painting from OMCA's collection. A longtime Bay Area resident, Bechtle was a renowned photorealist artist whose paintings of everyday lifecars, suburban streets, and intersectionstransformed mundane scenes into intricate and vibrant works of art. OMCA was proud to display his works in a 2000 exhibition and are honored to hold a number of his captivating paintings in our collection. : Robert Bechtle, '56 Chrysler, 1965. Oil on canvas, 36 x 40 in. Gift of Gary Lucidon.

Last day to fill out your U.S. Census. If you have not done so, we can help you here https://bit.ly/3064hYM

Tomorrow! Tune in at 4 pm PST for the Facebook premier of J.B. Blunk: Nature, Art & Everyday Life. J.B. Blunk (19262002) was a mid-century artist whose connection to nature governed his daily life. Inspired by Japanese philosophies of nature and art’s inseparability and influenced by rural communities, Blunk’s muse and often his source of materials was the beautiful environment of Inverness, California. His remarkable craftsmanship took the form of handcrafted furniture, ceramics, and sculptures, as well as large-scale public art. Experience northern California’s landscape through Blunk’s eyes and get inspired to find the beauty of nature and art in your own daily life.

Carmichael Lynch Advertising, untitled (poster), circa 1996. Offset lithograph on paper, 20 x 16 in. All Of Us Or None Archive. Gift of the Rossman Family. #nationalvoterregistrationday

Thank you for fighting for all of us. RIP Ruth Bader Ginsburg.