Vibrant scene offers steampunk creations, painters, symphony
A Vallejo artist might work with chalk, sketching elaborate designs for the Visions Of The Wild Chalk Art Festival that swept across the city’s downtown sidewalks this past September.
Other local artists might use paint or a camera to capture their minds’ eye.
Or a Vallejo artist might create a fantastical papier-mâché Tyrannosaurus Rex head, morphing a baby stroller into a roaring, fang-toothed monster (complete with a real baby inside) to wheel around the Annual Obtainium Cup Contraptor’s Rally that takes place each summer on Mare Island.
It’s clear — there’s a healthy dose of madcap going on in this waterfront city. This fall, Vallejo even attracted the film crew of Paramount, who with area artists helped transform parts of downtown into movie sets.
Still, the cultural classics thrive here, too, such as the Vallejo Symphony founded in 1931, and the Empress Theater, built in 1911 and bustling today with live stage works, local bands, touring artists, jams, art movies and the Symphony itself.
The local art scene continues to expand. Just this past September, the city officially proclaimed and supported the fourth anniversary of the 2nd Friday Art Walk. For this community stroll, resident artists set up on the sidewalks of historic downtown Vallejo, playing music and selling handcrafted wares among the neighborhood’s retail gallery open houses.
Art lovers should also put Nov. 11 and 12 on their calendars, for the 2017 Vallejo Open Studios weekend. The free, self-guided tours of galleries and working studios run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, including free admission to the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum on Marin Street near Capitol Street.
OBTAINIUM WORKS
How to summarize a place that proudly boasts it’s the home of the Hibernian Academy of UnNatural Sciences? The Hibernian name is a tribute to an acclaimed artist-based institution in Ireland, founded in 1823, while Obtainium’s mission is to support Vallejo’s do-it-yourself community of “tinkerers, gear heads and steam bohemians who fabricate art out of repurposed industrial detritus.”
We can thank these Victorian-era influenced dreamers of an imaginary world for creating magical, sci-fi vehicles for events such as Burning Man, the Mad Hatter Parade, the Obtainium Cup, Maker Faire, the Grand Kinetic Championship and the Battlebots television series.
There are no rules for this merry band of brave, artistic explorers, other than art materials must be discards, as in second-hand, found by dumpster diving or chance findings or as donations.
To admire the marvelous works, fans can attend the refreshingly crazy Mad Hatter parade on Dec. 2 (hattervallejo.com), showcasing Obtainium’s costumes and mobile creations. Or, the art center — and its Hibernian headquarters — is open on Sundays for tours.
ARTISZEN CULTURAL ARTS CENTER
An artist may start his or her career at home, working in a garage or backyard shed. But at some point, that talent is going to outgrow the small four walls. And that’s where Artiszen Studio steps in. The expansive co-op offers space for rent, anchored by a 1,600-square-foot gallery for shows, workshops and public or private parties.
Visitors are welcome, as well, to enjoy periodic open mic concerts, “trashion” shows of fashion made from repurposed items, dance classes, theater performances and constantly changing art shows.
COAL SHED ART STUDIOS
These are actual former coal sheds, originally used to store steamship supplies for the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. In 1999, artist Tim Rose started work transforming one of the nine historic structures, outfitting the 8,000-square-foot coal shed for a work and gallery space housing 18 artists.
Today, the eclectic collection includes painters, woodworkers, metalworkers, printmakers, photographers, videographers, sculptors, textile artists and space for solo and group exhibitions are held in the Tim Rose Gallery.
Open by appointment and during art shows, the Coal Shed will also welcome guests for the Vallejo Open Studios weekend Nov. 11 and 12 and the Holiday Bazaar Dec. 9 and 10.
VALLEJO SYMPHONY
A bit of trivia: this is the secondoldest civic orchestra in all of California, playing for 86 seasons now. Founded in 1931 by a group of community leaders hoping to recapture their city’s culture during the Great Depression, the Vallejo Symphony still plays with a full orchestra, often augmented by soloists to headline the shows. Earlier this year, the group moved to a new home, the Empress Theatre, which received a $5 million renovation to highlight its Skouras-style ceiling (that means undulating wave design with draperies and cloud-like gilded forms), and arranged 400 red velvet
In another welcome addition, there’s a bar, too, for drinks at intermission. The Symphony will kick off the season at 3 p.m. today with Evolution. Revolution will be on Jan. 28 and the season will wrap up with Resolution on April 15.
RE:SOUND
In a novel re-use of a Naval Ammunition Depot, a concrete building has been transformed into a venue space for experimental music series. As its creators describe the experience, the idea is to “explore the relationship between forgotten spaces, sound abstraction and the natural environment.”
And why not — the depot was when Vallejo’s naval base closed in 1996, and it resides on the 215-acre Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve. As for that sound abstraction, the building is a concrete munitions storage measuring 55-by-100 feet beneath 15-foot tall ceilings. The architecture traps the electronic sound, resulting in long reverberations that often feel meditative, especially when the sound is mixed with recordings of Vallejo nature.
For Re:Sound’s most recent show this past September, artists David Dunn, Cheryl Leonard, Jorge Bachmann, Kevin Corcoran and Re:Sound founder/producer Jen Boyd joined together at a new venue. They set up a sound show in the River Bank, a downtown Vallejo landmark with a 3,840-square-foot main performance area and 30-foot ceilings, decorated with original fixtures and the vault from the building’s early days as a working bank.
JEN TOUGH GALLERY
Gallery director and owner Jen Tough says that downtown Vallejo is “an up-and-coming area with a thriving art scene.” And she’s helpseats. ing make it happen, with her salon showcasing contemporary works by more than a dozen artists.
Just opened in March, the sleek space spans white walls, a white floor and white ceiling, to best set off the art pieces. The pieces themvacated selves vary through the changing exhibitions, from wax works to painted canvas, Victorian letterform and ink printing.
One upcoming show features a particularly broad collection of multiple artists. Titled Guilty Pleasures: A Juried Group Exhibition, it runs from Nov. 10 through Dec. 3, with an artist’s reception on Nov. 11. Artists from the Bay Area but also across the world are invited to submit their two-dimensional pieces for galley consideration.