Art Murmur Offers Walking Tours of Oakland Galleries

Oakland Art Murmur will hold a series of free, guided walking tours on the third Saturday of each month to introduce visitors to Oakland’s array of visual art venues.

According to the organization's press release, tours are led by Oakland gallery directors, curators, writers and artists and are based on a different theme each time. The tour guide pre-selects five exhibitions that include work relating to the theme. At each venue, the group will enjoy a brief presentation about the gallery and the current exhibition from the gallery director and/or the  artist whose work is on view. 

Oakland Art Murmur ran several of these tours during the second half of 2011 and due to the success of the program has decided to make it a regular event for 2012, the release said. 

Tour groups meet at Farley's East, a café with rotating art shows, at 33 Grand Ave., Oakland, just east of Broadway, at 2 p.m. Participants should be ready to walk a distance of four to eight blocks over the course of the afternoon. Tours are free and conclude around 4 p.m. 

2012 Tour Schedule

Jan. 21 Photography, led by Irene Imfeld, director of PHOTO gallery.

Feb. 25 (Tour moved from Saturday, Feb. 18.) Ceramics, led by Joshua Margolis, artist and member of FM collective.

March 17 Drawing, led by John Casey, artist and member of Oakland Art Murmur’s board of directors.

April 21 The influence of CCA & Mills on the Murmur community, led by Marianna Stark, arts writer.

May 19 Current Trends in Contemporary Art led by Danielle Fox, director of SLATE gallery and Oakland Art Murmur.

June 16 Living with Sculpture and Conceptual Art, led by Charlie Milgrim of Mercury 20 Gallery.

July 21 Collective Art Spaces, led by Maya Kabat of Mercury 20 Gallery.

Aug. 18 Collaborative Art Projects, led by Susan Sharman of Studio Quarcus.

Sept. 15 Identifying how art impacts our lives - personally, locally, globally, led by Lonnie Lee, director of Vessel Gallery.

Oct. 20 "Coda" art as it relates to musical signature, led by Stan Peterson of Creative Growth.

For more information on the tours and other free Saturday, events including artists talks, receptions, and concerts, check Oakland Art Murmur’s Saturday Stroll Page: oaklandartmurmur.org/calendar/saturday-stroll.