Spring has reached a fever pitch and so has our annual yearning to revamp, refresh, and get out of the house.
Just in time, the Hunters Point Shipyard Artists are throwing open their studio doors this weekend. It's our annual opportunity to meet local talents and scoop up new artworks to adorn our freshly repainted walls.
The Open Studios Preview Exhibit is already under way, showing one work from every participating artist, around 120 of them, both online and onsite in the Shipyard Gallery. Get a sneak peek and round up your game plan. Studios will be open Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 6pm. Find more information and get free tickets at shipyardartists.com.
Below, find three local artists we're excited to mingle with this season.
Marina Berlin: Industrial Ethereal Artist
Created for the David Rio Chai Bar in San Francisco, Berlin says this rhino "is one of my favorite pieces. David Rio has been committed to animal welfare and conservation by supporting local and regional initiatives for over a decade, saving animals all over the world."
// Visit Marina Berlin at Hunter's Point Shipyard Artists Studios, Building 101, Studio 1405; shipyardartists.com/artist/marina-berlin.
Howard Hersh: Contemporary Artist, Geometric Wood
“I’m attracted by geometric forms and thought I was going to be an architect,” says Santa Fe to San Francisco transplant Howard Hersh, whose sometimes bright, somewhat trippy, and always architectural wall sculptures are made of bass and birch wood custom-milled at a shop in the Bayview.
// Visit Howard Hersh at Hunters Point Shipyard Artists Open Studios in Building 117, Studio 3103; shipyardartists.com/artist/howard-hersh.
Stephen Namara: Figurative Painter
An African immigrant from Kenya, Stephen Namara, who's been living and working in SF since the late '80s among such local luminaries as Diebenkorn and Thiebaud, is aware that most people, before meeting him in person, assume he is Japanese rather than Black. It's thanks to that last name but also to a minimalism in his paintings that could almost be called zen; this style applies, whether he's painting a self-portrait or a Thiebaud-esque still life. "It definitely adds an ironic and complicated layer to the situation when it comes to being a Black man in America,” Namara says.
// Visit Stephen Namara at Hunters Point Shipyard Artists Studios in Building 101, Studio 1510; shipyardartists.com/artist/stephen-namara.
