‘Celebrating Alameda Birdlife’ exhibit opens March 6
Alameda is a bird-lover’s paradise, so it’s fitting that the K Gallery at Rhythmix Cultural Works is presenting “Flight Patterns,” an exhibit that celebrates the wonder of local birds through photography, drawing, painting, ceramic, print and mixed media.
Thousands of long-distance migrant shorebirds spend their nonbreeding season at Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary. Endangered and threatened species such as Least Tern and Peregrine Falcon breed on opposite ends of the island. And more common birds like California Towhee and Anna’s Hummingbird populate backyards and community gardens year-round. In all, more than 200 bird species—in an astounding variety of shape, size and color—have been documented in Alameda.
“Flight Patterns,” which will run from March 6 through April 24, is curated by local birder, musician, and writer Deborah Crooks, and will feature works by Brice Binder, Laura (Tex) Buss, Jean Chen, Flavia Krasilchik, Rick Lewis, Mary Malec, Christopher Reiger and Dana Zed.
An opening reception is scheduled for March 13, 6 to 8 p.m., at Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding Avenue. Admission is free; please RSVP online.
About the artists
Brice Binder has shared a new Two Birds from Alameda comic in the Alameda Post every week since August 2022. In his first print zine collection of the comic, he writes, “I loved growing up here. Alameda was so much better back then in so many ways. I love that my boys get to grow up here. Alameda is so much better now in so many ways.”
Laura (Tex) Buss first studied painting at the School of Visual Arts, New York. From there her craft took her into varied directions, including an ongoing career in tattooing at Red Kestrel Tattoo, and oil painting with a heavy focus on figurative work. She also paints bird and nature-focused watercolors. She is based in San Francisco.
Jean Chen is an artist and writer (sometimes at the same time) who lives in Alameda. She is a regular contributor to the Alameda Post. Her articles are available to read online. See her art—comics, sketches, and tattoos—on her website and Instagram.
Flavia Krasilchik was born and raised in Brazil. She moved to the United States in 2003 and practiced architecture until she discovered utilitarian ceramics. She then moved to clay as a medium for sculpture. Her sculptures are whimsical with a touch of the absurd and reflect Brazilian culture and the great painters. “I am an audience for the birds’ cycle on the Alameda shores and bird sanctuary,” she said. “I chose to live in Alameda because it is a place where urban meets nature in total harmony and grace, providing me the source of inspiration to create my ceramic sculptures and whimsical creatures.”
Rick Lewis is a longtime member of the Golden Gate Bird Alliance, Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Reserve, and other environmental organizations. He contributes often to Bay Area and Central Valley birding groups that promote wildlife and habitat conservation. His images have been used on the covers and inside of various magazines, brochures, field guides, newsletters and websites, including the Alameda Post, Bay Nature, Outdoor California, Sierra Heritage, Audubon, Ducks Unlimited, Birder’s World, Earthjustice, Point Blue, Sierra Club Yodeler, Save Wetlands, Golden Gate Bird Alliance, Save the Bay, San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex, San Francisco Estuary Partnership, and Wonderments of The East Bay.
Mary Malec is a Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (GGRO) hawk watcher and volunteer for CalFalcons, East Bay Regional Park District, and Predatory Bird Research Group, monitoring the fall raptor migration as well as Bay Area Peregrine Falcon, Golden Eagle and Burrowing Owl populations.
Christopher Reiger is originally from the rural Delmarva Peninsula on the mid-Atlantic coast. He spent his 20s in New York City and his 30s in San Francisco. Whether exploring an abandoned city lot or a tract of forest far from an urban center, he still feels the same excitement he felt as a boy, when he found many of his experiences in the “natural” world to be similar to those of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Carroll’s premise that things get “curiouser and curiouser” guided Christopher through many an outdoor adventure. As an adult, his love of the outdoors has evolved into a fascination with natural history, conservation, and ecology. His visual art, illustration, design, and writing projects wrestle with contemporary constructions of nature, and the human relationship to nonhuman animal species. Christopher now lives in Santa Rosa with his wife and two young sons.
Dana Zed has been an exhibiting visual multi-disciplinary artist in the Bay Area for more than four decades. She has had solo museum shows at the Napa Valley Museum and the de Young Museum, and multiple gallery shows, most especially Braunstein/Quay where she had yearly solo shows for over a decade. She has done numerous private architectural commissions and a large public commission for the San Francisco Public Library. She has taught at Pixar, San Francisco Art Institute, California College of the Arts, Esalen and Oakland Unified School District. Dana is the mother of two successful children, has cycled from San Francisco to Washington DC twice, and has written volumes of flash fiction.
About the gallery
The K Gallery at Rhythmix Cultural Works supports the organization’s mission to bring people together and build community by inspiring engagement in the arts. Exhibitions in the K Gallery reflect the vitality of local artists in the Bay Area community.
The K Gallery is named for Kazuko (Kay) Koike, one of Rhythmix’s founding donors. “Kazu” is the Japanese word for “peace” and “ko” means “child.” Kazuko Koike, child of peace (1919-2020).
