.Culture Crush: Live Events Bloom in the North Bay This Week

California is one week closer to fully reopening, and the North Bay is getting in on the fun with several safe, distanced events this week in addition to online and virtual get-togethers. Here’s a sample of what’s in store for this weekend.

Live Pop-Up Shop

Marin art, crafts and plants go on display this weekend in the a Spring Pop-Up and Plant Sale. Find vintage finds from a local artist’s estate, a curated collection of home and garden items, artwork ranging from plein-air oil paintings to prints and watercolors, and specialty plants that are perfect for the season. The sale benefits the Marin Art and Garden Center, which is complying with a health guidelines indoors and out during the pop-up event on Saturday, May 22, at 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross. 10am to 3pm. Free admission. Maringarden.org/shop.

Live Event

Now that Napa’s di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art is open to in-person visitors, the center is ramping up it’s event calendar, beginning with this week’s panel discussion; In Conversation: Nicki Green, Sahar Khoury, & Maria Paz. The three artists are currently exhibiting at di Rosa in the group show, “Ceramic Interventions,” which celebrates the Bay Area’s enduring and thought-provoking ceramic art movement. Now, the artists come together for an intimate, insightful and socially distanced in-person conversation with exhibition curator Twyla Ruby on Saturday, May 22, at di Rosa, 5200 Sonoma Highway, Napa. 4pm. $10, free with admission. dirosaart.org.

Live Art Reception

Housing 23 artists’ studios, three showroom galleries and two warehouses packed with fine art and furniture, Fulton Crossing is reopening its doors to visitors this month with featured artist Teresa Ferrari exhibiting “Movement in Our Oceans.” The paintings on display feature ocean and coastal scenes created with a deep palette of color and broad strokes from an oil brush that calls to mind masters like van Gogh or Monet. This weekend, Ferrari and the gallery’s other featured and working artists are on hand for a distanced art reception on Saturday, May 22, at Fulton Crossing, 1200 River Rd., Fulton. 4pm. Free. fultoncrossing.com.

Live Comedy

Multi-faceted actor, comedian, and author Finesse Mitchell (pictured) burst onto the comedy scene with his three-year run on NBC’s iconic late night sketch series Saturday Night Live, in the hit urban movie Who’s Your Caddy, and as a series regular on the family sitcom “Outmatched.” Now, he’s coming to wine country to headline a special fundraising stand-up show hosted by Barrel Proof Comedy, Pasta & Punchlines, that pairs big laughs with pasta dinners. The event will be held Saturday, May 22, outside at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Santa Rosa, 1011 Hahman Dr., Santa Rosa. 5:30pm. $75 and up. santarosaboysandgirlsclub.com.

Virtual Theater

Formed in 2015, Marin Shakespeare Company’s Returned Citizens Theatre Troupe gives actors who have survived incarceration the opportunity to continue their study of theater and to share their stories with the help of a dedicated support group. This weekend, the troupe presents its latest online production, Stages of Healing: Voices From the Inside Out, which tells stories that reflect on life during the pandemic. This original theater performance was created to give voice to those who are incarcerated in California State Prisons by taking their written word from the page to the stage on Saturday and Sunday, May 22 and 23, at 7:30pm. Marinshakespeare.org.

Live Concert

SF-Marin Food Bank welcomes the North Bay to an afternoon of music and fun this weekend at its sixth annual concert fundraiser, Festival For Food. The local lineup includes Mat Karan & Buds, Key Lime Pie, Susan Z & Friends, Johnny Mosley Quartet and Rai Z Jobe. Barbecue, beverages and other goodies are available, and a raffle helps raise funds for the SF-Marin Food Bank’s ongoing mission to feed the Bay Area. The Festival For Food commences in a safe, outdoors setting on Sunday, May 23, at the San Rafael Elks Lodge, 1312 Mission Ave., San Rafael. Noon to 6pm. $10; free for kids under 13. elks1108.org.

Charlie Swanson
Charlie Swanson is a North Bay native and an arts and music writer and editor who has covered the local scene since 2014.
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