September 16, 2005

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Museums and collections

The Cantor Center's collection covers 4,000 years, 24 galleries and outdoor gardens, courtyards and terraces. Ancient Egyptian and Chinese artwork keeps company with contemporary art and a changing array of exhibitions. Admission is free to the center, which is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Regular tours are given of the Auguste Rodin sculpture garden. Call (650) 723-4177 or go to www.stanford.edu/dept.ccva.

While exhibition dates and titles are subject to change, here is some information on current and upcoming exhibits:

"Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky" runs through Sept. 18. These striking, large color photos show areas where industry has left imprints on the earth, such as in quarries and mines.

"Food, Frogs and Fido: Works on Paper by David Gilhooly" runs through Nov. 27. Gilhooly is best known as a ceramic artist but is also a noted printmaker and draftsman, as seen in this show of 20 works complementing the sculpture exhibition "Fired At Davis" (see below).

"Revolutionary Tides: The Art of the Political Poster, 1914 1989" runs through Dec. 31. The exhibit displays posters from a multitude of countries, examining the role of crowds in modern visual culture and focusing on the first half of the 20th century.

"Fired at Davis" looks at figurative ceramic sculpture by Robert Arneson, visiting professors and students at the University of California at Davis. This exhibit of about 35 objects from the collection of Paula and Ross Turk runs Oct. 12 through Feb. 26.

"American ABC: Childhood in 19th-Century America" Running Feb 1 through May 7, this exhibit, curators say, "investigates the connection between American ideas about children and the ideals and issues that defined the nation as it matured." Artists include Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins and Eastman Johnson.

"Desire, Anxiety, and Loss: The Prints of Edvard Munch" runs March 22 through June 25, featuring some 30 prints by Munch (1864-1944).

Computer History Museum

Located at 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. in Mountain View, the museum houses an enormous collection of computing-related items, such as hardware, software, photos and film. Rare objects include the Cray-1 supercomputer. The museum is open Wednesday through Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call (650) 810-1010 or go to www.computerhistory.org.

Herbert Hoover Memorial Exhibit Pavilion

Besides showing exhibits on the lives of the Hoovers, the pavilion also has rotating shows focusing on archival holdings. The pavilion is adjacent to Hoover Tower, near the corner of Serra and Galvez on the Stanford University campus. For more information, call (650) 723-2058 or go to www.hoover.org

"Revolutionary Eye" displays the political poster art of Wolfgang Janisch through Dec. 16. About 30 posters created by the East German artist from 1979 through 1999 will be shown, along with a video interview with the artist and video selections from the 1993 document film "That Was the GDR."

Museum of American Heritage

The evolution of American invention gets the spotlight at the Museum of American Heritage, located at 351 Homer Ave. in Palo Alto. The museum is open Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by reservation. Call (650) 321-1004 or go to www.moah.org.

"Robots! Merging Man and Machine" is an exhibit running through Sept. 25. It explores the evolution of robots from antiquity and includes robots for purchase in the museum store.

"Construction Toys in Motion" is on display from Oct. 7 through Jan. 29.

"The Art & Evolution of Navigation" is scheduled for Feb. 10 through May 28.

Palo Alto Art Center

Located at 1313 Newell Road in Palo Alto, the center has a myriad of events and exhibits throughout the year, showing off such diverse pieces of art as glass pumpkins, porcelain vessels, collages and daguerreotypes. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. On Thursdays the gallery also stays open from 7 to p.m. For more information, call (650) 329-2366 or go to www.cityofpaloalto.org and choose "Art Center" under "Featured Sites."

Fall exhibitions run from Sept. 25 through Dec. 23:

In "Romancing the Shadows," contemporary artists revisit the photographic methods of the past, such as daguerreotypes and tintypes. Exhibition artists include Taku Aramasa, Ellen Carey, Alain Clement, Linda Connor, Adam Fuss and Jayne Hinds Bidaut.

Delicate porcelain vessels are featured in "Elsa Rady: The Cycladic Swing." The artist is inspired by the figurative sculpture produced on the Cycladic Islands off the coast of Greece around 3000 to 2000 B.C.

"Edward Eberle: Chaos and Classicism" also includes porcelain vessels, linked to the Greek vase tradition. These, though, are "embroidered and elaborated into a postmodern horror vacui through the artist's black 'Terra Sigillata' drawings of crowded scenes of figures on the brink of chaos," museum officials say.

The annual Great Glass Pumpkin Patch marks its decade anniversary this year. Thousands of hand-blown glass pumpkins are displayed at the event, which runs Oct. 11 through Oct. 14 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. A candlelight cocktail presale event is set for Oct. 14 from 6 to 8 p.m., and a public sale is Oct. 15 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Oct. 16 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Winter exhibitions will be on display from Jan. 29 through April 23:

"Robert Brady: Sculpture 1989-2005" focuses on figurative sculptures in wood, mixing sophisticated figural abstraction with elements of tribal art. Brady is also known for his ceramic sculptures.

Drawings with collage elements by self-trained Bay Area artist Deborah Barrett will also be displayed. Her works combine faux naivete with realist observation.

Spring youth exhibitions will run from May 14 through June 4:

"Youth Art" is an annual exhibit of artwork by Palo Alto Unified School District students from kindergarten through high school.

"Cultural Kaleidoscope" is an exhibit of collaborative works by Palo Alto and East Palo Alto students.

Summer exhibitions are planned from June 25 to Sept. 8. They will include "IDEO: 2006," which will display creative projects by the Palo Alto design firm. The event is presented in conjunction with ISEA (International Symposia of Electronic Art), which runs from Aug. 6 to Aug. 12 in San Jose.

Several special events are also planned at the Palo Alto Art Center:

The Third Annual Abramovitz Show features the best in show of Abramovitz Scholars from Nov. 3 to Nov. 18. An opening reception is planned for Nov. 11 at 7 p.m.

Photo Family Day is an afternoon of photo-inspired hands-on activities in collaboration with the "Romancing the Shadows" exhibition. It's scheduled for Nov. 6 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Holiday Family Day goes from 2 to 4 p.m. on Dec. 4. Folks can make gifts, cards and ornaments for the season.

A collection of art-making activities will be available at Cultural Kaleidoscope Family Day, set for March 5 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Sculpture Family Day is planned for April 2 from 2 to 4 p.m., with families making woven, assembled, carved and molded works of art in conjunction with the Robert Brady exhibition.

Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo

Hands-on exhibits for children and families fill the displays and mini-zoo, with the zoo housing such creatures as raccoons, bobcats and snakes. The museum is at 1451 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. For current hours and information, call (650) 329-2111 or go to www.cityofpaloalto.org and click on the junior museum listing under "Featured Sites."

The zoo's newest additions are two baby swell sharks and two leopard sharks, housed in a 500-gallon salt water tank.

"Color and Light," an exhibit including oversized kaleidoscopes and colored lights and shadows, is on display through spring 2006.

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