FLAX Canvas

The new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) building opened earlier this year, at Oxford and Center, across from the UC Berkeley campus. An existing Art Deco-style building (a former UC Berkeley printing plant designed in 1939 as part of the Works Progress Administration initiative) has been repurposed with a new interior design and dramatic stainless steel outer structure. This remarkable building is designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, a firm known for inventive …

Currently on view at the Asian Art Museum, celebrating the museum’s 50th anniversary, is a trio of special exhibitions that provide a fascinating window into past traditions and views of the world.Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts presents the personal stories of a writer, a painter, and a patron, who lived in Mughal India, Persia, and Turkey, respectively, within the time frame of the 16th to 18th century. Through 64 exquisite artworks, incl …

Spring arrives at the de Young Museum every year in the form of a botanical homage to art. More than 125 of the Bay Area’s most innovative floral designers will present spectacular arrangements in response to pieces in the museum’s permanent collection as well as the architecture. The floral arrangements highlight works in American art to the 20th century, international contemporary art, art of the ancient Americas and Native American art. Get a lesson in art history by following the flowe …

The Contemporary Jewish Museum presents Roman Vishniac Rediscovered, an exhibition from the archive of the International Center of Photography, New York. A remarkable and versatile photographer, Roman Vishniac is known for his documentation of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, a world on the eve of its annihilation. His sensitive portraits taken in refugee camps and basement dwellings are reminiscent of the Depression-era work of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans.This exhibition reveals the full …

Without Type: The Dynamism of Handmade Letters On view at San Francisco Center for the Book is Without Type: The Dynamism of Handmade Letters , an exhibit of handmade letterforms created in a broad variety of mediums and tools. All the work is original and unique, and from a wide range of cultures, through history. The work on view extends from the 15th century manuscript to Wes Wilson’s rock handbills from the 1960s. There are some really wonderful pieces from around 1920 …