Artist Reception: Jeanne Lorenz – Are you with me NOW?
2026-08-22 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Manna Gallery, 473 25th St., Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Join Manna Gallery for the opening reception of Are you with me NOW? on Saturday, August 22, from 2–4 pm. Meet artist Jeanne Lorenz and celebrate the opening of her newest body of work in an informal afternoon gathering. Free and open to the public.
August 15 – September 19, 2026
Artist’s reception: Saturday, August 22, 2-4 pm
Oakland Art Murmur First Friday: September 4, 5-8 pm
Artist talk/Closing reception: Saturday, September 19, 3-5 pm
Gallery Hours: Saturdays, 12-5 pm & First Fridays, 5-8 pm

Artist Talk – Monika Mayer: LINKED
2026-08-29 15:00 - 17:00 | Mercury 20 Gallery, 475 25th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Image: Monika Mayer, Flow # 61 – Stretched, 2025, Acrylic, coffee and ink on canvas, 18” x 36” x 1.5”, Photo: Dana Davis
Monika Mayer’s new body of work is inspired by the rocky shoreline along the California coast, shaped by the tides. At low tide, hidden worlds are revealed: clusters of mussels and barnacles clinging together, surviving by holding on to each other. By gathering together, they create shared conditions that protect them from crashing waves and harsh weather. Their strength comes from connection.
Working with gathered and repurposed materials including inner tubes and deconstructed soccer balls, Mayer builds sculptural forms through layering and accumulation. Discarded and overlooked, these pieces grow into organism-like clusters linked with zip ties and staples and are given new life. Her paintings extend this language through layered coffee, paint, and ink, echoing the coastal environment’s organic patterns and rhythms. By presenting familiar objects in unfamiliar ways, Mayer invites viewers into a space of ambiguity, encouraging them to pause, look closely, and consider what lies beneath the surface. These works reflect on resilience, not as something we achieve alone, but as something we build together.
Bio:
Monika Mayer is a multidisciplinary artist born in Germany and based in Berkeley, CA. Largely self-taught, she began developing a daily art practice during the COVID-19 lockdown, allowing her to deepen her focus and commitment. She holds a BA in Social Education from the University of Applied Sciences in Cologne, Germany and a MA in Educational Leadership from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. Mayer has been a member of Mercury 20 Gallery since 2023, and is an alumna of the Kala Artist-in-Residency program in Berkeley, CA. Her work is held in private collections in the U.S. and Germany and has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Tryst International Art Fair in Los Angeles, Kala Art Gallery, and in the UK as a shortlisted artist for the International Football Art Prize.
Gallery Hours: Friday and Saturday, 12 – 5 pm (and by appointment)﻿
Artists’ Opening Reception: Saturday, August 15, 3 – 5 pm
﻿Oakland Art Murmur / First Friday: Friday, August 7, September 4, 5 – 9 pm

Artist Talk – Rainey Straus: re(COMPOSING)
2026-08-29 15:30 - 17:00 | Mercury 20 Gallery, 475 25th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Rainey Straus, Radicling, 2026, Bioplastic and Papier-mâché, 9 H x 38 W x 42 D in, size variable, Photo Courtesy of the Artist
Rainey Straus’s work begins with walking, listening, and close attention to the living world. Created for Mercury 20, re(Composing) turns that attention toward fungi, following the ways matter breaks down, gathers, and becomes something else. The installation takes decomposers as a starting point: organisms that are also composers, transforming one kind of matter into another. Straus’s materials follow this logic. Paper is shredded, pulped, and cast over found, downed wood, echoing the way paper wasps chew wood fiber into shelter. Lacing through these casts are bioplastic forms, spun like spider silk until gesture becomes structure. By working with already fallen wood, Straus treats the tree not as an ending but as part of an ongoing cycle of transformation. The work invites attention to other intelligences: the pathfinding of slime molds, mycelial networks, and forms of sensing beyond human perception. Rather than representing ecological change, re(Composing) takes part in it: paper returns to pulp, pulp takes the impression of wood, and matter reorganizes itself into temporary form: fragile, provisional, and alive to what comes next.
Bio:
Rainey Straus is the award winner from Mercury 20’s 2026 exhibition, Mapping Time, awarded by juror Minoosh Zomorodinia. Straus is a Bay Area interdisciplinary artist whose work grows from fieldwork into sculpture, installation, painting, and cyanotype. After working as a Bay Area tech designer, she returned to artmaking in response to ecological urgency. Solo exhibitions include Spinning Time into Form, Gallery Route One, Point Reyes Station, CA and The Old Growth Project at MarinMOCA. Her work has appeared in Bodies and Borders: Ecologies of Consent with Women Eco Artists Dialog, Forest Unseen at Petaluma Arts Center, The New Geologic Epoch with Ecoartspace, and exhibitions at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, and the San Jose Museum of Art. Straus has held residencies at BigCi Residence in Australia, Lucid Art Foundation, and Morris Graves Foundation. Her work has been featured in Dark Mountain Journal, Sculpture Magazine, Rhizome, San Francisco Chronicle, and Point Reyes National Seashore Association. She holds a BFA from State University of New York (SUNY) Purchase and an MFA from California College of the Arts.
Gallery Hours: Friday and Saturday, 12 – 5 pm (and by appointment)﻿
Artists’ Opening Reception: Saturday, August 15, 3 – 5 pm
﻿Oakland Art Murmur / First Friday: Friday, August 7, September 4, 5 – 9 pm

Exploring the Art of Collage: A Workshop Series with Raha
2026-09-05 10:00 - 13:00, 2026-09-05 14:00 - 17:00 | Dictée Art & Exhibitions, 2117 11th Avenue, Oakland, CA, 94606, United States
Join local multi-media artist Raha for an immersive, hands-on journey into the world of collage. Whether you are a complete beginner or an artist looking to refine your creative process, this workshop is designed to help you explore new stylistic constraints and stretch your imagination.
Date & Time: Saturday, September 5
Morning Session
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Afternoon Session
2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
