<\/p>\n
Akhenaten and his family worshipping the god Aten\u00a0
Dynasty 18, New Kingdom
Painted limestone, 20 1\/2 x 18 7\/8 in. (52 x 48 cm)\u00a0
Royal tomb, Tell el-Amarna\u00a0
Egyptian Museum in Cairo, TR 10.11.26.4, SR 4\/13394\u00a0<\/p>\n
Massimo Listri\/De Young Museum<\/p>\n
Woody De\u00a0Othello\u2019s \u201cOut of\u00a0Body, Out of\u00a0Mind, \u201d 2020.<\/p>\n
The Rachofsky Collection<\/p>\n
Bay Area artist Mildred Howard<\/p>\n
Lea Suzuki\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
If this summer\u2019s visual arts calendar proves anything, it\u2019s that Bay Area museums and galleries are going all in on spectacle, reflection and local talent.<\/p>\n
A long-overdue retrospective honoring Oakland assemblage pioneer Mildred Howard<\/a> is finally giving one of the region\u2019s most influential artists her due, while the de Young Museum is once again betting on the blockbuster appeal of Ancient Egypt<\/a>.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, galleries and museums are leaning into ideas around community, labor and spiritual inheritance, with artists like Marcel Pardo Ariza and Woody De Othello<\/a> exploring deeply personal histories through ambitious new work.<\/p>\n Even better: many of the season\u2019s most exciting shows are free.<\/p>\n \u2018Slice of the Pie: Fifteen Bay Area Galleries & What Makes Them Different\u2019<\/p>\n In a spirit of community over competition, Fraenkel Gallery has assembled a show that can only be described as the Justice League of Bay Area galleries.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n This group exhibition will feature work by more than 40 artists from 15 galleries, highlighting how local art spaces have always pushed boundaries and created new global dialogues. It\u2019s part of how Fraenkel Gallery, founded in 1979, is doubling down on creative collaborations as part of its program.<\/p>\n The 14 other galleries represented in \u201cSlice of the Pie\u201d are Berggruen Gallery, founded in 1970; Rebecca Camacho Presents, founded in 2019; Casemore Gallery, founded in 2015; Catharine Clark Gallery, founded in 1991; Crown Point Press, founded in 1962; Euqinom Gallery, founded in 2015; Hosfelt Gallery, founded in 1996; House of Seiko, founded in 2022; Jenkins Johnson Gallery, founded in 1996; Anthony Meier, founded in 1984; Micki Meng, founded in 2019; Jonathan Carver Moore, founded in 2023; Gallery Wendi Norris, founded in 2002; and Jessica Silverman, founded in 2008. Works will include painting, drawing, prints, sculpture, animation and photography.<\/p>\n 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. May 28-Aug. 15. Free. Fraenkel Gallery, 49 Geary St., S.F.\u00a0www.fraenkelgallery.com<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Mildred Howard, Poetics of Memory\u2019<\/p>\n The Guggenheim fellow is known for her assemblage creations, like her glass bottle houses, and as a socially conscious creator whose work tackles subject matter ranging from apartheid in South Africa to gentrification and racism in the United States.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Now, the 80-year-old multidisciplinary artist is finally getting her first major museum retrospective celebrating her five-decade practice.<\/p>\n \u201cPoetics of Memory\u201d will bring together work spanning collages, found-object sculptures and immersive installations that explore signature themes around time, identity and the African American experience.<\/p>\n In addition to archival materials that illuminate the swath of culture and history Howard has seen, the show will debut new and never-before-seen pieces.<\/p>\n 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. June 12-Oct. 11. $1-$25. Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland.\u00a0www.museumca.org<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u2018Treasures of the Pharaohs\u2019<\/p>\n After the museum\u2019s wildly popular \u201cRamses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs<\/a>\u201d drew more than 312,000 visitors in 2022 and 2023, the institution is once again summoning the spectacle of colossal statues, glittering jewelry and ornate sarcophagi for what could become one of the Bay Area\u2019s buzziest museum shows of the summer.<\/p>\n But \u201cTreasures of the Pharaohs\u201d also promises something rarer: the North American debut of artifacts from the so-called \u201cGolden City\u201d of Amenhotep III, rediscovered in 2021 near Luxor and often described as one of the most significant archaeological finds in recent Egyptian history.<\/p>\n Alongside royal treasures and sacred objects, the exhibition will spotlight everyday life in ancient Egypt through tools, furnishings and domestic artifacts spanning nearly 3,000 years of history.<\/p>\n 9:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. Aug. 1-Jan. 31. $11-$20; free for children 17 and younger. De Young Museum, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, S.F.\u00a0www.famsf.org<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u2018Las Frutas del Labor\u2019<\/p>\n The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive has been on a roll with its annual Art Wall series, using the flexible space where people gather at the museum\u2019s entrance to create work that feels urgent and perfectly geared to contemporary conversations.<\/p>\n Oakland artist and past Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art winner Marcel Pardo Ariza will next use the space to pay homage to the essential, but often unsung, role that art handlers play in galleries and creative institutions. The large-scale photographic collage will highlight Ariza\u2019s work with Ambrose Trataris as co-founder of Art Handlxrs, an organization that supports marginalized communities within the art handling profession. The work will highlight the tools and materials involved in art handling and the hands of the skilled art professionals who use them.<\/p>\n 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Aug. 5, 2026-July 11, 2027. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2155 Center St., Berkeley.\u00a0www.bampfa.org<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Woody De Othello: coming forth by day\u2019<\/p>\n Oakland artist Woody De Othello is known for creating ceramic sculptures that animate all kinds of everyday items, including clocks, phones and faucets, blurring the lines between object and art. In this exhibition coming from the P\u00e9rez Art Museum Miami to the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis, curators will consider how De Othello\u2019s choice of objects \u201ccarry history, absorb meaning and serve as vessels for both spiritual and emotional experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Notably, De Othello is of Haitian descent, and his work often references African diaspora spiritual traditions like Voudou and Central African ritual objects.<\/p>\n The exhibition will also feature a first look at a new bronze sculpture created specifically for the university.<\/p>\n