BEDFORD gallery

Bedford Gallery, a program of the City of Walnut Creek, also receives substantial support from the Diablo Regional Arts Association.

upcoming exhibitions

To schedule a tour for any of the following exhibitions, please see our tour information.

Local Voice 2008: Defining Community Through Art
June 29 - August 31, 2008

In an age when so many of us don’t know our neighbors, we may be surprised to learn the person next door, down the street, or in the next cubicle over is, in fact an artist. Local Voice: Defining Community Through Art highlights a small cross section of artists who live and work among us here in Contra Costa County. This juried exhibition is designed to open a dialogue between our local visual artists and our community, exploring what kind of art is being made in this area, by whom and why.

Now available online: Entry forms and information

Steven Falk (City Manager of Lafayette), Key Hut, 2005

Untold Stories: Early American Quilts from the Collection of Susan Brooks Harter
September 14 - November 30, 2008

This exhibition presents 30 quilts from the 18^th and 19^th century, that were created during some of the most momentous and significant eras of U.S. history. Stitched by resilient and courageous women, the quilts chronicle the slave era and Underground Railroad, the Civil War, the Mormon and Oregon Trails, and the temperance movement. Infused with meaning, the quilts in Untold Stories are like community-made catchment basins where life experiences have been captured on a stitched surface.

Civic Arts Education 45th Anniversary Exhibition
December 3 - December 22, 2008

Honoring forty-five years of distinguished teaching by visual artists at the Walnut Creek Civic Arts Education Program, this show includes an extraordinary breadth of mediums and styles. The mix includes painting from plein-air to abstract, sculpture in molded paper as well as wood and ceramic; assemblage, photography, monoprints, digital art, jewelry, stained glass, weaving, and furniture. This show celebrates the largest community-supported arts program in Northern California . Stimulating creative thought and encouraging personal self-expression, it brings high quality visual arts instruction and educational experiences to participants of all ages.

John Finger, Morning Fog, watercolor

Illuminated Sculpture
January 7- February 22, 2009

Lighting up the short, dark days of winter, is an innovative exhibition of luminous work guest curated by The Crucible’s Christian Schiess. Schiess is an award winning artist, author of “The Light Artist Anthology,” and Chair of the Light Art Department at the Bay Area’s only nonprofit sculpture studio and educational foundry. The artists in the exhibition use more standard materials such as neon,argon and electric light discharge as well as some of the emerging mediums such as LED’s, electroluminescent wire, and photovoltaics. The exhibition will incude interactive events that will enlighten visitors about the techniques behind this fascinating artwork.

Mary White, Houses, 1996

Post Secret
March 1 - April 26, 2009

In November 2004, Frank Warren began his community art project by handing out postcards to strangers and inviting them to anonymously submit a secret on a postcard and mail it to him. The response was overwhelming and to date, Warren has been mailed more than 100,000 postcards. The secrets are both provocative and profound, and the cards themselves are works of art—carefully and creatively constructed by hand. Homemade postcards made from cardboard, old photographs, wedding invitations, and other personal items artfully decorated have traveled to Warren from all over the world. PostSecret, unflinchingly, exposes our rich interior lives, showing the best and worst of what dwells there.

BEDFORD gallery 1601 civic drive walnut creek, ca 94596 925/295-1417 contact us