Please join us tomorrow, November 3rd, for Day of the Draw! An evening of live drawing and beer hosted by John Casey at Swarm. 20+ local artists who have collaborated in his Hands & Pants project currently on display at the gallery will be drawing live. Art made that night will be available for sale, so bring cash because you can buy drawings directly from the artists. This is a perfect opportunity to purchase some affordable art from some great Bay Area artists. John will be Ipod dj-ing and El TacoBike will be on hand providing good eats!

Participating artists include: Matt Decker, Marcos LaFarga, Narangkar Glover, Pete Glover, Teppei Ando, Obi Kaufmann, Scott Wilson, Jon Carling, Alison OK Frost, Nathaniel Parsons, Patricia Gillespie, Michael McConnell, Michele Theberge, Alison Tharp, Hunter Mack, Maya Kabat, Gina Tuzzi, Jake Watling, Crystal Morey, Alex Rosmarin, Kara Joslyn, and Erik Friedman.

(Note: This event was rescheduled from today, 11/2, due to Occupy Oakland’s declaration of a General Strike and Day of Action.)

Michael McDermott, We’ll Rescue you (Salvation) (2007)

Upon opening our doors this morning at the gallery and hearing the ominous swarm of helicopters still hovering nearby, we felt compelled to express our support of those Oaklanders who have been occupying downtown for the last few weeks.

We love our bikes here, so of course we are quite excited about Pedalfest (happening right around the corner from the gallery) this weekend! Pedalfest is a free celebration of all things bike on Saturday, October 22, 2011 from 10 am – 5 pm at Jack London Square. Some going on throughout the day include:

• Handmade show featuring bikes and gear by Soulcraft, Inglis, Retrotec, Black Cat, Caletti, Rebolledo, Steelman, Paragon, Paul and more
• Vintage bike show showcasing the beauty and history represented by local collections
• Entertainment including a trials demo by Giant Bicycles’ Chris Clark, a BMX show by the Clayton bikes team, Dirt jump demo by Andrew Taylor and other pro riders from the SF Expo AT showdown
• The Whiskey Drome: Enjoy the show or ride the mini velodrome yourself. Just a warning: it can be habit forming
• New Belgium beer garden, all proceeds donated to Walk Oakland Bike Oakland and East Bay Bicycle Coalition
• Live music provided by a Rock the Bike pedal-powered sound stage
• Vendor area featuring clothing, food, and local shops representing their brands
• Kids’ zone with pedal-powered amusement rides, bike powered spin art, bike decoration station, Childrens Hospital safety program and a bike parade led by Red Tricycle

Also, those of you who dwell across the bay will be delighted to know that the ferry is offering FREE rides to Pedalfest for bicyclists! (Limited to 80 bikes per ferry departure—just board the boat at the San Francisco Ferry Building Gate E with your bike and ride for free!).

Don’t forget to stop in at Swarm if you’re near. And if you ride your bike, as you should, make sure to take advantage of our lovely bike rack that just turned 1 years old this September (thanks, city of Oakland!)

In just a few weeks we’ll be playing host once again to some great musical happenings (in keeping with the tradition, we suppose) at Swarm!

Saturday October 22, 9pm @ Swarm:
Grex “Second Marriage” album release extravaganza with Weiner Kids and Alee Karim & the Science Fiction. $5 suggested donation, all ages, all fun times, and most certainly some refreshments. Do your ears a favor and come see these great folks play!

Classic: John Casey and Obi Kaufmann

We had a great turnout last night for the opening of John Casey’s Tall Tales and Jake Watling’s 4 Directions: International Blvd in the project space. Thanks to all 65 participating artists, the Trappist for pouring up good beer all night, and everyone who made their way down to the gallery to celebrate this huge show! More photos from the opening after the jump.

We are proud to announce a unique wedding event coming up at Swarm!

Some of you might know about the wildness currently taking over the gallery, but for those who don’t, well…these photos barely do it justice:

Sweet video of Piki perfoming “Orgiaque” at Swarm on July 22nd. Thanks to Piki (Sam Ospovat, Andrew Conklin, Nate Brenner, and Jordan Glenn), projectionist Miriam Lakes, sound man Kevin Crawford, and—the man behind the camera—Bram Draper.

Andrew Conklin, Naytronix and Piki put on an amazing show at Swarm Friday. A huge thanks to all the musicians, our talented projectionist Miriam Lakes, sound man Kevin Crawford, camera guy Bram Draper, bar man Michael Coleman, helper-man Matt Dostal, and everyone who came out to see the show! Stay tuned for future events here involving these folks…

Photos courtesy of Bram Draper. More photos/video to come!

Come down to the gallery for a great show tonight!

MOONLIGHTING @ SWARM
nighttime fun in the Town
+ live music
+ Jon’s Street Eats food cart!
+ refreshing refreshments
+ art all over the place
+ amazing visuals by resident projectionist Miriam Lakes!
with performances by:
+ Andrew Conklin (Quinn, Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands, Timosaurus) and his guitar make experimental lo-fi pop.
+ Naytronix is a recently-debuted superband featuring Nate Brenner (Beep!, Quinn, tUnEyArDs), Emery Barter (Man/Miracle, Quinn), Sam Ospovat, Andrew Conklin, Merrill Garbus (tUnEyArDs), and Ross Peacock!
+ Piki is Sam Ospovat’s (Beep!) solo polyrhythmic percussive madness.
Doors at 8PM
$5 suggested donation at the door
More info/RSVP here