ALICE in Marinland
BEST of 2010 ----------------------------Rileystreet Art Supply
1138 Fourth St., San Rafael 457.2787 2ND Perry’s Art Supplies & Framing, San Anselmo 3RD Doodlebug, San Anselmo
BEST LIGHTING SHOP Whether your entertaining dinner guests, trying to achieve just the right mood for your spoken-word performance, or just want soft illumination when relaxing at home—the proper lighting means everything. Fortunately, Lights of Rafael has been illuminating the good life in Marin since 1966. Housing a stock that shines with a multitude of styles and modalities, from the utilitarian to the decorative and every variant of incandescence in-between, Lights of Rafael’s 4,000-square-foot showroom is aglow with lamps, sconces, chandeliers and lanterns, as well as ceiling fans, mirrors, artwork and home accents for every room in your abode or office, whether outdoors or inside. Lighting consultants and designers are also on hand to help lift you out of the darkness of your boring old fixtures and step into the splendor of your well-lit environs. ----------------------------Lights of Rafael
Wonderland characters are known to pull a mean ‘humpty dance’ when painting Fairfax red at 19 Broadway.
The Mad Hatter Awards THE CRAZY TEA PARTY at the March Hare’s house is nothing compared to the wild times to be had at some of our Best of Marin entertainment establishments. Whether it’s your unbirthday or not, we’ve got places to dance, buy instruments, see live performances or throw an unforgettable wedding that would blow the Mad Hatter’s top off. BEST ART GALLERY A truly great art gallery not only inspires but connects people within its community. At the Donna Seager Gallery, its namesake proprietor also hopes that viewers find something different to experience every time they venture inside. And indeed, the gallery’s diversity and quality of Bay Area artwork is impressive. When searching for art to display—having been in the gallery world for 32 years and with a background in art history—Seager relies on good old-fashioned visceral reaction. “It’s a fist in your gut,” she explains. “I look for well-crafted complexity, richness and a magical quality that stays with you.” The
gallery has recently changed from doing a show a month to a show every six to eight weeks, allowing for “more depth,” says Seager, who’s also added a West Wing gallery store to sell jewelry, books, museum catalogs and object-related art. And she’s excited about currently exhibiting artist, Devorah Jacoby, whose collection, “Friends, Family and Other Misfits” (running through April 15), Seager says, really “speaks to contemporary life.” Seager believes that, “In shifting times, art becomes more necessary to raise the bar in a community. And in Marin, where we’re very lucky to have a wealth of artists, the gallery becomes a hub of like-minded people.”
----------------------------Donna Seager Gallery
851 Fourth St., San Rafael 454.4229. www.donnaseagergallery.com. 2ND Artworks Downtown, San Rafael 3RD The Folk Art Gallery, San Rafael
BEST ART SUPPLIES After four decades in Santa Rosa, Rileystreet Art Supply opened a San Rafael outlet in 2007, much to the delight of Marin’s painters, sculptors and photographers. “People said ‘Thank God you’re here and we don’t have to drive across the bridge anymore,’” says store manager Bente Mirow. “We filled a need that hadn’t been filled before.” The store caters to professional artists, beginning artists, teachers and students working in every medium, from painting and drawing to charcoal, printmaking, photography, sculpting and textiles. The sunny, skylit, high-ceilinged space stocks a fantastic assortment of easels, pastels, canvases, papers, brushes, stationery, art books, modeling clay, drafting materials, portfolios, block prints, photo albums and much more, and offers figure drawing sessions, a full schedule of ongoing classes and free art demonstrations every Saturday morning. It’s a good place to tap into your artistic impulses, says Mirow. “People come in, get inspired and create things.”
4100 Redwood Hwy., San Rafael 472.7292 2ND North Bay Lighting & Electrical Supply, San Rafael 3RD Nowell’s Lighting, San Rafael
BEST PLACE TO BUY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS So Uncle Harry has (finally!) handed down his electric bass to Junior. Or maybe it’s the drum kit that’s been sitting in the attic. Now what? A trip to Bananas at Large is in order to make sure that your future rock star is outfitted with all the necessary accouterments, as well as instruction. Not only does Bananas carry a huge selection of instruments—and everything that goes with them, including the latest 82 >
++ Bente Mirow Rileystreet Art Supply
Avi Bikszer Easy Street Cafe
‘Who for such dainties would not stoop? Soup of the evening, beautiful soup!’
MARCH 26 – APRIL 1, 2010 PACIFIC SUN 81