Don’t miss the next Beford Gallery Art Walk this weekend!

If you’ve been following this blog, you know about our recurring Saturday feature “Art Town.” A lot of those cool pieces of art are either related to the Bedford Gallery or found when strolling downtown Walnut Creek.

So, when I tell you that you MUST go on the Bedford Gallery Art Walk this Saturday, you better believe I mean it! I’ve learned a lot of cool stuff about Walnut Creek and its artwork just by writing those blogs every few weeks, and it’s forced me into wandering this town we often take for granted and experiencing some of its hidden beauty and best artwork.

This Saturday, June 17th, Beford Gallery docents will be leading the public art walking tour of Walnut Creek’s greatest works and will give you more interesting, in-depth information about your hometown than you could ever imagine.

Tickets are just $5 (cash only) and include admission to the Gallery itself. You don’t even have to RSVP. Just show up at 11 a.m. outside the Lesher Center and get walkin’ and art watchin’!

Additionally, there is a new self-guided audio tour available for public art in Walnut Creek, featuring 33 stops along the route. Have you seen those pink and orange signs around town designating public art? That’s where you can listen to the history of the piece on the Public Art Walking Tour app! Here’s a good map of all the public art the tour hits.

I’ll be there this weekend, and I hope to see you there too!

Are Walnut Creek’s In-N-Out dreams dead?

According to ABC7, the new In-N-Out location Walnut Creekians have been salivating over might be in trouble.

Apparently, a community near the proposed site (N. Main St. at Second Ave.) of the new location is trying to stop the construction because of the expected long drive-thru line that will cause traffic and late night noise.

The city has not taken a stance yet, and the owner of the property already has it zoned for a restaurant, so it may very well still happen. Would In-N-Out have a restaurant without the drive-thru window? If so, how will In-N-Out feed all the folks who don’t want to leave their cars to eat their fast food?

Anyway, the local community rightly likes its quiet, peaceful street and think there is already a plethora of fast food restaurants nearby, making In-N-Out unnecessary. My son will be bummed, I for one am indifferent. They are not my favorite, the patty is too small…stay tuned for future blogs on our areas burger locals.

This would look great on N. Main St. Just saying.In all seriousness, it looks like the city will plan a few public hearings after they review the proposal again. It remains to be seen if the local community will have their way, or if residents of Walnut Creek will be able to save themselves 10 minutes of driving on 680 (in either direction…) for those juicy burgers.

For what it’s worth, the anti-In-N-Out petition on Change.org has about 10 times as many signatures as the pro-In-N-Out petition. At least our town gets involved.

“Flux” on display at Bedford

Sometimes you just have to get out of the office. Our Walnut Creek Lifestyle Group decided to take a little outing to the Bedford Gallery for its new exhibit (free to the public each first Tuesday of every month!), which preceded our meeting over beers at ØL around the corner.

The exhibit on display through the end of August is called “Flux” by artist Crystal Wagner.

The colorful art installation was built from chicken wire and disposable tablecloths and takes up almost all of the gallery space.

One of the most interesting things about the artist is that she does not pre-plan her installations; she looks at the space available and creates a twisting shape to fit it.

Wagner, according to the accompanying information at the exhibit, intentionally builds installations where the viewer is overshadowed by an enormous sculpture. She wants the viewer to be surrounded by bright colors and feel as if they are dwarfed by all the surrounding textures.

Her work is anchored in her anxiety about the compromised state of the natural world but is designed to bring joy to her audience. The piece was really quite remarkable.

Check out the timelapse from the Bedford website below, as well as all the pictures my team took.

Also, keep an eye out for that ØL blog next Tuesday!