The Murmur of the ARTCart

Art is healing and the true way to understand your self and others”
Shannon Currier

August 7th was the ARTCart’s first Oakland Art Murmur in the Koreatown-Northgate neighborhood.The Oakland Art Murmur is a group of Oakland venues that have art receptions every first Friday of the month.“Click Here” to see which galleries are involved. Lauren and my’s Red Door Gallery and Collective is part of the Murmur. The Murmur is a cool and raw scene which exposes great art and the Oakland hipster crowd. I hope this scene never gets tainted by commercialism. Hope..
To no suprise once again the ARTCart was an amazing success. In these shakey economic times it feels like people are really craving this experience. We set up on 23rd and Telegraph in front of the “hipster” cafe Mama Buzz. We asked each participant, “what does home mean to you?”
Rhya Jovan created a very complex drawing and eloquently expressed that “home is wandering the lines that lead you to the people and places of supreme confusion and agonizing euphoria.”


At around six the ARTCart was asked to move onto 23rd. Which is the street that is closed off for vendors and artists. At the next Art Murmur vendors will actually have to fill out permits and pay a fee. I hope this does not take away the charm of the Murmur, which is edgy and hip. Could this be a sign of the gentrification of this area? What would be the pros and cons of that?

Instantly, our table was full of locals, art lovers, children,and hipsters wanting to create. If we had more seats more folks would have sat down. The flow of the ARTCart was non-stop from our hours that day 4-10 p.m. Strangers sat together. Laughed and created. Everyone had a lot to say about “home”: and “art.”

Heres a glimpse of what this experience evoked in folks that were creating.

‘Art is means expression tangible and intanglable.”Rhya Jovan
‘Home is where I can bring my heart, my food,and my smile.” Spiridoula Politis
‘Art is Life.” Koi Gomez

“Home is the love of my life.” John Zomobell
‘Home is where you feel a a sense of community.” Tuere Anderson

‘Home is a place where I feel comfortable amng people, that care about me–and I intern love.” Liz Pasek-Allen
“Home is a place I go when I feel like I can’t be anywhere.” Geoff
“Home is sanctuary.” Buster

I love this gig. It validates my entire philosophy of what art is! Connection, freedom, unity, and empowerment. We should have an ArtCart on every street corner in American and the world.
Please join us next Friday for our unvieling of the real ‘ARTCart.”

All comments are welcome and valued!!