Special Exhibits

Bay Area Discovery Museum Sausalito (415) 289-4079 http://www.badm.org Tales from the Land of Gullah May 17 - September 14, 2008 -- Families are immersed in the world of the Gullah people, who lived on isolated islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina from their days as slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries until today. Many common nursery rhymes, popular sayings and children’s songs like Michael Row Your Boat Ashore come from the Gullah people. Children will participate in the daily life and rituals of a Gullah family from the 1950s before bridges and high speed boat travel united the islands with the mainland. Children will play Gullah games, learn to tell Gullah time, go fish netting with a Gullah fisherman, cook a Gullah meal, and much more as they learn about this special culture.

California Academy of Sciences http://www.calacademy.org Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet Wednesday January 7 ONLY - Academy of Sciences (Academy globe) Cool Globes is public art with a purpose – to increase awareness about global warming and to motivate people to take simple steps in their daily lives that will make a difference. This fantastic exhibit – 40 globes, each 5 feet in diameter – is in San Francisco for a limited time. Admission is free and open to the public. Grand Re-opening in September 27, 2008 marks the opening of the museum in Golden Gate Park. The downtown location is now closed. Check out previews of the building and exhibits online at http://www.calacademy.org/newacademy/academy/building/building_excitement.php

Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland http://www.chabotspace.org Kinetic Sculpture The Wave by Reuben Margolin NEW EXHIBIT! - Visible and invisible waves are all around us. Waves ripple in water, a vibrating guitar string, or a wriggling Slinky; sound waves are heard in the form of speech, music, or a barking dog. Energy radiates from stars as electromagnetic waves. Suspended above Chabot’s main lobby, Reuben Margolin’s large-scale kinetic sculpture will captivate visitors with its fluid movement. The Wave invites contemplation from a variety of perspectives: as a mesmerizing kinetic sculpture; as a visualization of the complexities of wave motion and related scientific and mathematical concepts; and as an intricate and beautiful mechanical device. Kinetic artist Reuben Margolin’s work combines the logic of mathematics with inspiration drawn from the beauty and patterns of nature. His work has also been shown at the , the Aquarium of the Pacific, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Beyond Blastoff: Surviving in Space NOW OPEN - Get a glimpse into the life of an astronaut, and experience the mixture of exhilaration, adventure, and confinement that is living and working in space. See real spacesuits, spacecraft, and astronaut food. Try out astronaut exercise gear and space tools, and picture yourself in a weightless environment. Learn how astronauts cope with the physical and mental challenges of weightlessness, isolation, and a grueling workload.

Crissy Field- GGNRA San Francisco http://www.parksconservancy.org/our_work/crissy/teachers.asp Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet Art Exhibit at Chrissy Field and the California Academy of Sciences Tuesday August 5 - Monday October 13 (Wednesday January 7 at the Academy) Location: Chrissy Field (main exhibit), California Academy of Sciences (Academy globe) Cool Globes is public art with a purpose – to increase awareness about global warming and to motivate people to take simple steps in their daily lives that will make a difference. This fantastic exhibit – 40 globes, each 5 feet in diameter – is in San Francisco for a limited time. Admission is free and open to the public. Special Exhibits

Exploratorium San Francisco (415) 561-0317 http://www.exploratorium.edu Light Walks: An Homage to Exploratorium Artist Bob Miller Sep 1, 2008 - Oct 5, 2008: - Seeing Gallery Special Exhibition Light Walks: An Homage to Exploratorium Artist Bob Miller Works by Kit Kube, Mark Esper, Michael Brown, Michael Walsh, Jane Aaron Curated by Liz Keim and Pamela Winfrey, this exhibition honors Bob Miller, one of the Exploratorium's most influential artists and the creator of Sun Painting, Everyone is You and Me, and many other favorite exhibits. Each of the featured artists uses light as a primary tool for exploration. Whether reveling in the gossamer qualities of light and reflection or playing with phenomena such as the persistence of vision, they are all Bob’s kindred spirits. Mind A NEW PERMANENT EXHIBIT -- In Mind, you are the exhibit. Experience your own thoughts and feelings in provocative and unexpected ways in this 5000-square-foot Exploratorium collection featuring over 40 brand-new interactive exhibits. Explore the tension between reason and emotion as you drink from an unusual fountain, witness yourself in off-guard moments you may never have experienced before, and much more. Made possible with support from the National Science Foundation.

Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu Engineer It! June 7, 2008 - January 4, 2009 - Roll up your sleeves and get involved in Engineer It! The fun is to design and build models that solve engineering challenges in three areas Wind, Water, and Structures. Create tall buildings, windmills, boats, and airplanes following the Think, Build, Test, Do It Again process used by engineers. The exhibit includes a large walk-in wind tunnel, a water tank, computer simulations, and a walk-on earthquake platform.

Lindsay Wildlife Museum Walnut Creek http://www.wildlife-museum.org Vanishing Wildlife September 13, 2008 - November 16, 2008 - Passion for the preservation of nature for future generations has inspired Rita Sklar’s art. "Vanishing Wildlife" depicts American, European, Latin American and African wildlife. Critics describe her paintings as a mix of abstraction and realism, giving the paintings a feeling of movement and immediacy, and praise them as capturing the subtle mood of the mystery of nature. Humminbirds to Hawks: Birds of the Bay Area November 19, 2008 - February 01, 2009 - Floy Zitten was a biology major, a scientific illustrator and is now teaches painting. Her scientific work trained both eye and hand. "I strive to express something of the character of each animal as well as to create a poetic mood. Each painting evolves as I work on it and becomes a unique experience which reflects my feeling toward the subject."

Oakland Museum Oakland http://www.museumca.org In Our Own Backyard: A Celebration of the East Bay Regional Parks March 15 - Though October 12, 2008 --In Our Own Backyard: A Celebration of the East Bay Regional Parks. Take a virtual tour of the East Bay Regional Parks, following the flow of creeks from snow-capped Mount Diablo through protected park land to the many parks along the shoreline of . More than 40 photographs from the museum's Bob Walker Archive celebrate the diversity and habitats of the parks. Other highlights include a history of the populist beginnings of the Park District, which continues today as interested citizens work to preserve open space so we all can enjoy “our backyard. Guest curated by Christopher Beaver, author of After the Storm: Bob Walker and the East Bay Regional Park District. (Wilderness Press, Berkeley. 2007). Though October 12, 2008. Included with museum admission.

Randall Museum San Francisco http://www.randallmuseum.org/ Wild in the City open now through spring 2009 - What kinds of creatures share our urban habitat? their nights? How can we be good neighbors to San Francisco’s furry and feathered, scurrying and scaly residents? Our newest interactive exhibit answers these questions and more.

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Seymour Marine Discovery Center Santa Cruz http://www2.ucsc.edu/seymourcenter/ Tiny Drifters: Basic & Beautiful Through November - Microscopic though they may be, phytoplankton are crucial for human life. Thanks to the Center for Integrated Marine Technologies (CIMT), visitors to the Seymour Center will have the opportunity to appreciate these beauties–and their stories–in an educational photographic exhibit. These organisms produce at least half of the oxygen we breathe and are positioned at the base of our food chain. Not only are they essential, they are beautiful, and with today's advanced photography techniques we can see their elegant forms brilliantly.

The Tech Museum of Innovation San Jose (408) 294-8324 http://www.thetech.org Leonardo: 500 Years into the Future Opens 9/27/08 - The world premiere of the largest, most comprehensive exhibit of the innovative art, science and engineering works of Leonardo da Vinci and his contemporaries comes to The Tech Museum of Innovation this Fall for only 99 days. Exclusive US appearance.

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