Great Places to Enjoy Art in California

If the weather forecast holds, much of California is supposed to be rainy this weekend, making it a perfect time to visit a museum.

For the past several weeks, readers have been emailing me their suggestions for the best places to enjoy art in the state. I’m sharing a selection of them today, lightly edited for clarity.

You can send your own recommendation to [email protected]. Please include your name and the city where you live. Enjoy!

Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in Sacramento

“For people interested in seeing the photographic arts in all of its varied forms and styles, Viewpoint is a great place to visit. Its free monthly, changing exhibits in two gallery spaces will showcase landscape, portraiture, street, still life, abstract, alternative processes, composites and mixed media from artists around the world. Every new exhibit will have a reception to allow you to talk to the artists directly. You can also browse the portfolio drawers of local artists to see additional photographic works. Viewpoint also has regular photography lectures and workshops. Every April, it hosts Sacramento’s Photography Month along with other visual arts organizations.” — Waymond Fong, Loomis

Huntington Library, Art Museum in San Marino

“My favorite place, hands down, is the Huntington Library. It’s where I saw, as a child, such magisterial portraits as ‘The Blue Boy,’ ‘Pinkie’ and ‘Sarah Siddons’ on those precious Catholic school field trips, leading to a lifelong love of museums. Not to mention the many other galleries and special exhibits surrounded by fabulous gardens of many styles. Because of Covid the library limits the number of visitors per day, so advance tickets are a must. I’ve always gone on free days, which really requires advance planning — a small price for a day of total immersion in another world.” — Pamela Gravlin, Escondido

ICB ART in Sausalito

“Hands down, the ICB is a wealth of wonderful art. Located in stunning Sausalito, it has over 100 artists who are very serious about their work. Once an old warship hangar, it now is a well-run art enclave and is open to the public many times a year.” — Catherine Cole, Mill Valley

Friday Nights at the Oakland Museum of California

“Lots of locals celebrate the end of the workweek alongside out-of-towners with gallery access, live music, food trucks and the love of art in all its forms. You can meander through eclectic exhibitions, relax in the gardens or spin on the dance floor. It’s the art of togetherness.” — Karina Moreno, Oakland

The Mingei International Museum in San Diego

“The Mingei features folk art, craft and design. Mingei means ‘Art of the People’ in Japanese. There are some beautiful sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle in front of the museum that you are allowed to touch, and children love to climb on them.” — Christopher Muller, Murrieta

Where we’re traveling

Today’s tip comes from Suzy Kosh, who lives in Pacifica. Suzy recommends visiting Jenner, a small coastal town in Sonoma County:

“River’s End Restaurant & Inn overlooks the miracle that is Goat Rock Beach in Jenner — where the Russian River runs into the sea — and serves spectacular food (no 5G or Wi-Fi available when we stayed … heaven). The entire drive on Route 1 to Mendocino is incredible, but not many people seem to stop in this gorgeous little nook.”

Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to [email protected]. We’ll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

Tell us

I’m thinking about how Californians celebrate Thanksgiving. By the beach? With sourdough stuffing?

Email your Golden State Thanksgiving traditions to [email protected]. Please include your full name and the city in which you live.

And before you go, some good news

Bob Daigle, 72, of San Jose became the oldest person to compete with his pet for the United States team at the FCI Agility World Championship, an international dog agility tournament, which took place last month in the Czech Republic.

Daigle competed with his trusty companion, his 5-year-old Border collie named Blew Bayou, who traversed the tournament’s obstacle courses alongside roughly 700 dogs from 55 countries.

Over their combined 77 years — or more than 100, if you’re counting Blew Bayou’s age in dog years — the pair had plenty of agility experience: Daigle has been competing in agility trials with his dogs for more than a decade and with Blew Bayou since the dog was 2.

Despite some setbacks this summer after Daigle suffered a hamstring injury, the pair saw success on the courses and, as one would expect of two seasoned agility competitors, they had a blast. “The stress and anxiety was replaced 100 percent by focus, fun and the enjoyment of running agility with a dog I love,” Daigle told The Mercury News.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Monday. Enjoy your weekend. — Soumya

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword.