August 1, the birthday of Jerry Garcia, lead guitarist and co-founder of the Grateful Dead, is an auspicious date for music enthusiasts worldwide.
This year, to commemorate the iconic guitarist-singer-songwriter and counterculture legend’s 82nd birthday, the Sausalito Center for the Arts will host a special art exhibit titled “The Art of Jerry Garcia,” with an opening concert by the Keystone Revisited Band, led by bassist Tony Saunders, son of the late, great keyboardist and frequent Garcia collaborator, Merl Saunders.
The Jerry Garcia Foundation has donated a collection of 30 museum quality giclées to the Sausalito Center for the Arts for the month-long exhibit. All art sale proceeds will benefit the gallery. The opening reception concert begins at 5:30 pm PST.
The Foundation invites virtual travelers worldwide to participate and explore the exhibit online in the Neverworld Grid metaverse.
The Neverworld Grid is a beautiful virtual world established by digital artist Govega Sachertorte. Govega. and her gifted team of artists have replicated images of the gallery and the nearby San Francisco Bay Area. Artist Nexus Storm has included a digital version of the Golden Gate Bridge.
For this special metaverse component, the Sausalito Center for the Arts will feature a computer monitor in the gallery, showing avatars attending the virtual concert.
All are welcome to participate in the virtual component. Entry to the virtual event is free of charge. It is suggested that you login and create your avatar in advance of the concert. Login and registration information is here: https://neverworldgrid.com/index.php/support/quickstart-guide
The concert can also be viewed on the BayAreaLivestreams’ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/live/Gk5PPwiRvQo
An artist from childhood, Garcia was painting in oils by the age of 17. Given his natural sense of visual aesthetics, he later came to think of himself as “an artist who played music.” He attended the San Francisco Art Institute as a teenager and continued to paint throughout his prodigious music career, working in oils, acrylics, watercolors. and pen and ink. His art continues to tour in exhibits in the U.S. and Europe.
This exhibition includes behind-the-scenes rock ‘n’ roll photography from Carol Scott, a British photographer who worked in America from 1975 to 1985. A graduate from the University of London who later studied photography at Laney College in Oakland, Scott photographed Bay Area performances by Frank Zappa, John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, Etta James, Rod Stewart, Willie Nelson and Jerry Garcia. Her photograph of Mick Jagger is part of the Permanent Collection in London’s National Portrait Gallery. She has been keeping her collection of hidden, unseen photographs for over 40 years and will exhibit the work for the first time at the Sausalito Center for the Arts.
Additionally, patrons attending the month-long exhibit at the Sausalito Center for the Arts can view a private never-before-seen collection of Grateful Dead memorabilia, including autographed album covers and posters as well as artwork by legendary psychedelic artists such as Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley and Rick Griffin.
The gala opening night event commemorating Jerry’s birthday on August 1 will include refreshments to compliment the cosmic jams and vibrant art.
For additional information please visit: https://www.sausalitocenterforthearts.org/
