Civic Center Gallery

Cultural Services

Civic Center Galleries, 1st and 3rd Floors

Name: Friendly Tides

Dates: Feb 6 – May 18

Schedule: Open Monday – Friday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. Closed weekends.

Friendly Tides showcases the work of artists from Marinship Studios, a studio complex in the Marinship neighborhood of Sausalito, California. Located on a site that has been a beacon of creativity for artists, philosophers, writers, and poets since the 1950’s, it has been a workplace and residence for the likes of Maya Angelou, Gordon Onslow Ford, Allen Ginsberg, Jean Varda and Ruth Asawa among others. Marinship Studios was founded in an effort to continue this creative history and support the arts in the Bay Area.

The neighborhood of Marinship began as a shipyard during WWII before blossoming into a creative enclave defined by houseboats, marine businesses and the ebbs and flows of the bay. The title of the show — Friendly Tides — is a nod to the neighborhood’s inextricable link to the tides of the bay and how everyone in the community is impacted by them for both good and ill. All on the waterfront are subject to the pull of the tides, especially when the seasonal king tides threaten to breach our doorways. Many buildings flood during these times, recently including the studios of some of the artists presented here.

In addition to Sausalito's very tangible shores, Friendly Tides also refers to the tidal force of artists in the Bay Area. Unlike many art scenes, it is common here for artists to include the work of their friends and peers in their exhibitions out of an instinct for making space for others and sharing conversations with one another. In this spirit the exhibition includes a group of works by artists from Sausalito and the greater Bay Area who are friends of Marinship Studios. We watch the waterfront to live with the movement of the bay, but we are the friendly tide.

Marinship Studios Artists:

  • Mary Button Durell
  • Tania Houtzager
  • Maya Kini
  • Ari Lurie
  • Susan McKinney
  • Daniel Melo Morales

Bay Area Artists:

  • Matt Goldberg
  • Tracey Kessler
  • Lynn Marie Kirby
  • Anna Landa
  • Natasha Loewy
  • Cait Malloy
  • Beril Or
  • M. France Viana

The Civic Center galleries are located on the first and third floor (Board of Supervisors Chambers gallery) in the Marin County Civic Center Building. 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael.