Marin Art Museum Opens San Rafael Annex

The Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, located in Novato’s Hamilton neighborhood since 2007, has opened a satellite gallery in downtown San Rafael.

Jodi Roberts, the museum’s executive director, said the organization’s mission has changed and it wants to expand its audience. She said she is excited about the new location because it is an opportunity to reach more people.

The Novato location, founded by a small group of local artists, is smaller and “quieter,” Roberts said. San Rafael is a cultural center and gives the museum a chance to be more “public,” she said.

“I sincerely believe in the vital force that museums can be as public institutions, but to do that they must be public-facing, public-addressing and public-serving at all times,” Roberts said in a presentation to the City Council on October 21.

Galerie San Rafael will hold temporary exhibitions until the end of 2025.

The satellite location kicked off with a show called “Opening the Mountain,” which is inspired by the creative, cultural and artistic history that Mount Tamalpais has instilled in North Bay artists for generations.

The exhibition is the first at the museum’s new location. Roberts said 350 people attended the show’s opening day. Asha McGee, one of the curators, said it was exciting to see people in San Rafael “poking their heads in.”

“I spent so much time at Mount Tam, riding Mount Tam and connecting,” McGee said. “It’s such a beautiful part of our landscape that follows us throughout Marin.”

Natasha Boas, another curator of the show, said everyone in the North Bay “confronts” the mountain in some way, and everyone has some kind of relationship with it.

“None of these artists really reference the mountain directly,” Boas said. “There are these kinds of metaphors and multiple valences around how we understand the mountain. This show is very much about nature, community and art, and all the artists involved in the show have been touched by the mountain in some way.

The title refers to a remarkable episode in the history of Mount Tamalpais. In October 1965, Beat Generation poets Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen took a 15-mile walk, circling the mountain clockwise, stopping along the way to sing, sing and pray.

The route is inspired by ritual circumambulation, a Buddhist and Hindu practice that involves moving around something sacred. The tradition continues to this day, with appointed guides leading participants around the mountain at each equinox and solstice.

The exhibition shows work by 23 artists, ranging from emerging to established.

Boas said she and McGee brought different perspectives to the work. Boas is a veteran curator who grew up in San Francisco in the 1970s, while McGee recently graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a bachelor’s degree in art history.

“It is co-curated with a model of transgenerationality,” Boas said. “It’s kind of a mix of the two perspectives.”

Boas noted three specific 20th-century “legends” featured in the show: sculptors Adaline Kent and JB Blunk, and graffiti artist and painter Margaret Kilgallen. Newer artists in the exhibition include photographers Annabel de Vries and Stella Kudritzki, and painter Nick Gorham.

McGee said she has always been inspired by the art around her, and that the mountain also played an important role in her life growing up.

“It’s just been such a cornerstone piece or figure in my life,” McGee said. “It watches over everything. I learned to ride on the mountain, which is a big thing. I had my first kiss on the mountain.”

Boas said the space and the show are warm and welcoming, making the exhibition more accessible to people who may not be formally trained in the art. She said the goal of the show is for people to understand and admire how art, culture and nature are all connected.

“I would just like the visitor to understand that there is a deep history of art making in the area, in the region, in Marin, and a very important art history and legacy that is really important, and the exhibition ‘Opening the Mountain ‘ tells that story of artistic transmission,” Boas said.

McGee said the show is “such a celebration of the place.”

“I just want people to walk away feeling inspired and celebrating all the art in this area and the creative culture in this region,” she said.

“Opening the Mountain” is open until December 21 and free to the public.

Originally published: October 28, 2024 at 5:43 PM PDT