QUILT ART Artist Rosie Lee Tompkins, known for her prolific quilt-making practice in the East Bay, is being celebrated with a retrospective at the BAMPFA. While we can’t see her breathtaking works in real life, we can still appreciate the technique and artistry that went into them online. Photographing beautifully, the quilts are available to be viewed in a slideshow, where you can stop to examine the detail on an untitled quilt from the 1970s made with embroidered scripture, crocheted doilies, velveteen, and repurposed fabrics. You can also go on a recorded virtual tour of the exhibition led by chief curator Larry Rinder. Kids can also engage with the exhibit through the museum’s family guide, where they can learn about building visual vocabularies, connecting shapes and stories, and discovering visual rhythms.
THEATRE SALON Remember the mingling that would happen after a great theatre show, the connections, discussions and wine? Our world isn’t quite in order to allow that right now, but the Aurora Theatre is putting on smart alternative, Aurora Connects. Every Friday, Aurora Connects broadcasts a live show, an online salon and a virtual happy hour. You’ll join Q&As and roundtables with actors, designers and directors. This week, the program will feature a conversation with artists Stacy Ross and Martha Brigham, who will talk about life as an actor in the Bay Area and how they’re honing their craft during shelter-in-place. Free. Streamed live on YouTube. Friday, May 29, 4 p.m.
SHELTERING MUSIC If you need a refreshing musical welcome to summer, don’t miss out on Left Coast Chamber Ensemble’s final concert of the season, titled Sheltering Music. The concert will feature works by new and old composers like Beethoven, Jörg Widmann, and Veronika Krausas. You’ll hear melodies and harmonies from instruments like the violin, viola, cello, piano, bass, flute and clarinet. While the ensemble isn’t able to perform together in person, they’ll be playing in sync from their own homes. Free. Streamed live on YouTube. Monday, June 1, 7:30 pm.
VIRTUAL CAMPFIRE It’s summer, which means camping season is here! You may not be able to go camping as usual, but you can bring the culture of the outdoors into your home through East Bay Regional Park’s Virtual Campfire Program. Just find a comfy place on your living room floor or in your yard, lay down a blanket and surround yourself with campfire snacks like s’mores. A naturalist from the East Bay Regional Park District like Morgan Guenther will guide kids and their families through interactive singalongs, detective games and activities that help them understand natural life, like animal habitats and diets. Pack your bags for a camping staycation. Free.
CHATTING-IN-PLACE Our community’s scientists are working at full speed to understand and outsmart the coronavirus that’s affecting our lives so seriously. There’s a lot of misinformation and buried facts about the pandemic out there but Chatting-in-Place, a video series launched by Science at Cal, can help us understand what’s really going on. In the program, scientists will regularly give insight into various threads of coronavirus research. Past installments include an interview with professor Britt Glaunsinger from the department of plant and microbial biology at UC Berkeley, where she discusses how a virus transferred from an animal to a human. By staying properly informed, you can stay safe and strong.