While the Bay Area is filled with world-class venues, Tri-Valley residents do not have to travel to places like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art or the Oakland Museum of California to enjoy art. The local arts scene throughout the five Tri-Valley communities is alive and thriving, bringing a variety of exhibits, performances, live music and culture to the far East Bay.

Moreover, Tri-Valley arts venues offer a spectrum of experience from smaller places that offer direct community engagement to more formal gallery offerings. Add to this the wealth of individuals and organizations available to support local art and an inspiring picture starts to emerge.

Building Community

The Tri-Valley artist movement and community have expanded vastly in recent years as local creators and art enthusiasts team up to provide resources and spaces to showcase art. This has been particularly notable in a climate where arts organizations and venues have had to face financial challenges and other setbacks. Many of the art spaces and venues in the area are nonprofits supported by donors, sponsors and the communities they serve to help fund programs and events.

Take Gallery Da Vinci in downtown Pleasanton, for example. The nonprofit gallery located at 608 Main St. in Suite G has only been open for roughly a year. Driven by both an interest in more broadly serving artists and the community, as well as financial need, the owner, Lewis Liu, has shifted the format of the space from a traditional gallery to more of an art community center. Gallery Da Vinci now hosts free pop-up shows and invites artists to paint in the space free of charge and uses local residents to pose as models for artists.

Even when no art activities are going on, Liu said community members are welcome to use the space as a gathering location for networking, socializing and exchanging ideas.

“I want to promote a space that local residents can meet up, chat – not only just to talk about arts but they can come over here just to read a book or talk to friends,” Liu said.

As part of the forthcoming changes, Liu will also be renting part of the space to a jewelry business starting in December. Despite the challenging economic times, Liu emphasized the importance and value of keeping the space afloat and dedicated to art.

“Looking at the whole Tri-Valley area – including Pleasanton – we really don’t have a place for artists to meet up or for locals to chat,” he said. “We have a lot of cafes but they’re commercial. Here, I’m providing a place not only just for artists to do arts but also for the community to get together and talk about things.”

One important point about art that Liu’s gallery transition exemplifies is that it’s flexible and ever-evolving.

“When you do arts, there’s many ways of doing it. You don’t have to do it in a formal gallery format, you can do pop-up shows – in a very casual way – outside of a building or whatever way you want to do it,” Liu said.

Established Spaces and Organizations With A Strong Local Focus

Some local arts organizations also seek to help develop the talents of aspiring artists, like the Bothwell Arts Center in Livermore which serves as an incubator for the Tri-Valley’s vibrant arts community. The space is the home of Livermore Valley Arts’ art classes, workshops and camps, providing a creative space for budding artists of all ages to explore their artistic potential.

Livermore Valley Arts also programs the Bankhead Theater, which has the capacity to bring exhibits to the UNCLE Credit Union Art Gallery located inside its lobby as well as performances and theater in its auditorium. The downtown Livermore venue brings a broad range of art to the heart of downtown Livermore, providing accessibility to the arts to diverse walks of life.

Similarly, Pleasanton’s Firehouse Arts Center houses the Harrington Gallery that features a variety of rotating installations while the theater hosts a variety of shows throughout the year. There is also the Museum on Main in the heart of downtown Pleasanton, which is dedicated to linking the past to the future by preserving and sharing history specific to the Tri Valley region.

Danville’s Village Theatre and Art Gallery is another Tri-Valley staple where art connoisseurs can find plays, comedy and music along with changing exhibits. Neighboring San Ramon is home to the Dougherty Valley Performing Arts Center.

The Livermore Public Library also frequently hosts exhibits in its gallery. Most recently, the annual flower art display “Flora in Focus” filled the hallway gallery during the month of August. The group of local artists who organize and curate the exhibit typically show it twice a year, one at the library and the other at Harrington Gallery.

With so many places across the Tri-Valley to observe, consume and appreciate art, there is also a dynamic community of local people who are creating and uplifting each others’ work so that the arts may continue to flourish throughout the region.

Among the various local artist collectives is the Livermore-based Alliance for the Visual Arts (AVA), which strives to promote visual arts in the region and connect artists with communities. The organization hosts the annual Tri Valley Artist Studio Tour when artists open up their home studios and work spaces among other venues for the public to view on a self-guided tour over the course of a weekend.

Through its website and calendar of events, AVA amplifies art happenings throughout the region, helping to increase awareness, visibility and the overall presence of visual arts in the Tri-Valley.

Other organizations supporting the arts include the Pleasanton Art League, the Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council, Livermore Art Association, SPARC Theater, Visual Art Society of San Ramon, Alamo Danville Artists’ Society and the Dublin Arts Collective, among other community theater groups and artist collectives.

Artists and art lovers can find support and resources through the municipalities as well, such as Livermore’s Commission for the Arts and Dublin’s Heritage & Cultural Arts Commission. Oftentimes, artists can find grants through these groups to support bringing events and programs to the area.

To help promote the region’s bustling arts scene to outsiders, Visit Tri-Valley – the destination marketing organization for Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin and Danville – offers an Arts & Culture Trail mobile guide for visitors and tourists.

After signing up for the free pass through the Visit Tri-Valley website, it is instantly delivered through text and email and it can be saved to a phone’s home screen for easy access.

The pass features a collection of curated museums, historic sites, music and performance arts venues, public art installations and other attractions. The pass can be presented at participating locations to an attendant or staff member to redeem available discounts.

Art is uplifted in multiple ways throughout the Tri-Valley year-round and one of the region’s premier artist events is set to return to downtown Livermore next month.

Livermore Valley Arts’ Annual ArtWalk is planned for October 10 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The free, family-friendly event features over 200 artists displaying their works on sidewalks and plazas, in parks and galleries.

The range of art includes everything from contemporary to classical, abstract to realism, pottery to mixed media, handmade bags, ceramic garden art and jewelry, with subject matter from floral to figurative, according to event organizers.

This year’s ArtWalk will also feature a brand-new element called “Chalk the Walk” which organizers wrote is a chalk art festival happening alongside ArtWalk.”This dynamic addition is designed to draw even more visitors into Downtown, increasing foot traffic and creating a lively, can’t-miss atmosphere.”

More information about ArtWalk and other Livermore Valley Arts events is available at www.livermorearts.org.

For more information about the Alliance for the Visual Arts, visit www.allianceforthevisualarts.org.

For more information about the Pleasanton Art League, go to www.pal-art.com.

For more information about the Livermore Art Association, visit www.livermoreartassociation.org.

For more information about the Alamo Danville Artists’ Society, visit www.adas4art.org.

For more information about the Dublin Arts Collective, go to www.dacarts.org.

The Visual Art Society of San Ramon can be found on Instagram at www.instagram.com/visualartsociety.sanramon.