Rowan Morrison Gallery

Great little art space in Oakland where there is a dearth of quality art spaces. The owners are both great people and doing alot for the art community.
thanks

I don’t like to hate on galleries or art institutions. But man oh man this was one of the worst gallery showings in recent memory. I walked in the gallery and it was full of visitors just clamming it up. I could barely even view the artwork. I usually don’t mind this, but since this gallery is about the size of a walk-​in gas station it was impossible. I admit I didn’t have enough patience or room to view the artwork, except I felt the art to be very depressing. It was just a grid of squares painted onto canvas; something I’ve done in art class. Like wth. I dunno. If you can gather around to eat cheese and drink wine while discussing this kind of artwork, I applaud you. As for me, I’m going to go make a milkshake.

Pete and Narangkar pack a lot of talent into a small space. They’ve had a bunch of cool shows, and this past year I was especially impressed by the Deth P. Sun show (we bought 3 pieces) and Derek Weisberg. RM also publishes and sells limited edition (and some commercial) art books.
Many of their in-​house books are really quite nice, featuring work by Bay Area talents like Deth P. Sun, John Casey, and gallery co-​owner Pete Glover and even some international ones like Ryohei Tanaka. Some of the shows are up my alley, and others aren’t, but there always seems to be at least a couple books and prints on offer that are quite good.
Support East Bay Arts, check out Rowan Morrison.

I attended a friend’s photography show at RM when they were brand new and was really impressed with the space and how they used it. It’s also the first place that I bought «real» art off the wall and the whole experience of the purchase was really fantastic. They consistently have unique shows and interesting artists.
As a side note, I saw the movie «the Wicker Man» which Rowan Morrison’s name is from and was totally creeped out. Thankfully the gallery is not at all creepy and is instead just really cool.

This place ROCKS! I just love art books. The handmade kind. And this place fulfills my whimsical creative desires! They also have great art shows and exhibits, and are supportive of local artists, like Alena Rudolph, who has an opening there tomorrow. Be sure to check it out if you are in the east bay.
I heart oaktown.

These guys are great. Always friendly, very supportive of the local artist community and they have great art up on the walls! I really like the selection of books they carry and lots of them are hand made or made from recycled materials. The owners are husband and wife and both are also working artists. I live just a few blocks away and love to drop in when the gallery is open to chat and just look around. I hope they are around for a long time! Definitely a bonus to have in the neighborhood!

A good space for the amount and type of work they tend to show. I also really appreciate that they have some interest (and contextualize the space) in art history, particularly of the Bay Area, and are not just about art regurgitating contemporary media. It’s refreshing to be encouraged to think while looking, and the folks who make it happen, as noted by others, are great to chat with.

Rowan Morrison is one of the stars of Oakland Art Murmur. The space is so cute and the quality of the shows, always leaves me with two thumbs up. The owners of Rowan Morrison are super friendly and make putting together exhibitions look easy (which it is not!!).
They have great zines and artists books for sale in the space and online. Great stuff, I recommend getting your art book fix there and supporting a great small space. Support small business…

I stumbled upon Rowan Morrison because I live down the street from them. I spoke to Narangkar the first time I came in and she was probably one of the coolest women I had met in a long time. Having recently moved from SF I was unaccustomed to the totally open and giving nature of the gallery owners in Oakland. She was no different:
N: So are you an artist?
Me: Yes, I work primarily in textiles.
N: Oh that’s awesome! I was just looking for a textile artist for a group show I’m thinking of getting together. Can you send me your portfolio?
Me: Oh jeez… Um, yeah… awesome.
(though I never did… that is another story entirely!)
The only reason why Rowan gets 4 stars instead of five is that I feel the quality of the work fluctuates a lot in this small space. There are times when I’m blown away (Junk Pirate) by the sophistication and work and there are times I sit there and say «yeah, and?» (Jen Siska).
All in all this is a great space for up and coming artist and well worth the «out of the way» ness of the OAM.
Word.