Writing from inside the scene

Dispatches

Field notes, exhibition reflections, interviews, and photo essays from the people and places shaping art across the Valley.

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What stayed with us.

Earlier Dispatches

A visitor looks at a shelf lined with Christian McDonald’s framed paintings at Dialog.

Exhibition Reflection · September 9, 2026

Let’s Talk About Dicks

Christian McDonald’s solo exhibition at Dialog became a funny, vulnerable study of the desire to be seen and understood.

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Two translucent sculptural figures stand in colored light in the Tender Alchemy exhibition.

Exhibition Reflection · September 9, 2026

Dreaming of Quantum Gateways

Tender Alchemy brought the distinct practices of Beth Ames Swartz and Julianne Swartz into a masterful mother-daughter collaboration at SMoCA.

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