O Zone at OMCA new extended hours 2nd Friday at Oakland Museum of CA September 10, 2010

O Zone at OMCA, Oakland Museum of California's new extended-hours public program kicks off with activities that relate to exhibitions including "Pixar: 25 Years of Animation," "The Marvelous Museum: A Project by Mark Dion," and ongoing exhibitions in the Galleries of California Art and History. Activities will include a screening of Pixar's "Up" accompanied by commentary and Q&A with some of the Pixar artists who created it. Pixar shorts will be screened in the mini theater in the Hollywood section of the Gallery of California History amid movie posters, historic film equipment and tinseltown memorabilia. Adventures in dance will permeate the OMCA gardens and public areas featuring Oakland's own party band Blue Bone Express, plus a nonstop Bollywood dance party to the live sounds of Nonstop Bhangra and Dholrhythms, which was a "dancing-room-only" hit of OMCA's 31-hour opening celebration.

Visitors may go on a scavenger hunt throughout the Gallery of California History. Aspiring artists will have a guided, hands-on adventure in drawing, with artists and art instructors on hand through OMCA leading informal sketching workshops. The evening will also feature a screening of a silent big game adventure film by Henry Snow. Snow (1859-1928) was a naturalist and international adventurer at the turn of the last century who founded the Oakland Zoo and the Snow Museum, a precursor to the OMCA natural sciences collection. Part of Snow's collection is featured in the site-specific exhibition The Marvelous Museum: A Project by Mark Dion, which opens September 11-O Zone at OMCA visitors will get a sneak peek at Dion's ingenious interventions woven into the Gallery of California Art. At OMCA's Blue Oak cafe Chef Robert Dorsey III officially launches a new full menu and service with adventurous California-inspired fare, drink specials and more.

Official Website: http://www.museumca.org