JOE DRAEGERT at Marin MOCA
- Danielle Elins
- Sep 22
- 3 min read
MarinMOCA’s ART FWD: 5x5x5 is a series of celebrations – both at the museum and across the North Bay. Join us and discover how the Bay Area’s leading artists find inspiration, support one another, and sustain the dynamic arts community that propels our region’s unique culture.
The centerpiece of ART FWD: 5x5x5 is a groundbreaking exhibition featuring 155 interconnected artists. Here, artists are in the driver’s seat, led by their knowledge, intuition, material know-how, and keen eye for great art. At ART FWD: 5x5x5, five renowned artists — Saif Azzuz, Arleene Correa Valencia, Liam Everett, Isabella Kirkland, and Barry McGee — each selected five artists, who each chose five more. The result is a dazzling constellation of diverse artworks that together paint a portrait of Bay Area artistry and creative kinship.
Kick things off on Opening Night, October 18, at a party pulsing with energy, live music, hands-on art-making, and relishable food and drinks. The experience deepens with special Artist's Table gatherings, intimate conversations where guests dive into the worlds that inspire ART FWD: 5x5x5’s headliners.
Selected Artist JOE DRAEGERT
Joe Draegert, American, was born in Chariton, Iowa in 1945. He is best known for his playful approach to composition and color harmonies in his remarkable trump-l'oeil still life and landscape paintings of California and Italy. Described as “magic realism” in what would commonly be considered a quite formal study of compositional elements of color, line, shape and texture, Draegert’s passion for painting has the ability to transform everyday objects and forms into extraordinary, significant moments.
Draegert received his BFA from Kansas City Art Institute along with a solid foundation and technical mastery of drawing skills. With his move out west to California, Draegert received his MFA at UC Davis at a truly vibrant and electric time in the art world. The exposure to and development of friendships with Roy Deforest, Wayne Thiebaud, Raymond Saunders, William Wiley, Roland Petersen, Ralph Johnson, Robert Arneson and Manuel Neri were highly influential. In 1979 international acknowledgement came to Draegert with the Prixe de Rome and invitation to study at the Academy in Rome, Italy. Awarded a full Fellowship at Yale and finding home in various permanent collections such as the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art and the Oakland Museum of Art, Draegert continues to win regional and international acclaim.
Collections and Exhibitions include the DeYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA., Oakland Museum of California, Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA., American Academy, Rome, Italy, Transamerica Corporation, San Francisco, CA., Bechtel International Center, Stanford, CA University of California at Davis CA., Redding Art Museum, Redding, CA., John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, CA., Peoples Republic of China., Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO., City of Sunnyvale, Sunnyvale, CA., Rabobank, Singapore
Opening Night
Saturday, October 18th 5:00 - 9:30 PM | MarinMOCA, San Rafael
This is not your typical gala. No rubber-chicken dinner. No long speeches. No polite applause.
ART FWD: 5x5x5 Opening Night — where the boundaries between spectator and participant dissolve and pure creative joy reigns.
Come enjoy outstanding art, delicious food and drinks, and wild entertainment. This is art as it should be experienced: not hushed and distant but immediate, vibrant, and participatory.
5:00 – 6:00 pmExhibition Viewing
6:00 – 7:30 pmPicnic-Style Dinner
Musical Jam with Matt Jaffe
Artful Activities
7:30 – 8:15 pmPerformance by the Bay Area’s celebrated Drag Queens on Wheels, Rollin’ with the Homos
Support MarinMOCA Art Education: Raise-the-Paddle
8:15 – 9:30 pmSilent Disco with Operation Joy Lab
RT FWD: 5x5x5 Opening Night — where the boundaries between spectator and participant dissolve and pure creative joy reigns. Come enjoy outstanding art, delicious food and drink, and wild entertainment. This is art as it should be experienced: not hushed and distant, but immediate, vibrant, and participatory.
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