By Bonny Zanardi

Summer is here! There are exhibits and readings and special events to enjoy throughout the month.

Here’s the thing

The exhibit Local Color, featuring landscape paintings in pastel and oil by Mary K. Stahl, will be presented throughout July at the Portola Art Gallery. A reception will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. July 13.

Stahl is a signature member of the Pastel Society of the West Coast. Her work has been shown at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara, the Haggin Museum in Stockton and the Butler Museum of Art in Youngstown, Ohio.

The Portola Art Gallery is at the Allied Arts Guild, 75 Arbor Road, Menlo Park. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Call 650-321-0220 or visit www.portolaartgallery.com.

It’s exquisite

A show of work by Kerry Tribe is featured in Exquisite Corpse, on view through July 29 at the Anderson Collection at Stanford.

The video installation traces the Los Angeles River over 51 miles from its origin in the San Fernando Valley to its terminus at the Pacific Ocean.

Tribe’s works have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern and SFMOMA. The Anderson exhibit highlights her ongoing inquiry into the life sciences and medicine, language, memory and consciousness.

The Anderson Collection is at 314 Lomita Drive at Stanford University. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, with extended hours until 8 p.m. Thursdays. Admission is free. Call 650-721-6055 or e-mail andersoncollection@stanford.edu.

Mixed media

The Caldwell Gallery exhibit opening July 2 is From Sea to Shining Sea, featuring Peninsula mixed media artists Roberta Salma and Krytzia Dabdoub.

In recent years Salma has embraced abstract art, venturing to capture the essence of a subject and her feelings about it. “I paint with brushes, palette knives, rags, combs, mops and trowels, whatever is needed,” she notes. She finds her paintings “speak to the layering of time and the stories of generations.”

Dabdoub has a passion for nature, which she expresses through texture and movement. She was born in Mexico City, studied in Paris and has lived in Madrid. Sojourns took her to Barcelona and Caracas and back to Mexico City, Paris and New York. She now lives in Northern California.

The exhibit, curated by Boris Koodrin for the San Mateo County Arts Commission, will be on view through August 28. The gallery is at 400 County Center, Redwood City. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Call 650-296-0622 or e-mail boriskoodrin@gmail.com.

Five featured

Paintings by Rose Hagan, Marjan Najafi, Shirindokt Nourmanesh, Douglas Simon and Heather Wright is presented through July 20 in the exhibition vibrant at Gallery House.

All five are established artists who recently have started showing their work at Gallery House. The exhibition offers a celebration of color through each artist’s unique approach.

Gallery House is at 320 South California Avenue, Palo Alto. (Enter through Printer’s Café.) Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, noon to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. Call 650-326-1668 or visit www.GalleryHouse2.com.

Tradition and abstraction

The Main Gallery is featuring photography in dual exhibitions on view through July 28. Time and Tradition offers impressions of Morocco by Fred Aron and Abstractions and Horizons presents images by Bjorn Kleemann.

Aron seeks to “discover some hidden order” in his work, while Kleeman’s photographs offer an “exploration of the overlooked.”

The gallery is at 1018 Main Street, Redwood City. Hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Call 650-701-1018 or visit www.themaingallery.org.

A celebration

Artists from the National League of American Pen Women, Santa Clara County Chapter, are featured in the Coastal Arts League exhibition A Celebration of Solstice, on view through July 14.

This show offers a variety of media. Among those artist members exhibiting work is nature photographer Patricia Dennis.

The museum is at 300 Main Street, Half Moon Bay. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays. Call 650-726-6335 or visit www.CoastalArtsLeague.org.

Coffee and creativity

Philz Coffee at 113 South B Street in San Mateo is showing work by Neha Chowrasia, Frida Gustaffson, Brooke Howie, Guy Magallanes, M.G. Stout and Donna Wocher.

Philz at 2116 Broadway in Redwood City is featuring work by James Caldwell, Becky Johnson and Jennifer O’Donnell.

At both locations, works will be on view until September. The exhibits are presented by Art Liaisons. Call 650-590-9487 or visit www.artliaisons.com.

Djerassi Open Studios

The Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside is holding an Open House and Open Studios from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 14.

There will be dance and music performances, literary readings, visual artist talks and open studios. Visitors can follow the site’s winding trails through the redwoods and over rolling hills. Bring a picnic lunch to enjoy on the grounds. Complimentary refreshments and light fare by the Djerassi’s gourmet chef, Dan Tosh, will be offered from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Reservations are required for the event. General admission is $50 per person; for children ages 6 to 12 tickets are $25 per person. Children under 6 and artist alumni of the program are free.

Call 650-747-1250 or visit www.djerassi.org.

New public art

The City of San Mateo has a new public art installation near downtown. Reflections is the first publicly commissioned sculpture as part of the city’s Art in Public Places Program first proposed and developed by City Arts of San Mateo.

The work is created in stainless steel by C. J. Rench. You can find it on the corner of Third Avenue and Humboldt Street. The design was selected as representative of San Mateo’s past and future.

Shakespeare performances

This year’s offering by the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival is a new musical version of As You Like It. Bay Area performances, all free, run from June 29 to September 22.

In San Mateo County, the play will be presented on Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. August 10 through 25 on the grounds of Sequoia High School in Redwood City, at 1201 Brewster Avenue.

Bring a blanket and picnic basket and enjoy the bard!

For other dates and locations, call 415-558-0888 or visit www.sfshakes.org.

Poetry reading

Coastside Poetry presents readings by Ben Gucciardi and Sande Anfang at 7 p.m. July 9 at Cafe Society, 522 Main Street, Half Moon Bay.

An open mic period will begin at around 8 p.m.        .

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Visit www.coastsidepoetry.org.

Whether sunny or foggy, July is a month for adventure!