I went to their "multi-sensory experience" Rock N roll Friday because they stated "you're invited to take in this extraordinary collection while reveling in the soundtrack of the psychedelic generation." And guess what that consisted of?: Someone's Spotify barely audible in the background. Completely misleading. Not sure what the point of the show was : there was no overarching show description anywhere , mostly B side prints and a few prints that weren't abstract at all thrown in. read more

Starting in July the Bedford Gallery will go to a "Pay What You Can" community model. I also recently attended one of their outdoor art walks which was well worth it for only $5. They have them on the third Saturday of each month. read more

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We visited here for the first time today to check out the current exhibit "Reclaimed: the art of Recology". If Recology sounds familiar, that's probably because you've seen the name emblazoned on the recycling containers that you put out at the curb every week. Get this - the recycling company has had an artist-in-residence program for over thirty years, in which they sponsor artists with studio space, a stipend, and access to the unwanted detritus of the city with which they create art. The Bedford Gallery has curated an excellent exhibit of a small sampling of the works of over 200 artists and students. The art works are an impressive transformation of things like coaxial cable, plywood scraps, broom handles, Ikea shopping bags, 16mm film, and innumerable other discoveries that others have purged from their lives. To call this mixed media is an understatement. The gallery staff were very friendly today and were pleased that someone had actually showed up. We walked in about an hour after opening and they said we were first; no one else entered during our longer-than-expected visit. Such a shame, really, because this place is just a block from the downtown shops and restaurants. If the other exhibits throughout the year are this good, then Walnut Creek has an underappreciated jewel here. We'll be keeping an eye on their future exhibits. We were able to visit this place free of charge using our local library's Discover and Go program. This is also available to users of the Contra Costa County Library system. The regular price of admission is a nominal $5 for persons 13 and older - not bad at all for a little cultural interlude. read more

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Great little gallery with a variety of different types of art from sculptures to woodwork to video to graphic art to fabrics very interesting read more

I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling. - Frida Kahlo I saw that there was an exhibit that was paying homage to Frida Kahlo and decided that I had to get there! Like many people, I love Frida. Between her art and her overall being, I am a huge fan. When we were directed by GPS that we had reached our destination but I didn't see "Bedford Gallery" I circled around the block once more and came to the conclusion that it must be inside this museum/movie theater building. Parking is literally next door to the place so that was convenient and pretty cheap I might add. Once I walked inside I noticed that they had a display if you will of the Hispanic Culture/ Frida Kahlo things right outside and that's what led me to the gallery. The hostess at the door was very nice and informed us that the original pictures towards the back were off limits for pictures but the rest was fine to be photographed. Overall, the gallery was beautiful! Full of original and fan art of Frida. It was interesting to see that so many different people loved Frida from all different walks of life! I had some favorites and was even interested in buying some art! The only thing that was missing was a cocktail! Tips: Don't think that you are lost when looking for the gallery Pros: Parking is near so if you want to wear heels, don't hesitate. Cons: No Cocktails. read more

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I went to Bedford Gallery that's inside the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. It's an easy walk from Walnut Creek Bart maybe 15 minutes. There is also a FREE shuttle from the Bart station, turn Left once out of the station. I saw a Public Parking lot next to the Lesher in case you are driving. Gallery charges $5pp adult or go on First Tues of the Month for FREE. Gallery is small one big room, and 1 smaller room. Takes about 5-10 minutes to see the new exhibit Blow UP. I went to see the giant bunnies - good for Instagram and FB. Other arts were ok too. read more

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My cousin needed to go to an art gallery for an assignment and we encountered Bedford when searching for a place nearby. We came during their Off the Menu exhibit and it was so cool. I love the collection and I am definitely coming back for the next exhibit. It's also affordable as well! read more

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Still fabulous! I used DISCOVER AND GO and got two free passes! The current exhibit is "Sweet 'n Low" an international Show of Cute (June 22nd to August 27, 2017) The exhibit features work from over 130 local,national and international artists. Cute and awwwww to macabre and ewwwww. Although most of the artists' names aren't ones you recognize there is a wonderful drawing by Margaret Keane "Girl with Cat." Different media from painting, watercolor, collage, sculpture, sewn and knitted works, will evoke,smiles, giggles, gasps, amazement and more feelings than one has felt in a long time. I love this kind of art where it is fun, bizarre, quirky, and amazingly awesome. Not to be a snob but classic art forms and well known works take a back site to this fun art. i've seen many exhibits here. It is a small but lovely --a bright very approachable space. The volunteers here are very friendly. My only gripe is that the exhibits ere there for only a short time (4-6 weeks). The regular admission is $5? Free with your Discover and Go Pass. I took some photos that may not entirely reelect the spirit of this exhibit. Please forgive the blurriness. read more

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Lovely gallery tucked away in the performing arts center of Walnut Creek. It's a block or two down the street from BART and accessible via the free bus/trolley. The exhibit I attended was well curated with an informative audio tour available for free. Admission is very affordable and while the gallery is small, there are many interesting stories to take in through the pieces. It is a calm, quiet spot to take in art, although it gets very loud when people are exiting the theatre upstairs from a show. Overall, a great value and addition to your day in Walnut Creek. read more

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Gallery is cute, if you like modern art. The receptionist overcharges for the tickets. My daughter brought it to her attention and she said my daughter was I correct! As we left the Gallery we took a look at the admission sign again which lists the cost. The sign confirmed that we were in fact overcharged just as my daughter suggested. The woman charged me for an adult ticket for my daughter and told my daughter she did not qualify for the student admission unless she was 12. The receptionist was incorrect! I brought back up to her and she stated that she was a volunteer so she may have made a mistake! I'm not sure what her problem was but I do not like the experience I had visiting the Gallery with my dau read more

Gayle and I had our first date night since our marriage a few evenings ago. I picked her up at City Hall and then we wandered over to the Stadium Pub for dinner. This is also the place that I shared a prenuptial nip with my brother and best friend from College. We had a great time catching up, while occasionally catching glimpses on our smart phones for texts/emails, and raiding each others plates. We also enjoyed watching the final minutes of the hockey game where Les Habitants beat Alex Ovechkin's Capitals in a stunner. We had tickets at the Lesher Center that night to see "Noises Off", a most enjoyable "Nothing On" farce. And although I'm a bit of a Berkeley Rep snob, this facility is a destination in itself and features some innovative programming thanks to Michael Butler (Artistic Director) and Scott Denison (General Manager). One of the extra bonuses of the Lesher Center (besides plenty of parking) is the Bedford Gallery. The Bedford Gallery, is a program of the City of Walnut Creek, and also receives substantial support from the Diablo Regional Arts Association. If you have tickets to the show, admission to the Bedford Gallery is free. We were over 30 minutes early and had a nice time wandering around the Dutch Impressionism and Beyond exhibit. The Gallery is also available for rent and features other events including opening events, "Culture and Cocktails", and Art Mornings over coffee and sweet rolls. The gallery is on the small side, but as an opening act, it's hard to beat. read more

I absolutely hated it. Low-quality prints of great work. There should be more of a criteria.

Most interesting traveling exhibits and run by very nice people. Tickets are cheap at just five dollars for adults.

A quaint art gallery in one of the more calm areas in Walnut Creek. I would have never known this existed had it not been for Discover & Go. I visited during the Botanica gallery and the art displayed was remarkable. For only $5 of admission, you can see some of most interesting local works...and possibly even purchase pieces if you're interested. There is a kind and helpful lady who works at the front desk where you can pay and pick up brochures about the exhibition or the gallery itself. And they have interesting exhibitions coming up! I should be coming back for the superhero and lego based ones. read more

Bedford Gallery - Art Galleries Near Me - Walnut Creek, California

I went to this gallery for the first time to see the Sweet N Low show, and wow, I had a fantastic time. I have been going to galleries on a regular basis for the last 26 years, regionally. And this show definitely stands out. The art work was international and, although loosely tied around a central theme, very eclectic and diverse in medium, style, and genre. The show was really well put together. The reception was fantastic, packed; one could hardly walk around. But the people were great. I had a fantastic time talking to everyone. I hear parking is a breeze, and it's literally two blocks from the BART station. It's located in what looked like an old 1950s downtown area, blocks and blocks of single-story storefronts on tree lined streets. It was fixed up nice, lively street traffic, wine bars & such. This gallery is well worth the trip to the hinterlands. PS. I thought the $5 to get in was weird as I've never been charged to get into a gallery before, but they did have okay food and great root beer floats. So all in all, I really didn't mind. People should really buy more art so galleries wouldn't have to resort to charging admission. read more

The five stars are for the exhibit I saw. The Bedford Gallery itself is a nice space. The room was well lit and spacious, but I'm not sure what else to say about it. I went to see the Postsecret exhibit here, and I LOVED it. I have been a huge fan (to the point of counting down the days whenever a new book is released). The closest that Postsecret got to SF last year was USC, which was a little too far for me to travel to see an exhibit. I was so excited when Walnut Creek was added to the list! I was a total slacker and didn't bother to buy my tickets in advance for the opening night event with Frank Warren, so it sold out and I didn't get to go. I went to the exhibit tonight and loved it. There was a good mix of secrets I'd already seen (either on the website or in the books) with new things I'd never seen. They ranged from hilarious to heart breaking. The exhibit runs through April, and it's totally worth the trip to Walnut Creek. Only $5 and they're open until 8pm most nights. postsecret.blogspot.com read more

Small, local art gallery in Walnut Creek, California. This art gallery changes exhibits every couple of months or so. My first visit was a couple years ago when they exhibited Dutch painters influenced by Van Gogh. It was truly a good exhibit and great timing, overlapping the Dutch Sinterklaas Eve/Day (I celebrate every Dec. 5th/6th). Earlier this year they had an interesting exhibit housing a photography collection of JFK. There was some historical documents and artifacts on display, providing a cultural and historical lesson at the same time. For $3.00 or so admission, it is a nice change of pace from the busy shopping district of downtown Walnut Creek. http://www.bedfordgallery.org/ http://www.ehow.com/how_10778_celebrate-dutch-christmas.html read more

Beautiful and bigger than I expected. My family and I went to visit the Frida Khalo contemporary art exhibit and was so in love with all the pieces they had displayed. Also it was only $5 and was so happy that my little nephew of 5 got in for free. read more

It's a really small art gallery in Downtown Walnut Creek, and it costs $5 to get in (free first Tuesday of each month), and the exhibits change every few months or so. There is municipal parking next door (50 cents per half-hour) and Bedford Gallery is located within the Lesher Center for Performing Arts. Not too bad, overall. read more

I came here for the Post Secret exhibit a few months ago, and what a perfect place to have it. I've been following Post Secret for years and am constantly impressed by such a simple idea that is so significant. We didn't get to see him speak because that was sold out, so we waited out a trip here. From previous experience, I know better than to attend an exhibit early into it. We came near the tail end of the exhibit on a Friday evening which was perfect because it wasn't crowded and I was able to take my sweet time looking over all the details of each card if I wanted to. And I sure did. The exhibit was $5 and you pay as you enter, the gallery itself is an open room with a few displays in the center of the room. There's only one small separate room to the left and that displayed a video. Although a small room, it was very open and well-lit. I felt this was a great place to have the exhibit, anything in San Francisco would have been a nuisance to get to/park/and far more expensive I assume. I'm not sure if photos are allowed, I'll be sure to ask next time. We had a little confusion getting in. I thought the ticket office was where you purchased tickets, but it wasn't. It was for another event. Oddly, an event upstairs (Evita) that I didn't know my friend was performing in! Then it appeared that the doors were locked and a couple was waiting outside so we were waiting as well. From the other side of the door, a lady asked, with a little 'tude, if we were coming in or not --- it was just awkward? Anyway, we figured it out but would have preferered a little less attitude? read more

As mentioned in another review they do change their exhibits often, I went yesterday and saw one on graphite. Overall the art was uninteresting and some you could consider to be literally trash in a frame (used carbon paper). The gallery itself is rather small so don't expect to spend much time here no matter what the exhibit is. If you happen to be in Walnut Creek and you've got $3 and time to burn this place is great. read more

Last night was the final concert of the Lesher Jazz Series. Alan and I were finished w/ dinner early enough to have time to stop in at the Bedford Gallery. If you have tickets for the evening's performance, admission to the gallery is free. Otherwise it's $5. We were fortunate to happen on the Cardburg 2012 exhibit, which opened in June and closes today. This is what their website description says: "This summer Bedford Gallery welcomes the exciting new exhibition Cardburg 2012: The Super Track! The Cardboard Institute of Technology (C.I.T.) has deconstructed the spectacle of car racing, challenging mainstream notions of competition and cooperation. C.I.T. invites you to take part in their unique brand of racing: form a pit crew, race in teams, and sabotage your opponents. Bedford Curator Carrie Lederer comments that, "C.I.T. projects always incorporate aspects of the world we live in--from pop culture, history and myth to contemporary life. The artists are entrepreneurial in spirit, and bring an array of skills and talents to their projects, using high-tech/low-tech hybrids as a motto for construction. Each installation is a unique, humorous and thoughtful statement about our local and global community, and our attraction to large-scale, exhilarating public events." The exibition will include several open makes, during which visitors can come to the gallery and build their own cardboard car. We hope you will join us as we turn up the heat and explore the high-octane world of monster truck racing." Around the perimeter of the room was a series of race cars made of cardboard, nestled in extravagantly imaginative frames/holders created to harmonize or extrapolate on the themes of the cars. They were exquisitely crafted. I checked, and none of them was operational, but there were some in the back that were. In the center of the room is an elaborate track structure w/ w person-size hole in the center and a couple of 6" high platforms on either side to stand on so shorter people can see into the track. A nice young woman brought out a car, wriggled into the hole and set it on the track, having given me a device w/ a trigger-like accelerator and a wheel on the side to turn the car. I tried, vainly, to steer the car around the track, which was shaped like a large open cone. I just didn't get the concept and the car kept running aground or otherwise getting stuck. Another woman brought out another car, which had toggle-like apparatuses to make it go. I gave the original car and its device to Alan, who had as little success as I did. I had no better success w/ the second car. Fortunately we are both better drivers in the world of full size cars. It was a grand exhibit and I'm sorry not to have discovered it sooner so maybe you could have gone to see it, but unfortunately you can't. The Bedford Gallery has interesting and challenging exhibits, based on past ones I've seen, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the next one is. I feel so lucky to have seen this one. read more

We wandered in to look around as we were at the Lesher Center for a concert. Just a bunch of enormous balloon animals. Kinda strange?!!

The lovely Dean Lesher for the Arts houses the Bedford Gallery; a venue that features historic, modern, and contemporary artists highlighting what they claim to be "...reflect[ive] and engage[ing of ] the diverse audiences of the entire Contra Costa region. Are they kidding? Mmmm, Central Contra Costa County: Orinda, Moraga, Lafayette, Alamo, Danville, Diablo and Blackhawk. There is more diversity in a Republican Party fundraiser. The only diversity embraced in this area is which part of East Asia or Europe you're from and what wing of the G.O.P. you subscribe to. This area of the East Bay is notoriously comprised of well to do professionals who moved there from the City with their new family for the schools and to live in a bubble of valet parking, shopping, manicured lawns, and frolic care free in their homogenous, desperate house wives neighborhoods. However, I digress; despite the lack of diversity that is these aforementioned communities, the Center for the Arts is a welcome site in this quintessential suburbia. http://bedfordgallery.org/ read more

I love this little gallery in Walnut Creek which gives classes as well as providing people with a chance to see some very interesting art. I've never seen a boring exhibit there, and enjoy bringing students to see them. read more

The Bedford gallery is a smart art gallery in the lecture Center for the Arts. The admission is $5 for adults, $3 for years, and free for children under 12. They do occasional art walks through walnut creek and have a special 100 years display up in the fall of 2014. read more

Horrible that's all I can say right now, We drove all the way because Tuesday's you can get in the Gallery free the first Tuesday of every month for this year, So we drive all the way get there and walk in and we don't see anything we go to a receptionist and he tells us they aren't part of the same thing ( Guess there are different sections so they have different people in charge, So we go to The area and it says they are close so then we go to the top floor and speak with the receptionist there and she says they aren't part of it as well, So no one new anything finally we find someone ask her and she says they are closed till June twenty second ,They never had it in the paper we had gotten never said it on the Website we where so excited to come here I have never been to a museum I love art and was so happy to go and to drive all the way we were so disappointed, We checked the website we looked at hours nothing was said that they were closed , I would say what was our fault is we should have called but nothing seemed amiss so we didn't think anything was wrong, We were able to see two pieces of art at least, Overall we will go again to give a second chance but we will call. read more

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First Tuesday of the month happens to be.............FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! So...I went this month for the first time ever, guess how much I paid? Nothing!!! So, yes, first Tuesday of the month is FREEEEEEEEEEE. I was really looking forward to the Lego exhibit which will be there until the 20th of this month if I remember correctly. This Lego artwork is amazing!!!! I highly reccomend going...I'm sure I'll be going to the exhibit next month for FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE. I've never seen, in person, artwork from Lego's. The kind of artwork I do is landscape photography...Again...I highly reccomend coming here...when I was there, some parents came with there kids, then it got noisy..and that was bothering me...time to leave...I'll be back!!! read more