“Root Connection: 20 Years of the Patti Smith Collection” at the Mills College Art Museum and the F.W. Olin Library, Oakland, through December 11

The Mills College Art Museum presents, “Root Connection: 20 Years of the Patti Smith Collection,” an exhibition of rare materials from the Special Collections of the F.W. Olin Library, also at Mills College.

Patti Smith, (1970) by Linda Smith Bianucci. Courtesy of The Patti Smith Collection, F.W. Olin Library, Mills College

Co-curated by Dr. Stephanie Hanor, Mills College Art museum director, Janice Braun, library director and special collections curator at the F.W. Olin Library, and Robert Byler, collector and Smith donor, the exhibit takes place at both the museum and in the Heller Room of the library. 

The show includes photographs featuring Smith, as well as those taken by her, music, recordings, poetry, publications and ephemera, which demonstrate the range of Smith’s experimentation and talents as an artist.

Patti Smith prom photograph. Courtesy of The Patti Smith Collection, F.W. Olin Library, Mills College

Visitors can hear Smith’s readings and music at listening stations, see personal items including a prom photo, concert announcements, album art, broadsides and international versions of her published works. There's also a screening room showing short films in which Smith introduces the people, places and cultural moments—such as Robert Frank and New York’s punk scene in the ‘70s—that rouse and inform her practice.

Patti Smith at the Palladium, New York, (1976) by Mario F. Monti. Courtesy of The Patti Smith Collection, F.W. Olin Library, Mills College. 

Through December 11. Mills College Art Museum, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. (510) 430-2164, www.mcam.mills.edu. Hours: 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday and 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Wednesday. Admission is free for all exhibitions and programs unless noted.