NIAD Goes Remote!

Dear NIAD Community,  We have made the decision to return to Virtual programming and remote work at NIAD for now. This was not an easy decision, but because we are committed to the health and safety of everyone in the NIAD community, we will remain in the Virtual Studio until we begin to see the most recent national wave of COVID cases decrease. Fortunately our Virtual Studio is a robust creative environment for artists to make work, and staff are prepared to be in contact with all of our studio artists to support their continued practices.  We are thankful for the Read More …

Welcome Rebecca Teague and Maria Yates!

NIAD Adds Two Members to the Win Win 10 Event Team Excitement for NIAD’s 40th Anniversary year and our upcoming Win Win 10 Benefit Auction is building,  and we’re thrilled to welcome two new members to the NIAD team who will take our fundraising game to the next level. Rebecca Teague, Win Win 10 Event Director Rebecca Teague was born in Washington DC, raised in Chicago, IL and has lived in places as exotic as St Paul, MN and Ann Arbor, MI and now resides in Woodacre, CA. Educated in textiles and then photography at SFAI and SF Academy of Art. Read More …

A Year Through the Windows // NIAD’s 2021 Windows Exhibitions (online exhibition)

About the collection NIAD’s Windows Exhibitions are a pandemic-era innovation, born out of the necessity to see art, and for art to be seen, that continued unabated during lockdown. Way back in July 2020 Amanda announced in The Latest, “Starting now, each month we will add new exhibitions to NIAD’s street-side windows, selected by local artists, curators and NIAD community members… Interested audiences can now drive by, take a stroll past our windows, or get in touch with us directly to arrange for sales or more information on art and artists.” Many thanks to NIAD Gallery Director Julio Rodriguez, the deft facilitator Read More …

Win Win 10 Sneak Preview, collected by Isabel Xilonen Ortiz (online exhibition)

Our final NIAD Gift Guide of the season doubles as a sneak peek into what’s in store for you at Win Win 10, NIAD’s Annual Benefit Fundraiser coming up on Saturday March 5, 2022! Isabel X. Ortiz from NIAD’s fundraising team describes the NIAD artworks that inspired her Win Win 10 Sneak Preview collection… About the collection I curated this collection with all the game-lovers and risk-takers in mind. It’s for the artists who are pushing their own creative boundaries. It’s for the innovators who are thinking of their next passion project. It’s for the people who like to spice up their homes with Read More …

NIAD Windows Exhibition // “Menagerie on 23rd Street” selected by Prajakti Jayavant

About the exhibition The exhibition windows of NIAD on 23rd street are wildly overstuffed this holiday season. Amongst a backdrop of drawings that are doodled and dotted emerge a collection of creatures that are striped and spotted. This menagerie includes an assortment of tickles and roars from the furriest felines to amphibians galore. At daybreak, dapper penguins appear as mischievous musketeers, parading their way through showers of shapes. Marsupials, with pocketfuls of petunias, patiently postpone their leaping while snails slowly scribe a chalk hopscotch design. By midday, squirrels engage in patterns of play by using their tails as paintbrushes to carry Read More …

NIAD x Mills // MCAM Acquires 14 Works by NIAD Artists

We are thrilled to announce that fourteen artworks by NIAD studio artists Heather Hamann, Shana Harper, Serena Scott, and Jonathan Velazquez have been acquired by the Mills College Art Museum as part of a newly launched student acquisition project to help diversify the museum’s collection Full Press Release: Mills College Art Museum is pleased to announce the acquisition of 14 works of art by contemporary artists associated with NIAD Art Center in Richmond, California: Heather Hamann, Shana Harper, Serena Scott, and Jonathan Velazquez. These additions to MCAM’s collection are part of a newly launched student acquisition project to identity, research, Read More …

NIAD x SFMOMA // 2021 Small Press Book Bazaar

NIAD is thrilled to be participating in the 2021 Small Press Book Bazaar at SFMOMA! We’ll be rounding up a bevy of beautiful books, zines, t-shirts and other ephemera for NIAD’s table. We’ll be there alongside an amazing roster of small Bay Area presses. We hope to see you there! Event details: Thursday December 2 1-8pm Schwab Hall, Floor 2 SFMOMA / 151 Third Street / San Francisco Free and open to the public; museum admission is not required. From the SFMOMA website: This holiday season, support the Bay Area creative community by shopping this special pop-up sale with local Read More …

NIAD Holiday Gift Guide #5, collected by Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh

About the collection Gift-giving can be so tricky! It can be hard to know if someone has an item already, if it will be useful, or if it’s something that maybe you like instead of the recipient.  When I choose a gift for someone, I try to focus on their interests or recent big events in their life  – did they just move into a new home? Are they always dressed to the nines? Do they love sending videos about cute animals?  I curated this shopping guide with those friends in mind, so whether you are buying a gift for your new Read More …

NIAD x Christie’s // Future History: The Katz Legacy

An exhibition of NIAD artists at Christie’s San Francisco We’re thrilled to be a part of “Future History: The Katz Legacy”, an exhibition at Christie’s San Francisco on view December 2-9. NIAD studio artists Dorian Reid (courtesy of Kapp Kapp Gallery), Shana Harper, Jeremy Burleson, Sam Gant, Felicia Griffin, Tre’von Silva, and Shantae Robinson will represent NIAD in the show, and we’re honored to share the space with incredible artists from our sister studios Creative Growth and Creativity Explored. Do you know about the Katzes? They’re an innovative, awe-inspiring couple – artist and art educator Florence Ludins-Katz,  and her husband psychologist Dr. Elias Read More …

NIAD Holiday Gift Guide #4: “SISTER SISTER” collected by Amanda and Sarah Eicher

About “SISTER SISTER” Some people think we look alike; others think our voices sound the same, and still others mistake us for each other – but do we have the same taste?  We definitely swapped clothes, jewelry, sneakers, and a few items we argued over as tiny pups in the world.In this selection, I tried to choose for my sister a few of the things I think she might have borrowed from my childhood bedroom – or that I’d want to borrow from hers. (Unsurprisingly, we chose a few of the same items the first time around!) As the younger sibling, I Read More …

NIAD Holiday Gift Guide #3: “The Zindel Collection” collection by Bill

About “The Zindel Collection” collection The items in this Holiday Gift Guide are perfect for your friend or family member who: 1. loves handsome dudes and fall colors. Mireya Betances, Two Dudes ceramic 13x7x2″ 2. admires intelligence, integrity, and dedication. Raven Harper, MLK T-shirt hand silk-screened, 100% cotton  3. dreams of living in a strawberry. Heather Hamann, Untitled  mixed media on paper 12×18″ 4. loves swamp creatures.  Saul Alegria, Untitled ceramic 13x10x2″ 5. loves alien swamp creatures.  Saul Alegria, Untitled acrylic on paper 30×22“ 6. likes laughing, and ponies on the freeway. Nathan Lam, Bad Traffic Sign  graphite on paper, Read More …

NIAD Holiday Gift Guide #2: “The Color of Happiness” collection by Rebecca Jantzen

About “The Color of Happiness” collection “It was hard picking out [the collection] because there’s so many different styles and mediums. The happiness feeling is what they all have in common. People should buy art because it will make them feel happy!” About Rebecca Jantzen, the collector “I describe myself as visually impaired and learning disabled. I am a socially engaged artist who loves her art work. I love holidays and I like to make cards for special occasions. I like to draw things that brighten up my spirit and the day; images of peace, love and happiness. One of the reasons Read More …

NIAD Windows Exhibition: “Con Los Animales Estamos Conectados,” selected by Christo Oropeza

About the exhibition:  I recently became a dog father of a small two-month-old puppy.  Over the months after his arrival, I have learned so much about myself through him: patience, being present in the moment, not holding people in time and space, and unconditional love.  I had no idea that this was the relationship that would be built between him and I, and it has rocked-my-socks off because of how much of a connection has and continues to develop.    Having worked with NIAD artists at SFMOMA’s Mini Mural Festival in the Summer of 2021, I was excited to do an Read More …

NIAD Holiday Gift Guide #1: “Mixed Media” collection by Samantha Kershnar

We are thrilled to kick off our NIAD Holiday Gift Guide series! Every week we’ll have a fresh collection of artwork from NIAD’s dazzlingly diverse inventory – paintings, afghan blankets, coloring books, planters, posters, necklaces, music, t-shirts, wallhangings, prints, greeting cards, zines, soft sculptures, ceramics, and more. And it’s all lovingly hand-picked by the art aficionados who know it best – NIAD studio artists and staff. Enjoy!   About the “Mixed Media” collection “Holidays bring family together. You remember people who aren’t with you. When you look at the gifts, they should make you think about the good times you Read More …

Online Exhibition: “Stories” selected by B. Wurtz

About the Exhibition For this exhibition for NIAD I didn’t want to overthink the process. I decided to begin by going through all the available art and to notice things that kind of jumped out at me. I viewed everything one time and then went back a second time to select artworks. As I viewed the first group of selections I tried to see connections between the works. I noticed that there seemed to be a theme in many of the works that I would describe as being of a narrative nature. I am talking about implied narratives, nothing really Read More …

RSVP for Thirsty Tuesday

Join us online from 6-7:00 PM PT, Tuesday November 9! NIAD Gallery Manager Julio Rodriguez will walk us through the November Windows Exhibition with curator and Director/Co-Founder of Incline Gallery Christo Oropeza. Tune in and you can meet friendly NIAD artists, studio facilitators, community members, and chat with the artists in the exhibition about their work! About Thirsty Thursday Hosted by Julio Rodriguez, NIAD’s Gallery Manager, Thirsty Thursday is our new event series bringing together artists and curators with interested people like you. Admission is free, but you must register to receive the Zoom link. 

Dorrie Reid’s “Evening With Jane Goodall”

Yes, that’s NIAD Studio Artist Dorrie Reid participating in a Q&A session with Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace! Dorrie was invited to participate in the event by the Walt Disney Family Museum as part of a fundraiser for their arts and animation education programs. Anyone who knows Dorrie’s work – animals, advocacy, social and environmental justice are common themes – would agree that she and Dr. Goodall have much to talk about. Their interaction moved Dorrie to make a statement that she intends to send to Dr. Goodall: Dear Jane Read More …

Online Exhibition: “Memory” organized by Ling Shang

About the Exhibition Memory can be buried deep in our mind. It emerges at a quiet moment, when looking through a window on a peaceful afternoon, or while mixing in a noisy crowd. Memory can come in colors, in detail, or totally abstract. Powerful, but impossible to describe in words.The selected works can be any part in our memories: those sweet, lonely, joyful, silly, bitter, innocent, or nonsensical moments. About the Organizer Born in Beijing, my understanding and sense on art come from the rich memories of the seemingly long past and my present life in lively everyday reality. My Read More …