Author: NIAD Art Center

Untitled (D3643) Luis Estrada

Online Exhibition: MIND MAPPING, selected by Minoosh Zomorodinia

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About the exhibition I’m interested in recording time and space, so I selected works that visualize and explore everyday thinking.   Why tracking TIME?How is the WEATHER?What do you think of EVERYDAY?How much is a new CAR? About the selector Minoosh Zomorodinia is an Iranian-born interdisciplinary artist who makes visible the emotional and psychological reflections of her mind’s eye inspired by nature. She employs walking as a catalyst to reference the power of technology as a colonial structure while negotiating boundaries of lands.

Thirsty Thursday Logo - a blue drop of water with "Th2" superimposed at the bottom and "Thirsty Thursday" underneath

Online Event: Thirsty Thursday – July 8

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Join us online from 6-7 PM PT, Thursday July 8th! We’ll welcome Nan Collymore and Celia Lesh in conversation about organizing this month’s NIAD Windows Exhibition, Soft Material. Our guest speakers will share some insight on how this collaborative project came to be. You could have the opportunity to meet and talk with participating artists from NIAD, Creative Growth, and Elbow Room: Deatra Colbert, Shantae Robinson, Raven Harper, Gail Lewis, Sherrie Aradanis, Elmeater Morton, and Ricky Bearghost. 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 Read More …

NIAD Windows Exhibition: Soft Material, Organized by Nan Collymore and Celia Lesh

NIAD Windows Exhibition: Soft Material, selected by Nan Collymore & Celia Lesh

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

About the exhibition Soft Material is a collaborative garment construction project, between artists who have an interest in and connection with what one might call fashion and textiles, and what can also be understood as the corporeal, the body and performativity. Soft Material supports and connects artists living with disabilities whose communal studio programs have been severely interrupted by the pandemic. The project was born out of an interest in proposing a model for generating clothes reciprocally, with many voices and a disregard for efficiency.     About the organizers   Nan Collymore makes work that is tactile and continuous—as though Read More …

Flowers in NIAD's garden

Be a NIAD Garden Volunteer – June 26

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Help tidy NIAD’s garden this weekend – in our first volunteer opportunity this year! You’ll cut and deadhead flowers and take home a bouquet! We’ll provide the pastries and gardening gloves. No need to RSVP. Have a question? Email Amanda. NIAD Garden TidyingSaturday, June 2610 AM-Noon551 23rd StreetRichmond, California 94804 * Please wear a mask, even if you’re vaccinated.

Untitled (D8221), Samantha Kershnar.

Online Exhibition: Serotonin Ping, selected by Zoë Taleporos

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About the exhibition   Serotonin Ping is a collection of images that aspire to elicit feelings of well-being, stability, and happiness. Pets, food, inside jokes, oddities, simple statements – these are the things that cheer me up. Hopefully this show makes someone else crack a smile. About the selector Zoë Taleporos is a curator, arts administrator, and writer based in Oakland. She currently works as a Public Art Project Manager at the San Francisco Arts Commission where she is involved in commissioning a wide range of artworks for public spaces.

Summer Tune Favorite 2021 Spotify Playlist by Jean McElvane

Summer Tune Favorites 2021 playlist by Jean McElvane

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NIAD Studio Artist, Jean McElvane, created a new Spotify playlist for us to celebrate summer! Songs include: “Summer Breeze,” Seals and Crofts “Summertime Blues,” Eddie Cochran “In the Summertime,” Mungo Jerry “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” Sly & The Family Stone “Summer Day,” Sheryl Crow “Summer,” War “Summer Madness, Kool & The Gang “Summertime,” DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince “Summer Rain,” Johnny Rivers “Heatwave,” Martha Reeves & The Vandellas “Summer’s Daughter,” The 5th Dimension “Summertime,” Billy Steward “Summer in the City,” The Lovin’ Spoonful “Cruel Summer,” Bananarama “Sunny Afternoon,” The Kinks “Summer Nights” from Grease,” John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John Read More …

NIAD artists in our courtyard working on sketches for SFMOMA's Mini Mural Festival. Top row: Luis Estrada, Esmeralda Silva, Miguel Chacon. Circle: Jonathan Valdivias. Bottom row: Julio Del Rio, Deatra Colbert, Christian Vassell's sketches.

Online Event: SFMOMA Mini Mural Festival Kickoff – June 24

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NIAD is one of three organizations commissioned by SFMOMA to contribute murals to its Mini Mural Festival this summer. During this special online kickoff event, Acción Latina, NIAD, and SOMA Pilipinas will discuss our organizations’ work and missions. Then, the artists will reveal their mural designs for the first time. Don’t miss this special preview! SFMOMA Mini Mural Festival Kickoff (online)Thursday, June 24th, 5:30 PM PTRSVP today! Image: NIAD artists in our courtyard working on sketches for SFMOMA’s Mini Mural Festival. Top row: Luis Estrada, Esmeralda Silva, Miguel Chacon. Circle: Jonathan Valdivias. Bottom row: Julio Del Rio, Deatra Colbert, Christian Vassell’s sketches.

Poster for Small Business Development Workshop for Richmond-Based Artists

Online Event: Small Business Development Workshop for Richmond-Based Artists – June 23

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NIAD and Richmond Main Street Initiative (RMSI) are excited to present an online Small Business Development Workshop for Richmond-Based Artists on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 from 1-2:30 PM PT. Demetri Broxton, Senior Director of Education at the Museum of the African Diaspora, will be the featured speaker. There’s no fee to attend the workshop, but you must register to receive the Zoom link.   Sign up today! This workshop is supported by the Richmond Arts and Culture Commission’s Neighborhood Public Art Program.

Untitled (D8628), Saul Alegria.

Online Exhibition: Perfect Memory, selected by Justin Clifford Rhody

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About the exhibition “Our relationship with reality and life is that same relationship that exists between the satellite image and the actual earth.”  – Luigi Ghirri   “Our engagement with the picture, our questioning of it, shapes and defines the ways we draw meanings from it. Pictures tell stories only to the extent that we ask them to; and as our questions change, those stories do as well.”   – Martha A. Sandweiss About the selector Justin Clifford Rhody is an artist working in photography, filmmaking and sound. He currently lives in New Mexico with his partner and frequent collaborator Abigail Read More …

Untitled (D3615), Eddie Braught.

Online Exhibition: Group Chat, selected by Kate Rhoades & Katy Kondo

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About the exhibition Since we’re curating this show as a duo, we were drawn to work that deals with collaboration and togetherness. In the last year as we’ve been isolated from our larger communities, we have also been deeply entangled with the few people in our bubble. In this exhibition we present works that were produced through collaboration with those long gone, like Karen May’s Untitled which responds to Man Ray’s Larmes (Tears). We also included works considering groups, like the stoic duck couple in Danny Thach’s Untitled. With our social spheres out of whack, these artists have given us new ways to think about being Read More …

Thirsty Thursday Logo

Online Event: Thirsty Thursday with Max Kauffman – June 10

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Join us online from 6-7 PM on Thursday June 10! We’ll welcome Max Kauffman in conversation about curating this month’s NIAD Windows Exhibition, Adornment. Our guest speaker will share some insight on how they selected the artworks in the show, and quite possibly show and discuss their own artworks and practice. 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. 

Untitled (S0912) Samantha Kershnar

NIAD Windows Exhibition: Adornment, selected by Max Kauffman

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About the exhibition These ten artists imbue spirit into everyday objects. Facets of daily life become abstract through their methods; quilts, photographs, clay and paper become magical things through the power of repetition. The rituals of home and comfort are elevated through spiritual fulfillment. The love bestowed upon these items reveals itself. Not merely beauty, these things serve a purpose. They emanate joy, a sense of peace, and a hope of understanding one another. About the selector Max Kauffman   Meet the selector (virtually) at Thirsty Thursday, June 10, 6-7pm PT. View the exhibition.View Untitled (S0912), Samantha Kershnar.

Untitled (D9706), Karen May

Online Exhibition: Bookends, selected by Ellen Lake

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About the exhibition   Bookend (plural bookends) A heavy object or moveable support placed at one or both ends of a row of books for the purpose of keeping them upright. … one of two things occurring or located at either end of something else. For this exhibition the ceramic works of Ann Meade and Saul Alegria are the supports holding together a shelf full of treasures by NIAD artists.   About the selector Ellen Lake is an interdisciplinary artist living in Oakland, California. Her work experiments with technology, explores archives and collections, returns time and again to painting and process, and ranges Read More …

Quilt (F1343) by Ann Meade

Online Exhibition: Cat Waterfall: Artist of the Month Series, selected by Ann Meade

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About the exhibition: “Lots of workshops and places have employee of the month, and so I thought it’d be great if NIAD had ‘Artist of the Month.’ That’s how I came up with the idea for this tradition. First I picked my quilt. It has baseball players and cats. The way I made it makes it go with the other pieces in this show. I went through the pages of my work and looked for the most colorful things.”  – Ann Meade We are thrilled to present the following collection based on an AOM installation directed by Ann Meade! Ann pitched Read More …

A vertical sheet of white paper with hand painted black text. The text fills the entire page and is stacked vertically with each word representing one layer of the stack. The text reads from top to bottom: “Purple Barbara horse white.” The only word split into two layers is Barbara, with the last two letters painted under the first 5, that is: “Barba” followed underneath by “ra”. There are a few splotches of black ink around the letters.

Online Exhibition: Purple Barbara, selected by Richard Zimmerman

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About the Exhibition The works in this exhibition move fluidly between letters, lines, texts, figures, signs, symbols, and a multitude of other forms both abstract and representational. I was drawn to these works primarily for the artists’ use of line, space, and color. Upon sustained viewing of the works (alone and together), I was struck by the echoing forms and energies that emerged within and between the works in the exhibition. About the Selector Richard Zimmerman is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans various media, including sculpture, photography, sound, and drawing. His work explores the intersection of subjectivity and the Read More …

Header of Jean's Mother's Day Spotify Playlist

Mother’s Day Spotify Playlist by Jean McElvane

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NIAD Studio Artist, Jean McElvane, has created a fabulous Mother’s Day Spotify playlist. Even though the holiday has passed, shouldn’t we celebrate mothers every day? Songs include: “If Mama Was Married,” Gypsy, Ann Jillian and Natalie Wood “Mama Didn’t Lie Jen,” Bradley “Mama Said,” The Shirelles “Mama Used to Say,” Junior “Mama Told Me (Not to Come),” Three Dog Night “Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean,” Ruth Brown “I’ll Always Love My Mama,” The Intruders “Mama’s Pearl,” The Jackson 5 “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” Loggins and Messina “Mama Can’t Buy You Love,” Elton John “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” Read More …

Thirsty Thursday Logo

Online Event: Thirsty Thursday with Make-and-Take Workshop

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Join us for Thirsty Thursday on May 13 from 6-7:30 PM PT for a virtual art-making workshop and conversation with the selected artists from the Art In Windows 2021 exhibition.  You’ll have the opportunity to meet and talk with all of the participating artists: Mireya Betances, Eddie Braught, Sarah Waite Chase, Deatra Colbert, Robin D. Lopez, Elmarise Owens, Esmeralda Silva, and Karin Turner. The first 25 people who RSVP (and live in the Bay Area) will receive a make-and-take art workshop kit. The kit includes some of materials the artists used to create their artwork. Planning to tune in from outside Read More …

New Windows Exhibition: Art In Windows, organized by NIAD + Richmond Main Street Initiative

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About the exhibition Art In Windows, the annual storefront exhibitions program pioneered by Richmond Main Street Initiative, returns this year through a pilot collaboration with NIAD Art Center. Funded by the Richmond Arts and Culture Commission’s Neighborhood Public Arts Mini-Grant, the collaboration includes two exhibitions in Downtown Richmond windows, a free online opening reception (featuring participating artists and family-friendly workshop kits to accompany the exhibition), and a small business development workshop in June for up to 25 artists. In March, the Art in Windows call for artists resulted in 34 submissions from 26 artists. Running from May 1–22, 2021, Art In Read More …

A watercolor scene with two figures standing in front of a gingerbread castle surrounded by green trees, against a blue sky.

Online Exhibition: Forest Of Fantasy, selected by Bessie Kunath

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About the exhibition This collection of objects and images meanders through the enchanted woods on a gothic quest steered by good and evil forces. The trees seem to come to life and the ground beneath is wrought with ancient Druidic wisdom. Go forth and may your travels be prosperous, meaningful and enlightening. About the selector Bessie Kunath (b. 1981, Orange, CA) is an artist and curator who lives in Cleveland, Ohio where she currently works as a nurse at the Cleveland Clinic. She has formerly worked at Creativity Explored in San Francisco and at ECF Art Centers in Los Angeles, CA. Read More …