Halisi Noel-Johnson

painting of famous painters titled "Normal is Boring"

“Rainbow Cat Picnic” organized by Cynthia Ona Innis

About the Exhibition The title of this exhibition comes from a piece included in the show, Dorian Reid’s Rainbow Cat Picnic.  In Rainbow Cat Picnic, numerous cats are joyously picnic-ing under a big colorful rainbow in what looks to be a very festive occasion.  There may be rain but that rainbow safely covers the cats and their food bowls. The sun is just coming out and those cats are really having a good time! The mixed media works in this show are my Rainbow Cat Picnic–20+ pieces representing an inspiring and colorful excursion to a place of creative nourishment and a celebration as a Read More …

“Search Engine”, organized by Diego Leclery (online exhibition)

This exhibition is about transcendent forms. I looked through all of NIAD’s archives to find works that conveyed something beyond this world, something magical, something that emanates a powerful force. In some cases, geometries tap into universal formulae, in others, abstract gestural strokes become vessels for cosmic frequencies from another dimension, forms that are reduced and simplified into symbols tho speak the divine names of the essences invoke those they cannot contain. I was looking for works that felt timeless, and, perhaps, even, beyond culture.

A graphic promoting an exhibition. Below a row of black cutout star shapes, centered at the top of the image, in exuberant black text that has a hand-cut feel, are the words “Feeling Language” in all caps. Below that in a smaller size, the words “organized by Kate Laster”. In the left half of the graphic, a page from a book with swirling patterns is covered with ten rows of the handwritten phrase “You Are Here,” hand written in a beige cursive font in all caps. The name “Mitsuko Brooks” appears to the left. In the same font, a column on the right lists the artists participating in the exhibition. Each word is separated by a diamond or a star shape

NIAD Gallery Exhibition // “Feeling Language,” organized by Kate Laster

This show is all about comfort text: resilience in everyday words, writing and reading. Expression can also be wordless, the use of line and color as new vocabulary, pushing a thought out onto a surface, making marks and continuously trying to communicate with the world.

We tell stories to sustain ourselves and find each other. These messages embedded in art become an emotional telegram– a signal flare with a flame of memory trailing behind it. “Feeling Language” is about books, lists, slogans, language, gesture, touch and the trust given in sharing. Read More …

NIAD Online Exhibition // “Luxe, calme, et volupté,” selected by Lou Mo

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About the exhibition Henri Matisse painted Luxe, calme, et volupté more than a hundred years ago. Today, the vibrantly coloured Fauvist painting keeps instilling a sense of warmth and repose. Luxury, peace and pleasure indeed. At the moment, many of us may not be feeling at ease. To state the obvious, there’s an unfinished pandemic and a war raging once again in Europe. These are difficult times and many futures seem possible. Times are trying. Change and anxiety cannot be avoided.  Very often, the extra toiling accumulates upon the female and/or racialized body. Labor and care, both physical and emotional, are often Read More …

installation view of the Art of the African Diaspora at Richmond Art Center

Off-Site Exhibition // NIAD Artists in “Art of the African Diaspora 2022” at Richmond Art Center

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January 20 – March 19, 2022 About the exhibition Art of the African Diaspora, in partnership with Richmond Art Center, supports artists of African descent in the Bay Area through representation, professional development, and building a creative community. In 2022 we are celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Bay Area Black Artists Exhibition at Richmond Art Center! Over 100 artists of African descent will showcase their work at Richmond Art Center, as well as in open studios and satellite exhibitions at different venues across the Bay Area. NIAD Artists in the Exhibition Halisi Noel-Johnson Thomas Harden Raven Harper Kiesha White Shawna Read More …

A graphic of a collection of artworks included in the holiday gift guide. arranged in a grid.

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

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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 …

A screenprint portrait by NIAD studio artist Raven Harper in red ink of a female figure from the shoulders up. The words at the bottom of the print read "Rosa Parks".

Online Exhibition: “Super Powers” organized by Aubrey Ingmar Manson

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About the exhibition   As artists, we all have super powers. We can say what we feel and build worlds out of nothing. We can demand change and speak out about injustices. We can protest for our rights, freedoms, and share with others our views. It is the outside world viewed through the artist’s lens. Our powers are both inside and outside of us. Who among us will stand up for what they believe in? Who among us will help out? Who among us has a vision? Who among us desires change and progress? And who among us will do Read More …

Special Exhibition: SFMOMA x NIAD MiNi Mural Gallery

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About the gallery The NIAD MiNi Gallery is a collection of work that showcases the diversity of NIAD’s studio artists in material and form, featuring the artists who contributed to the SFMOMA MiNi Mural Project. About the event From the SFMOMA website: In 1940, more than sixty-five artists made their creative processes public when they participated in Art in Action, an exhibition of live art making conceived by architect Timothy L. Pfleuger as part of the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. Among these artists was Diego Rivera, who during this time painted the mural Pan American Unity, which Read More …

Untitled (D0897) by Julie MacDonald graphite on woven paper 13 x 19” unique 2019. Row after row of small squares, each divided into four bright triangles, stacked up across the picture plane to form an optical dance (perhaps more of a march?) of color.

Online Exhibition: Holding the Line, organized by jill moniz

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About the exhibition The works in this exhibition use the line to suggest form and meaning. Whether as a solid object or a mere suggestion, the line elicits connections beyond formalism, and resonates with transformative power. The synchronicity between what is made and what is felt enriches the experience with the visual languages offered here. Together, these works tell a story with line, color and form about the pleasure, diversity and complexity born from simple materials that should be required reading. About the organizer  jill moniz is an independent curator of visual narratives. She shares her vision of empowering visual Read More …

Untitled (D0653) mixed media on paper by NIAD studio artist Erica Martinez. image description: a bright magenta feather shape with black ink details on a light yellow background.

Online Exhibition: 20 Continuous Lines, selected by Veronica DeJesus

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About the exhibition 20 continuous linesCommunicationConnectionsRelationshipsModel MakingCirclesFriendsFamilyGrounding StonesVacationsFinding BalanceSeeing things throughColors open up our perspectivesFinding peace and harmonyEVEN through hard shiftsBREATHE WORKPRAYER WORKPERSPECTIVE WORKlaying in a fieldFeeling connected to your purposeHaving your inner light turned on from within About the selector Veronica DeJesus is a visual artist currently living and working in Los Angeles. She was raised in Miami, LA, Oakland and on the open road along Highway 10. Veronica has had numerous solo shows at galleries in New York, Atlanta, and San Francisco, including her remarkable exhibition of Memorial drawings at The Berkeley Art Museum. Her work has been featured Read More …

Online Exhibition: Faces In The Crowd, selected By Elizabeth Lalley

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View the show. About the exhibition In her essay “Joy,” Zadie Smith divulges that a source of her daily pleasure in life is, very simply, “other people’s faces.” Beyond the surface of appearance, Smith alludes to the private lives, anxieties, triumphs, and toils she imagines in others—strangers she passes on the street or sits beside on the bus, for instance. Her projections are fictions, but they are a continual exercise in empathy, imagination, and compassion nonetheless.   I think of Smith’s essay often, passing days in the anonymity and excitement that life lived among others, in public space, can shape. Read More …

Online Exhibition: Hands Up, Don’t Shoot! (The Fed Up/ Can’t Take It Anymore Remix), Selected By Jennifer McCoy//

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Six years ago, yes, six years ago. That is how long ago we posted this online show organized by St Louis resident Jennifer McCoy. It was in response to events that happened in her city and were happening across the nation: the killing of unarmed Black men. More than a half-decade later, nothing has changed and more lives have been lost under the boots of and at the hands of brutal police officers. A number of works have sold since then and she’s updated the show with a few new pieces that are relevant to this moment. A portion of Read More …