Join us in NIAD’s Galleries to celebrate the spirit of community activism and creative energy of Richmond High School and NIAD Art Center artists! Richmond Artists Activate! centers artists as agents for lasting social change and leaders in the Richmond community. Read More …
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 …
About the exhibition The invitation to curate this exhibition initially felt like an insurmountable task. The amount of work I felt thrilled by on a first look at the archive seemed impossible to winnow down. I immediately knew I didn’t want to use some contrived academic framework for decision making. I wanted to create an exhibition of works that I just couldn’t shake, a group of things that struck that deep internal chord which has no words or explanation. I decided that I would make an initial large list of things I was drawn to, and then revisit those lists repeatedly over several weeks, seeing what remained stuck in Read More …
About the exhibition Being brought up in a culture oriented towards consumption, self-gratification, and self-fulfillment, one learns not only what to desire but how to desire, where to situate one’s desire in relation to the self, all desire’s dimensions. The goal of this hegemonic cultural project is to eventually make one lose the sense of self beyond that desire, and be left with nothing but desire. “What I want” and “who I am” become one, and the cultural program, determining what these desires are, can control our sense of ourselves. There are many ways of dealing with this predicament, from Read More …
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 …
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 …
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 …
About the exhibition Have you ever met somebody whose emotions are so big they seem to fill up a room? These wonderful drawings remind me of those passionate people. Each subject fills their piece of paper with their emotions. Whether joyful, calm or anxious, their feelings permeate their faces, their bodies and even the spaces around them. Even when the backgrounds are empty, they are empty in ways that amplify the subjects’ inner states. I don’t know these artists, so I can’t ask what they meant to say. But it’s art, so we each get to make up whatever Read More …
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 …
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 …
About the exhibition Warming A selection of works that embrace imperfect elements and subtle beauty found in nature. We can envision the artists admiring the natural world and what they love about it. Each work is met with a delicate thoughtful touch that can transcend beyond the page. The same mindset can be found in making sustainable choices that better people and the planet. About the selector Good Buy Supply is Philadelphia’s first retail store dedicated to plastic-free alternatives for everyday life. Located in the grand, independent business community of East Passyunk Avenue, Good Buy Supply boasts a large selection Read More …
About the exhibition When going through the NIAD archives, I was struck by a number of works that pair text with image in ways that shift language and illustration from a familiar, functional use to something more expansive. I access a similar experience of forming unexpected and generative correlations when I observe my sensations through movement. For this online series, I selected works that opened up my thinking about language and sensory experience. About the selector Nicole is a current MFA candidate at San Francisco State University and has exhibited in Bay Area spaces such as Southern Exposure, Wolfman Books, Read More …
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 …
As the song goes… “It’s astounding; Time is fleeting; Madness takes its toll But listen closely… Not for very much longer I’ve got to keep control… Let’s Do the Time Warp Again!” View and enjoy the exhibition.