Sunday, December 4, 2022, 10am-5pm | Free Entry Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond More info: richmondartcenter.org/haf
Unique, Handmade Gifts by Over 50 Local Arts & Crafts Vendors
Famous Ceramics Studio Sale
Free Art Activities to DIY Your Own Cards and Gift Wrap Paper
Community Partner Pop-Ups
Raffle, Food and Drinks, and More!
Schedule / Important Dates
Vendor Set Up: Saturday, December 3, 10am to 5pm
Holiday Arts Festival: Sunday, December 4, 10am to 5pm
Vendor Deinstall: Sunday, December 4, 5pm to 6:30pm
Participating in the Holiday Arts Festival
Richmond Art Center provides:
Vendor contract
Table (covered in white paper)
Chair/s
Vendor/Participant sign
Wall space (as requested/as available)
Electrical outlet (as requested/as available)
Online vendor listing (see Arts and Crafts Hub below)
Set-Up, Vendor Hours, Load-In/Out Information:
Set-Up: Saturday, December 3 from 10am to 5pm OR Sunday, December 4 from 9am to 10am (if extra time needed)
Parking and Load-In: The large parking lot at 25th Street is always available (across the street from Richmond Art Center). Enter RAC from either the 25th Street entrance (top of loading ramp) or the Barrett Avenue entrance (front door). We will have a couple of carts available.
Holiday Arts Festival: Sunday, December 4, 10am to 5pm (Doors open for vendors to arrive at 9am. The public hours are 10am to 5pm.)
Load-Out: Sunday, December 4, 5pm to 6:30pm (All items must be removed on Sunday.)
Tables, Signage, Installation:
You will be provided a whole or half table as specified in our original agreement.
We will provide 2 chairs unless you specified one or none. We may not be able to provide you with additional chairs due to space limitations.
Tables will be covered with white paper.
You are welcome and encouraged to bring table coverings and cloths to drape your table. We cannot store items or packing materials for you. All items should be stored under your table if you need access to them.
Artisan Vendors will be in the Main, West, South and Community Galleries, and in the Paint Studio.
Signage indicating your table space will be on the wall or table so you can easily find your location.
If you requested wall space, you are welcome to hang art work and signage on the wall directly behind your vendor table. Please bring your own tools, hanging hardware as we will not be able to provide staff or tools. Remove all hardware, tapes, etc when you load-out. Richmond Art Center will patch and paint the walls.
Wifi:
Here is the login info for our WiFi (there are two potential hubs depending on your location):
We cannot guarantee flawless WiFi coverage and cannot anticipate bandwidth. We would suggest adding a hotspot to your cellphone if you will be processing payments via Square or Venmo. (Hot spots via your carrier can cost as little as $10 a month and can be cancelled at any time.)
We highly recommend vendors test their wifi connection and payment systems are working during set-up on Saturday, December 3.
Arts and Crafts Hub (online Listings)
Hosted on Richmond Art Center’s website, the Hub serves as a gateway for artists to share their work during the Holidays and direct folks to their online stores. CLICK HERE to see a sample Artist Listing.
Artists participating in the Arts and Crafts Hub will have the opportunity to preview and request edits to their listing.
Event Promotion
We invite event participants to help us spread the word about the Holiday Arts Festival:
Post or share a story on Instagram:
Tag: @RichmondArtCenter
Post on Facebook:
Tag: @Richmond Art Center
And don’t forget to link to the event webpage and your individual listing
Update your website:
Include information about special merchandise you’ll have at the Holiday Arts Festival
Email your friends and network:
Include the Holiday Arts Festival in your newsletter
Send special invites to your friends and supporters
Help distribute our printed materials (available for pick up at RAC – contact me to work out a good time to pick things up)
Ask a local business to display a HAF poster in their storefront
Drop off a stack of flyers to your local community gather spot
Deliver flyers to your neighbors
Promotional Graphic + Copy:
60th Annual Holiday Arts Festival
Sunday, December 4, 2022, 10am-5pm | Free Entry Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond More info: richmondartcenter.org/haf
Unique, Handmade Gifts by Over 50 Local Arts & Crafts Vendors
Famous Ceramics Studio Sale
Free Art Activities to DIY Your Own Cards and Gift Wrap Paper
Art of the African Diaspora Artistic Achievement Awardee Talk
Saturday, January 21, 12:30pm-1:30pm
Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA
FREE
Join us for a conversation with the artists who received Artistic Achievement Awards for their work in Art of the African Diaspora: Derrick Bell, Cynthia Brannvall, and Pryce Jones. The conversation will be facilitated by Ashleè Garrison.
Amid the drug store offerings of Halloween consumer goods, any Dia de los Muertos-themed item invariably sticks out.
Decorations featuring iconic skulls and cempasúchil marigolds, or candy branded with characters from Pixar’s film “Coco” speak to the growing commercialization of a holiday once outside of the corporate limelight.
But the holiday has more cultural significance in Mexico, where it orginated. And on Saturday, the Richmond Art Center will share that tradition with a Dia de los Muertos-themed Fall Family Day, featuring art, music, and even remote-controlled miniature low riders from the collection of Cruz Arroyo, who runs a popular tamale stand in Richmond.
Sandra Martinez and her children, Giuliana and Alejandro, make calavertias (Sasha Schell photos)
“There’s instances where I’ve seen somebody put on a Day of the Dead event, but it’s more of an entertainment program or event. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it misses the actual ancestral connections that are really important and really real,” said Roberto Martinez, exhibitions director at the Richmond Art Center. “I think it’s important to teach, to educate people about such an important cultural event.”
Martinez has worked closely with a number of local artists like Daniel Camacho and Ernesto Olmos, among others, to plan a day of festivities to inspire the anticipated 300 to 500 attendees.
Camacho, whose exhibition “De Fantasías y Realidades” is currently on display at the Richmond Art Center, will lead the day by setting up a community ofrenda in the main hallway. His calaveritas workshops will make the skulls that adorn the altar alongside offerings of food and objects brought by community members hoping to celebrate those they have lost.
“The idea is to share a bit about my culture. It’s a very important day in Mexico. I know people want to express their feeling about those who have passed,” said Camacho. “This brings families together. That’s the important thing.”
Daniel Camacho (wearing hat) leads a calaverita workshop for Dia de los Muertos. (Sasha Schell)
Ernesto Olmos, an artist and specialist in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican traditions, will give a presentation on the cosmology and history of Dia de los Muertos. For him, making offerings on an ofrenda are not mere gestures, but rather a vehicle connecting the living to those that came before.
It’s about honoring our ancestors, Olmos said, and about how we perceive the dead.
“If you’re going to build something, do it real,” he said. “Put fruit, talk to them, cry.”
Olmos fears that the true meaning behind the day is sometimes forgotten as the entertainment-oriented side of the holiday is highlighted. But traditions that had been hidden “in the kitchens, in the dress, in the language,” are being rediscovered as older people talk more about the custom, he added.
Organizations such as the Richmond Art Center are instrumental in preserving this history and these traditions, Martinez said.
The event at the Art Center is an opportunity to strengthen the cultural traditions that have been diluted through the process of assimilation, he said. “Places like this are important to keeping that.”
Class Registration Opens Wednesday, October 26, 10am
Winter classes are now posted on our website (don’t worry if the class says ‘Fully Booked’ this will change once registration opens). Browse listings now and plan which class or workshop you’ll sign up for. And don’t forget to get your scholarship applications in early for classes starting in January!
Celebrate your ancestors by making sugar skulls for Día de los Muertos with artist Keena Azania Romano. This video is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman Teaches New Class for Youth
We spoke with teaching artist Hector Munoz-Guzman about his artistic development, current projects, and the class he will be teaching at Richmond Art Center this semester.
As a new teaching artist at Richmond Art Center can you please introduce yourself to our community.
My name is Hector Munoz-Guzman. I am a painter and mixed media artist, and I’m from South Berkeley.
What has your artistic journey been like?
In high school I studied digital media at The Youth Institute in downtown Berkeley. This program introduced me to a lot of different media: drawing, collage, digital art. I also took IB Studio Art with Kimberley D’Adamo. This is where I really started to think seriously about what art I create and who it is for. The work I created in IB Studio Art got me accepted into Parsons School of Design. I later transferred to RISD [Rhode Island School of Design] where I started focusing on large scale paintings. I continued to make mixed media work as well.
I was raised by a single mom who was an immigrant from Mexico. So art didn’t seem like a possibility for a career. But I developed a tag – Gold Rust – that’s about finding the beauty from the limitations you have. I take this into my art practice; being resourceful with materials, making something out of my experiences.
Recently I was awarded a Civic Arts Grant from the City of Berkeley. With this award I’m creating a 7 foot by 24 foot mural depicting me and my family growing up in South Berkeley. I want to honor my family and the place that I grew up.
Artwork by Hector Munoz-Guzman
What other projects are you working on?
My work will be in a number of exhibitions over the next year. I recently did a studio visit with a curator from MACLA [Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana] in San Jose who is going to include three of my paintings in a show there that will open in December. I’m also going to be exhibiting my work in galleries in San Francisco and Los Angeles in 2023.
In the past I have exhibited at Fall River MoCa in Massachusetts and Bureau Gallery in New York.
What do you like about teaching?
I feel like teachers can be extremely impactful on their students. I’m still in contact with my teachers. They gave me a safe space to feel creative. And I was then granted the opportunity to study at renowned art schools. So I just want to use what I’ve learned and give it back to my community.
Can you tell us about the Mixed Media Illustration class you are teaching at Richmond Art Center this semester?
It’s a class for youth between the ages of twelve and seventeen. The emphasis of the class is using mixed media for personal expression. I will support students with skill development using different media – crayons, pencils, collage, paint – and help them find media they feel comfortable with. But the main focus of the class will be encouraging students to explore and develop their own narratives, characters and subjects. Students will develop a body of work that is connected to where they come from; that tells their stories and expresses the ideas that are important to them.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about the class?
I just want to offer a space for students to feel they are making work that is important to them. That they are making work for themselves first.
Artwork by Hector Munoz-Guzman
Visit Hector Munoz-Guzman’s Instagram account @hectorfmunoz to see more of his work.
Mixed Media Illustration will run on Thursdays, 5pm-7pm starting on October 26 and running through to November 16. CLICK HERE to learn more about the class. (And don’t forget we have needs-based scholarships available!)
Due to rising operating costs and changes in funding, we are making the difficult choice to increase our class prices. This increase will be starting Winter Quarter 2023.
We understand this will have an impact for students. We want to assure you that we will continue to offer needs-based Art Boost scholarships for community members, and encourage you to explore our membership program for class discounts.
Cast on, knit, purl and bind off to make adorable scarves, hats, and blankets! We will demystify gauge, tools and patterns so your projects will fit well and look beautiful.
Make your own paint! This course covers working with different tools, binders and surfaces; how to extract color from mineral and botanical based materials; and how to engage observational and experimental methods.
RAC’s community ofrenda featuring beautiful artwork by Danial Camacho is up in our west gallery.
Daniel invites community members to contribute items that honor their loved ones. He says, “Through an ofrenda we commemorate and remember the life and death of our loved ones. It is a celebration that allows us to carry them in our hearts and welcome them back to the world of the living for one night.”
Daniel invites the community to contribute a photograph of their loved ones and an object that represents something they loved, for example their favorite drink or snack, or a toy.
Items can be bought to Richmond Art Center any time during gallery hours (Wed-Sat 10am-4pm). The altar will be on display from October 15 through to the end of Día de los Muertos on November 3.
Daniel Camacho’s work is also currently on view at RAC in the exhibition De Fantasías y Realidades (September 14 – November 17, 2022).
SPECIAL EVENT: Join us on Saturday, October 15,12pm-3pm for a special celebration of Día de los Muertos. CLICK HERE for more info.
