Hear about the journeys from San Quentin Arts Studio to Art Hazelwood’s studio in Richmond, and to Diablo Valley College for live steamroller printing.
Saturday, August 10, 11am-1pm
Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA
FREE
Join us for a conversation with JUST ARTISTS, a group of teaching artists and program alumni from the William James Association’s San Quentin Prison Arts Project. The artists will discuss their Taking Liberties print series, currently on view in the West Gallery.
Galleries open at 10am. Come early for an informal reception and to meet the artists. The program starts at 11am with an artist talk followed by a print demo.
JUST ARTISTS: Henry Frank, Nicola Bucci, Gary Harrell, Isiah Daniels, Felix Lucero, Katya McCulloch, Beth Thielen, Art Hazelwood
Henry Frank is a descendant of the great indigenous nations of the Yurok and Pomo Tribes. He is a returning resident, former Arts In Corrections participant/clerk, and currently working for the William James Association as the Communications Director and Teaching Artist at California Medical Facility (CMF). He uses his art to amplify the voices of people of color (specifically Native Americans), people who are currently experiencing incarceration, and returning residents (aka formerly incarcerated) to expose the mistreatment, dehumanization, and desolation.
Felix Lucero is of Mexican descent, a William James Association board member, a Returning Resident, a sheet-metal worker, a husband and father. He is a visual artist, specifically a block printer. He produces museum quality prints and has prints in the Library of Congress. He is a prolific writer and a self-taught guitarist.
Mwasi Fuvi was born in Springfield Mass. – a runaway who faced the adversities of the streets alone, searching for beauty in a world of loneliness and heartbreaks. Throughout he shows these struggles and beauty. He reveals the loneliness and the heart aches that he has endured. With a stroke of his brush he made the tears he shed disappear, the sadness he felt he turned to laughter, and his pangs turned into rains of a warm summer day. He can change day to night and paint a heaven from hell. No matter where he came from in life, his destination is only as great as his imagination.
Beth Thielen has worked with incarcerated and at risk populations for over 30 years. Her work and the work of her students are represented in the Library of Congress, the Getty Research Institute, the Hammer Museum. Houghton Library at Harvard, Yale University, as well as other public and private collections. She is the recipient of awards from the Puffin Foundation, the Kalliopeia Foundation, and is a Blue Mountain Center and Rauschenberg fellow. She currently resides in Fresno California.
Katya McCulloch, Director of TeamWorks Art Mentoring Program, is a community artist whose work, and collaborative works with students, are exhibited internationally and in private and public collections including the Library of Congress, UC Berkeley, Emory University, Stanford University, among other special collection libraries. As TeamWorks founding artist, she has made art with justice system involved youth in Marin County for 20 years. She has created community murals and public art in a wide variety of unconventional settings: Music Outback Foundation (Australia), Marin County Fair “Public Art Days”, Italian Street Painting Festival. Katya has 20 years of experience teaching printmaking at San Quentin State Prison through the William James Association Prison Arts Project.
Gary Harrell is aesthetic pleasing to the eyes. He is 69 years young. He is always thinking about his next project.
JUST ARTISTS who unfortunately cannot attend the event:
Art Hazelwood recently received the Art is A Hammer award for political printmaking from the Center for the Study of Political Graphics. This lifetime achievement award was previously given to artists including Jos Sances, Juan Fuentes and Emory Douglas. The obsession through which he’s worked as an artist is in searching out ways and means for art to have value in society; political, personal and cultural.
Nicola Bucci, an artist passionate about community outreach, expressing through surrealism, using life experiences, and spreading joy through art.
The View from Here: Panel Discussion and Paint Day
Saturday, July 13, 11am start
Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA
FREE
Learn about the impact of art in prisons from formerly incarcerated artists at this special discussion and paint day. This event will feature alumni and facilitators from the arts programs at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and Philadelphia’s State Correctional Institution (SCI) Phoenix.
Panel Discussion:Mwasi Fuvi (Bay Area), Eddie Ramirez (Philadelphia), Phoebe Bachman (Philadelphia), and Carol Newborg (Bay Area) will share their insights as program alumni and facilitators of art programs in prisons, exploring the role of art, the day-to-day of prison art initiatives, and the genesis of their bi-coastal collaboration.
Live Mural Painting: Following the discussion, Eddie Ramirez will demonstrate his mural painting technique, showcasing a design created by artists at SCI Phoenix. Community members are invited to participate in completing the mural (Richmond Art Center will be open until 4pm for painting).
This event is part of the exhibition, The View from Here, currently on display at Richmond Art Center.
Top image: Keith Andrews, Fishing from a Hole in a Wall, 2023, Acrylic on parachute cloth. Philadelphia Mural Arts at SCI Phoenix
PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS
Mwasi Fuvi (Isiah Daniels)
I was born in Springfield, Mass. – a runaway who faced the adversities of the streets alone, searching for beauty in a world of loneliness and heartbreak. Through my art, I show these struggles and beauty. I reveal the loneliness and heartaches that I have endured. With a stroke of my brush, I make the tears I shed disappear, the sadness I felt turn to laughter, and my pangs transform into the rains of a warm summer day. I can change day to night and paint a heaven from hell. No matter where I came from in life, my destination is only as great as my imagination. Throughout my life, no matter how adverse, I refused failure. Not even during incarceration could my mind be enslaved.
Eddie Ramirez
Eddie Ramirez was born in Philly, but spent most of his life in prison for crimes he did not commit. While the experience could’ve been a solely horrifying nightmare, Eddie employed all of his creative energies into making art that strives to invite others into a dialog about justice and perseverance. A partner with the Philadelphia Mural Project, collaborating and constructing several murals, Eddie has also shown his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Defenders Association, and the Barnes Foundation. He has also worked with the End the Exception Campaign through Worth Rises and Mural Arts, and Art For Justice. You can follow Eddie on Instagram: @76concepts
Phoebe Bachman
Phoebe Bachman (she/they) is an artist, facilitator, curator, and activist based in South Philadelphia. Over the past decade, they have cultivated an interdisciplinary creative path grounded in collaboration and social justice. Their work centers on amplifying ongoing acts of resistance with a focus on economic, gender, and racial justice. Selected projects include The People’s Budget, a public art initiative reimagining Philadelphia’s City Budget (2021-2024); The View from Here, an exhibit featuring artists from SCI Phoenix and San Quentin (2024); End the Exception, a multi-disciplinary project advocating for the end of the exception clause in the 13th Amendment (2020-2024). Bachman holds a BFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and an MA from the Center for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Carol Newborg
I make work to connect with others and to experience the physicality of making art, often with repetition of forms and process, which gives me a sense of repair and healing. From the original community arts work I did at Creative Growth 45 years ago, through over 40 years of working with Arts in Corrections, I have learned and been inspired by how making art can help people to process hurt and harm and to grow and be nurtured through art. Since 2010 I have been Program Manager, Open Studio teacher and exhibit organizer for the San Quentin Prison Arts Project through the William James Association. I organized many San Quentin art exhibitions, readings, panels and events at Alcatraz, the SF Public Library, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the San Francisco Opera and area colleges and art centers.
Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA
FREE
The Board of Directors at Richmond Art Center extends a warm invitation to all current, recent, and prospective members, along with the wider community, to our Annual Members’ Meeting. Learn about the achievements of Richmond Art Center over the past year and our plans for the future.
Top Image: Recently students in “Women in Ceramics” drew inspiration from the renowned artist Toshiko Takaezu, creating hollow orbs and then suspending them in hammocks in the courtyard. (Local sculptor John Roeder’s statue looked on.)
“Spring exhibitions at the Richmond Art Center shine a light on the beautiful, ongoing cycle of teaching, learning and growing through art,” according to the center.
An annual crowd-pleaser for nearly six decades, the teacher-curated WCCUSD Student Art Show features the creative works of more than 300 middle and high school students originating from 13 West Contra Costa Unified School District schools in Richmond, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Hercules, Montalvin Manor, Pinole and San Pablo.
A reception will kick off the WCCUSD Student Art Show on Tuesday, April 16, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. An award presentation will occur at 5:45 p.m. and the event will include music by the De Anza High School band.
The other two exhibitions opening in April, Home Show and Art Blooms Here, illuminate both teacher and student artwork created within the RAC studios and demonstrate the creativity thriving there, said the RAC.
Shown in the art center’s South Gallery, the Home Show will showcase the works of Eli Africa, Ned Axthelm, Colleen Garland, Julia LaChica, Travis Meinolf and Kristin Satzman.
Artwork by Colleen Garland for the Home Show.
Over in the Community and West Galleries, Art Blooms Here will spotlight the works of Alice Armstrong, Maggie Burns, Larry Craighill, Julissa Duran, Ana Gadish-Linares, Mara Greenaway, Zamira Ha, Beatrice Hartman, Marion Henon, Eugenie Hsu, Susie Kelly, Jen Kelly-DeWitt, Juniper Kirkwood, Jolie Krakauer, Paula Kristovich, Michelle Lin, Susana Macarron, Ahmaya Maroney, Elijah Martinez Ruiz, Jessica McDowell, Jeanette Nichols, Tatyana Ryevzina, Maya Soichet-Yampolsky, Hanneke Steenmetz and ‘Beginner Handbuilding’ students.
All are welcomed to the reception for Home Show and Art Blooms Here Thurs., April 18, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Find the Richmond Art Center at 2540 Barrett Ave. in Richmond. Visit the gallery during its open hours Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free to the exhibitions and events.
Art by Jen Kelly-DeWitt, Hold Complexity, 2023, for Art Blooms Here.
ANNOUNCING: Spring Exhibitions at Richmond Art Center
April – June 2024 Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA 94804 Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 10am-4pm Exhibitions and events are all free and no rsvp is necessary
Richmond, CA: Spring exhibitions at Richmond Art Center shine a light on the beautiful, ongoing cycle of teaching, learning and growing through art.
In the Main Gallery, the 58th Annual WCCUSD Student Art Show is a classroom-teacher curated exhibition celebrating the creativity of over 300 of their students. The artists come from 13 district schools across El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Hercules, Montalvin Manor, Pinole, Richmond, and San Pablo.
Also opening are Home Show and Art Blooms Here, two exhibitions representing artwork by both teachers and students working in the studios at Richmond Art Center, and embracing the creativity thriving at home in our organization.
These three exhibitions will open on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. A reception for the WCCUSD Student Art Show will be held on Tuesday, April 16, from 5pm to 6:30pm. Additionally, a reception for Home Show and Art Blooms Here is scheduled for Thursday, April 18, from 5pm to 7pm. All are welcome to attend!
Richmond Art Center is located at 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA 94804. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10am to 4pm. Admission is free.
About Richmond Art Center: Richmond Art Center has been sharing art and creating with the community since 1936. Our programs encompass classes, exhibitions and events at our facility in downtown Richmond, as well as off-site activities that bring free, high-quality art making experiences to WCCUSD schools and community partners. richmondartcenter.org
Images: (Top) Artwork by Cashel Shaughnessy, student at Fred T. Korematsu Middle School; (above left) Artwork by Colleen Garland, Teaching Artist at Richmond Art Center; (above right) Artwork by Jen Kelly-DeWitt, Student at Richmond Art Center
We’re excited to announce, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the second iteration of the Richmond Artist Residency program!
About the Residency: The Richmond Art Residency (RAR) will support an emerging or mid-career artist to pursue their creative work while also engaging with the community in Richmond. Residency activities include a dedicated studio space for 8-months, and opportunities to teach, exhibit, take classes, and learn best practices for community-based arts programming. The selected RAR artist will receive a $8,000 stipend, plus competitive hourly rates for any teaching time.
If accepted, studio access hours will be determined based on facility operation hours. We recommend that the artist be prepared to commit at least 10-20 hours a week to get the most out of the program.
Program Overview:
Artist Stipend: $8,000 (plus hourly pay for any teaching time)
Duration of Residency: Eight months (October 2024 – May 2025)
Discipline: Visual Art
Facilities Access:
Dedicated Studio: Light-filled 250 square foot private studio equipped with a worktable, storage, chair and sink
Communal studios: Access to RAC’s shared visual arts studios and equipment, including the painting studio, ceramics studio, textiles studio, printmaking studio, metals studio (during pre-approved times)
Eligibility / Who Should Apply: The residency is open to emerging, mid-career and underrepresented Bay Area artists who work in all visual art disciplines. Bilingual English/Spanish or English/Mandarin applicants, as well as applicants with a connection to Richmond, are especially encouraged to apply. A key tenet of the residency is for the artist to learn best practices for engaging with the community as artists and/or teaching artists, so we encourage artists with experience or strong interest in learning best practices in arts education to apply!
Residency Activities:
PRIVATE STUDIO / PERSONAL CREATIVE PRACTICE: The RAR artist will have access to a light-filled 250 square foot private studio equipped with a worktable, storage, chair and sink. The artist will have their own key and can access the studio during daylight hours. They also have access to RAC’s shared/communal visual arts studios and equipment (during pre-approved times).
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT / TEACHING ACTIVITIES: With support from RAC program staff (Education and Exhibitions) the RAR artist will develop a community engagement strategy to lead art-making opportunities with the community.
STUDIO SKILL BUILDING: The RAR artist is invited to take classes at RAC to develop new skills and multidisciplinary practice. Studio focuses are Jewelry & Metal Arts, Printmaking, Ceramics, Fiber Art, Glass Arts and Painting/Drawing/Mixed Media. The RAR artist will have access to technical equipment and support in each studio from training Teaching Artists.
EXHIBITION / PUBLIC PROGRAM (OPTIONAL): Within the first quarter (2 months) of the residency the artist can determine if they would like to work towards an exhibition or public presentation of their work at RAC. The exhibition may include recent work or work made during the residency. The RAR artist is encouraged to invite community collaborators to participate if appropriate.
Application Review Process: A selection committee of community professionals and Richmond Art Center staff will review all applications based on the criteria: Artistic Merit, Community Connection, and Potential (to benefit from the residency). Finalist candidates will be invited to participate in short zoom meetings to discuss the residency opportunity. Selected candidate will be determined by the end of June 2024.
Contact us at admin@richmondartcenter.org with questions!
About Richmond Art Center: Richmond Art Center’s mission is to be a catalyst in Richmond for learning and living through art. Richmond Art Center has been sharing art and creating with community since 1936. Our programs encompass art classes, exhibitions and events at our facility in downtown Richmond, as well as off-site activities that bring free art making experiences to district schools and community partners.
*The deadline to apply for this residency is Friday, May 24, 2024. Unfortunately a flyer was printed with an incorrect deadline on it, we apologize if this has caused confusion. May 24 is the correct deadline. – RAC Staff, 3/1/24
Top Image: The Richmond Artist Residency was launched in 2022 with Liberación Gráfica as artists-in-residence.
Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond
We’re gathering on Saturday, April 27, 2024, from 12pm to 3pm, to celebrate light and new beginnings through art-making at Spring Family Day. Come join the fun!
Family Day offers a variety of drop-in art-making activities to celebrate the season. Make Spring Equinox affirmation cards with artist Shani Ealey, or print from the sun exploring cyanotype processes with Vivianna Carlos. Other activities are lantern making with Julia La Chica, and a community mural led by Maggie Burns.
Visitors can also listen to live music by Jazz and Soul, learn about opportunities at Urban Tilth, and enjoy sliders by Artisan Kitchen. Inside our galleries, the WCCUSD Student Art Show features a jumbo interactive coloring-in wall by Eli Africa.
This free event is open to kids of all ages and their grown-ups. No rsvp is necessary.
Image: Family Day participants in 2023 work on a community mural project led by Luis Garcia
Español
Día Familiar en la Primavera
Sábado 27 de abril de 2024, 12:00-15:00 horas | Gratis
Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond
Nos reuniremos el sábado 27 de abril de 2024, de 12 p. m. a 3 p. m., para celebrar la luz y los nuevos comienzos a través de la creación artística en el Día Familiar en la Primavera. ¡Únete a la diversión!
El Día de la Familia ofrece una variedad de actividades artísticas sin cita previa para celebrar la temporada. Haga tarjetas de afirmación sobre el equinoccio de primavera con la artista Shani Ealey, o imprima explorando los procesos de cianotipo con Vivianna Carlos. Otras actividades son la fabricación de faroles con Julia La Chica y un mural comunitario dirigido por Maggie Burns.
Los visitantes también pueden escuchar música en vivo de Jazz y Soul, y disfrutar de sliders de Artisan Kitchen. Dentro de nuestras galerías, la Exposición de Arte Estudiantil del WCCUSD presenta una pared gigante interactiva para colorear de Eli Africa.
El evento gratuito está abierto a niños de todas las edades y adultos. No es necesario confirmar su asistencia.
Imagen: Participantes del Día de la Familia en 2023 trabajan en un proyecto de mural comunitario liderado por Luis García
In this introductory embroidery methods, students will learn basic stitches, techniques for interpreting imagery into textiles, and create a self-portrait for their final project.
If you are looking for community in your art making process, join us in the studio. Students will work on your own projects with the support of the instructor and the feedback of the other artists in the class.
Learn how to set a gemstone in a classic bezel setting. Instructor will demo creating a bezel, different seat options, adding the band and then setting the stone. Students will then design and create their own rings.
Create compelling, original still-life compositions building on foundational skills developed in the Beginning Watercolor class. We will learn how to paint light and shadow to create the illusion of volume, apply color theory to mix colors and practice the basic rules of perspective.
In this class we explore the foundational techniques of metal forming. We will learn how to use drawplates, the rolling mill, chasing and repoussé, press plates and how to use our a 20 ton press!
