On June 9, the Mathieu Court Alley Play Street Dedication project ribbon-cutting took place, honoring and celebrating the collaboration between the City of Richmond, Richmond Art Center’s Art in the Community program, The Trust for Public Land, Pogo Park and the Iron Triangle Neighborhood Council.
The Play Street, a 640-foot-long stretch of Mathieu Court Alley between Barrett and Ripley Avenues. was a grant recipient of Kaboom!, a nonprofit that works with communities to transform neighborhood spaces like laundromats, sidewalks or bus stops into “stimulating, creative outlets for play.” Richmond was one of 50 winners out of more than 1,000 applicants nationwide to win the grant, and Richmond Art Center was a proud partner in this community effort.
The local neighbors were a crucial part of helping to design the play street. We’re especially grateful to the students of Peres Elementary School, who were instrumental in creating the art and structures in the Play Street!
Jeremy is an event organizer disguised as an art curator. He holds a BA in Communications from Seattle University and a Master of Art Curating from the University of Sydney, Australia. Jeremy’s docent training in Seattle led him to pursue a career planning art exhibitions and tours for audiences including seniors, adults and youth groups. In addition, his event planning experience obtained working as a caterer, concierge, and leasing agent gave him the ability to manage volunteer operations and develop collaborative fundraisers for arts-based non-profits. Jeremy’s favorite art activities include collaging and making artwork from found objects.
What do you find most inspiring about the Richmond Art Center?
What inspires me most about Richmond Art Center is its history as a WPA project. Taking into consideration the vast community of local artists and highlighting their successes (globally and locally) marks the city of Richmond as a significant destination for the development of Bay Area artists. I find it inspiring that we are not a blockbuster institution. RAC is a people’s gallery.
Tell us about the Volunteer Program. What are the most important things we should know about it?
The Volunteer Program at the Richmond Art Center is a great way to get involved! Volunteers can apply their hours to discounts on art classes or develop skills and build their resumes. Most importantly, volunteering is a way to meet other community members and donate your time to a great local cause. It’s an opportunity to give back to your Bay Area community!
What is your vision for the Volunteer Program?
Volunteers at the Richmond Art Center can now sign-up online! My vision for volunteerism at the Richmond Art Center is to make getting involved easier using the new iVolunteer.com platform. Another significant objective I have as the Volunteer Coordinator is to help volunteers discover something they’re good at while volunteering. I want to enhance the experience of volunteering because I believe people are more productive when they feel like they’re making a difference.
Who are your inspirations?
I’m really inspired by artist groups & collectives, one in particular is a group of sound artists called Postcommodity called ‘Do You Remember When? – 2012’. I was inspired by their work at the 18th Biennale of Sydney at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
What’s on your bucket list?
I don’t have an actual bucket list – I am slightly superstitious and I love writing lists so the thought of getting satisfaction of crossing everything off that list feels a bit scary. I’m not a major thrill-seeker. As for things I have already crossed off, David Bowie would be most significant.
If you could meet one artist, living or not, who would it be and why?
Given the privilege to communicate with a legend (and the dead), I would say Keith Haring. Before Banksy, Haring reached many people without using technology to become well known.
What’s the best way for people to be in touch with you about volunteering, or to learn more?
The best way to reach me about volunteer opportunities at the Richmond Art Center is either by phone at 510.620.6778 or by email at jeremy@richmondartcenter.org. Another way to browse current volunteer opportunities at the Richmond Art Center would be to visit: http://richmondartcenter.ivolunteer.com/
Richmond Art Center Members’ Annual Meeting, Board Election, and Reception
Saturday, June 10, 2017, 3:00 to 4:45 pm
The Richmond Art Center’s annual members’ meeting and reception will be held at the Art Center beginning at 3:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is to hold the election for the fiscal year 2017 – 2018 Art Center Board of Directors. During the reception, Ric Ambrose will lead a preview tour of the Annual Members’ Exhibition.
Ballots will be available at the front desk during the reception and must be submitted between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. back to the front desk of the Art Center. All members are eligible to vote. At least twenty (20) members must vote for the election to be valid.
Board President Inez Brooks-Myers will conduct the meeting, opening at 4:00 p.m. Executive Director Ric Ambrose and staff will provide up-dates on the Art Center’s accomplishments of the past year, and plans for the next year. The meeting will be followed by the public opening reception for the Summer Exhibitions at 5:00 p.m.
It’s that time of year again… Parent’s Press is holding their annual vote for the Best Of in children’s classes and camps. We’d love your help to get gold stars for 2017!
Last year we were thrilled to receive the gold in the categories for classes and camps. This year, you can vote for the Richmond Art Center in the following areas.
Our Spring Exhibition, Mapping the Uncharted, was recently the subject of an essay by Bay Area curator and professor John Zarobell. Excerpted from his essay, “Seeing Power Through the Map,” in this month’s edition of Art Practical:
The impulse of showing the state of the world through visual means is what maps accomplish even as the world we inhabit becomes ever-more virtual, and the tentacles of power increasingly opaque. Once a document of conquest, the map recreates the spaces that the mind traverses and occupies, creating networks for later exploration. As a means of representation, maps are reimagined and critiqued by artists in these two exhibitions and the underlying authority of maps is renegotiated. Viewers must make sense of each of these artistic maps and, in so doing, find their way in the world. Everyone is subject to power, but these maps help one to see through it.
John Zarobell is Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Director of International Studies at the University of San Francisco. Formerly, he held the positions of assistant curator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and associate curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is a regular contributor to the San Francisco Art Quarterly (SFAQ) and the online journal Art Practical, has written for numerous exhibition catalogues and has published in Art History, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, and the Berkeley Review of Latin-American Studies. His first book, Empire of Landscape, was published in 2010 and his next, Art and the Global Economy, will be published by University of California Press in April 2017.
A calendar full of exciting Spring events takes place this month at the Richmond Art Center.
Events are for everyone at the Richmond Art Center this April. Starting off the month on Saturday, April 1, a panel of artists from the Marking Space sculpture and installation exhibition. Artists Mari Andrews, Genevieve Hastings, Jann Nunn, Gay Outlaw, and Lucy Puls will speak to their work and the ways that sculpture have moved off the historical pedestal in a variety of methods and materials. The panel will be moderated by Jan Wurm, the Art Center’s Director of Exhibitions, and takes place in the Main Gallery from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. This talk is free. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/artists-panel-marking-space/
On Wednesday, April 5, artist, educator, and author of Living and Sustaining a Creative Life, Sharon Louden will be discussing her new book, The Artist as Culture Producer. Opening a dialogue on how artists contribute and enrich our culture, the author will share a collection of artists’ essays, a wealth of experience and dedication by artists active across the country. This talk and book launch will take place from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm and is free to the public. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/living-sustaining-creative-life/
On Saturday, April 8, another artists’ panel, featuring several artists showcased in Mapping the Uncharted will discuss their varied and fascinating approach to understanding maps and creating art with and from them. Mark Garrett, Indira Martina Morre, Lordy Rodriguez, and Diane Rosenblum, in conversation with Director of Exhibitions Jan Wurm, share their use of physical maps as a point of departure for reconfiguring impressions of geography, politics, and visual language. This talk takes place in the Main Gallery from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and is free. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/artists-panel-mapping-uncharted/
Printmaking artists are encouraged to submit their work by April 10 to the upcoming juried show, Pressing On—Contemporary Printmaking Juried Exhibition (June 13 – August 19, 2017), which offers the opportunity to see the most contemporary explorations in contemporary printmaking. In a time when things happen with the push of a button, the hands-on mixing materials and process – the transformation from plate to print—is still magical. All current trendmakers in printmaking are encouraged to apply. The juror for Pressing On is Karin Breuer, Curator in Charge of the Achenbach Graphic Arts Foundation of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. For more information about this Call for Artists, please visit the Richmond Art Center’s website: https://richmondartcenter.org/calls-for-artists/
The Richmond Art Center has a five decade-long partnership with the WCCUSD, and many of the district’s art students receive instruction from teachers who have received art-specific training through the Art Center. The public is invited to a special reception honoring the WCCUSD students and art teachers on Thursday, April 13 from 5:00 – 7:00 pm. The 52nd Annual WCCUSD Student Art Show features over 250 works of art, created in a variety of media—from ceramics to acrylic— representing the creative artistic talents of students from middle and high schools throughout the school district. The John F. Kennedy Band will perform and several art awards will be given out for the students’ artistic talent and originality. The West Contra Costa Unified School District has generously sponsored the annual student exhibition. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/wccusd-student-art-show-reception/
On Saturday, April 22 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, the Art Center’s Open House is a day to celebrate and honor RAC students, teaching artists, and the community! The public is invited to explore the galleries and studios, and meet the teaching artists and students. The Open House will include demos and activities in each studio, and a wonderful variety of art for sale created by our talented students. Visitors should bring their appetites: the Open House will also have a bake sale (to benefit the Studio Education department), handmade pasta from the Cosa Nostra Food Truck, and Richmond’s own Kim’s Louisiana Fried Turkey sliders. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/open-house-2/
Finishing up April on Saturday, April 29, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm is the monthly See & Make Art class, which takes place the last Saturday of each month. Meet at the Madeline F. Whittlesey Community Room at the Richmond Public Library, Main Branch (325 Civic Center Plaza) for a story and to make some art. The group continues to the Art Center to visit the galleries and enjoy the latest exhibitions. See & Make Art is open to all ages, and families welcome. This event is free. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/see-make-art/
Images: Gay Outlaw, For Sale By Owner
Mark Garrett, Black Europa
Joelle Park, Landscape 1
We have a few spaces left for our current student artists to sell their work at our upcoming Open House on April 22. Click here to learn more and apply!
We add our voice and join with so many others who understand and value the crucial impact the arts and humanities bring to us as individuals, as members of our communities, and to our society, nationally and globally.
The proposed federal budget estimates $54 billion in domestic program cuts, which will eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the funding for afterschool programs throughout the country. These critical funds support local artists, writers, poets, historians, and nonprofit arts organizations, such as the Richmond Art Center’s Art in the Community program, making the arts accessible to underserved Richmond children and teens.
The Richmond Art Center stands with our nonprofit and cultural partners, and with citizens across our country, to support those agencies and organizations that may be impacted by this proposed budget. Our own roots at the Art Center trace back to 1936 when, with the support of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), local artist Hazel Salmi traveled the streets of Richmond with a suitcase packed with art supplies, eager to teach art to anyone interested. The value the role of the arts and humanities play in our lives, and the benefit to our larger society, cannot be discounted.
We realize that the House of Representatives and the Senate are now tasked with refining, reviewing, and approving the federal budget—a process that will span the next few months.
We will be urging our representatives in Congress to continue funding these agencies and hope that you, our dedicated and vibrant community of artists and arts enthusiasts, will lend your voices in speaking to your legislators about the vital influence, critical discourse, and positive societal impact that the arts bring to all of our lives.
Very best regards,
Ric Ambrose Executive Director, Richmond Art Center
Jeremy is an event organizer disguised as an art curator. He holds a BA in Communications from Seattle University and a Master of Art Curating from the University of Sydney, Australia. Jeremy’s docent training in Seattle led him to pursue a career planning art exhibitions and tours for audiences including seniors, adults and youth groups. In addition, his event planning experience obtained working as a caterer, concierge, and leasing agent gave him the ability to manage volunteer operations and develop collaborative fundraisers for arts-based non-profits. Jeremy’s favorite art activities include collaging and making artwork from found objects.
everyone at the Richmond Art Center this April. Starting off the month on Saturday, April 1, a panel of artists from the Marking Space sculpture and installation exhibition. Artists Mari Andrews, Genevieve Hastings, Jann Nunn, Gay Outlaw, and Lucy Puls will speak to their work and the ways that sculpture have moved off the historical pedestal in a variety of methods and materials. The panel will be moderated by Jan Wurm, the Art Center’s Director of Exhibitions, and takes place in the Main Gallery from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. This talk is free. 
On Saturday, April 8, another artists’ panel, featuring several artists showcased in Mapping the Uncharted will discuss their varied and fascinating approach to understanding maps and creating art with and from them. Mark Garrett, Indira Martina Morre, Lordy Rodriguez, and Diane Rosenblum, in conversation with Director of Exhibitions Jan Wurm, share their use of physical maps as a point of departure for reconfiguring impressions of geography, politics, and visual language. This talk takes place in the Main Gallery from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and is free. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/artists-panel-mapping-uncharted/
The Richmond Art Center has a five decade-long partnership with the WCCUSD, and many of the district’s art students receive instruction from teachers who have received art-specific training through the Art Center. The public is invited to a special reception honoring the WCCUSD students and art teachers on Thursday, April 13 from 5:00 – 7:00 pm. The 52nd Annual WCCUSD Student Art Show features over 250 works of art, created in a variety of media—from ceramics to acrylic— representing the creative artistic talents of students from middle and high schools throughout the school district. The John F. Kennedy Band will perform and several art awards will be given out for the students’ artistic talent and originality. The West Contra Costa Unified School District has generously sponsored the annual student exhibition. 
