Thanks to you, our wonderful supporters, the Richmond Art Center won the top honors Parents’ Press Best of the Bay 2016 for our Arts and Crafts Summer Camp, Teen Focused Summer Camp, After-School and Enrichment Programs, and Art Classes!
We’re humbled and thrilled to receive these honors, and look forward to serving your families with even more exciting art offerings in the future. Thank you for believing in us and supporting the Art Center with your votes!
June 20 to 24 is our final opportunity to close the fiscal year in the green.
Please help the Art Center keep our exhibitions free, our onsite art education affordable and flexible, and our Art in the Community program growing by giving today. Donations of $25 or above will receive a special thank you from the different departments at the Richmond Art Center.
Art Week is a celebratory week of Art Center history, Art Center present and a sneak peek into the Art Center future. We are here because of your support, and we are proud to be a vital part of your art community.
On May 21, the Richmond Art Center hosted the Contra Costa Racial Justice Coalition community meeting, “Priorities for Racial Justice in Contra Costa County.” This Town Hall meeting to discuss priorities for Racial Justice in Contra Costa County. Great ideas were shared on the criminal justice system, housing and transitional housing, education for youth & job trainings, health, mental health & substance treatment. Introductions on behalf of the Richmond Art Center were presented by our Art in the Community Coordinator Cristina Haley and our Deputy Director Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez. The event was organized by Tamisha Torres of the Safe Return Project and Claudia Jiminez of Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organizations (CCISCO). Supervisor John Gioia and a representative from Congressman Mark Desaulnier’s office joined as well.
Participants discussed the County’s new task force to make the county’s criminal justice system more just and equitable, removing racial bias, and the importance of community advocacy to advance these issue. About 50 community and religious leaders came to learn about the County’s budget and brainstorm priorities that match the community’s needs.
The breakout groups met in our studios. We were pleased to note that some attendees had never been at our Center and remarked on what a beautiful space it was.
Images courtesy of Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez and Healthy Richmond.
THE RICHMOND ART CENTER ANNOUNCES THREE COMPANION EXHIBITIONS FOR SUMMER PROGRAMMING
RICHMOND, CA — MAY 19, 2016 — From June 12 – August 26, 2016, the Richmond Art Center features three distinctive exhibitions in its summer programming: Terry St. John: Close Views & Distant Vistas, the Annual Members Exhibition, and the juried show Our Town. In conjunction with the exhibitions, the Art Center will offer several free public programs including a series of artists’ talks. The opening reception for all three exhibitions will take place at the Art Center on Saturday, June 11 from 5 to 7pm.
In the SOUTH GALLERY—TERRY ST. JOHN: CLOSE VIEWS & DISTANT VISTAS
This exhibition gives the viewer a deep look into the studio life of Bay Area painter Terry St. John. Building figures formed from the air that surrounds them in a space that expands, contracts, and at times, merges with the body, these works present a profound exploration of light and shadow. Maintaining strong ties to Bay Area traditions, St. John has pursued a visual journey investigating his personal view of our world. As represented in his vigorous practice, the paint itself brings forth body or bay, house or hill. The Terry St. John Artist Talk will take place on Saturday, June 18, from noon to 2 pm and is free to the public.
In the MAIN AND WEST GALLERIES: ANNUAL MEMBERS EXHIBITION
The Annual Members Exhibition shares the sights and textures of the diverse work of the Art Center’s members. Four spotlight artists have been invited to exhibit in greater depth: Francesca Borgatta, Susan Spann, John Wehrle, and Erin M. Wheeler. The Members Spotlight talk will take place on Saturday, June 25 from noon to 2 pm and is free to the public.
In the COMMUNITY GALLERY: OUR TOWN
While reflecting on the 80th Anniversary at the Richmond Art Center, the open call for Our Town asked for views, impressions and thoughts on what makes a place unique, what gives a place its identity, what meaning can be drawn from an experience, association, or memory. Gallerist Jack Fischer juried the submissions to conjure a panorama of our town, your town, a better town.
Images (top to bottom):
Terry St. John, Model in Red, oil on canvas, 2014
Rik Ritchey, Refugio Bay Apocalypse V, Acrylic, collage, oil on paper, 2015
John Werle, Trout Chair, For my father, painted wood, found chair, 2013
About the Richmond Art Center: The Richmond Art Center is the largest visual arts center in the East Bay, delivering exciting arts experiences to over 20,000 visitors, students and artists who reflect the diverse richness of our community. The Art Center features hands-on learning, well-equipped studios, traveling Art in the Community programs and contemporary exhibitions in its galleries.
Every year, the Richmond Art Center serves thousands of students through classes and programs taught by professional artists, both onsite at the Art Center and at sites throughout Richmond. The Art Center’s four galleries mount rotating exhibitions that display the works of emerging and established Bay Area artists. Artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Jay DeFeo, Wanxin Zhang, David Park, Mildred Howard, Hung Liu, Bella Feldman and Peter Voulkos have been showcased here.
The Richmond Art Center originated in 1936, when local artist Hazel Salmi, who worked for the WPA, traversed the streets of Richmond with a suitcase packed with art supplies, eager to teach art to anyone interested. Today, everything at the Art Center continues to breathe life into Salmi’s original vision: That within every person lives an artist.
Please visit the Richmond Art Center’s website https://richmondartcenter.org for a full detail of activities and events relating to these exhibitions.
Contact:
Jessica Parker, Communications/Marketing Director jparker@nullrichmondartcenter.org 510-620-6780
Attention artists! The Richmond Art Center is hosting an event for interested teaching artists professionals to join our growing team. Please mark your calendar for June 4 from 11am – 1pm to meet our staff and learn more about the teaching opportunities associated with the Art Center.
The East Bay Monthly has a feature article on our current exhibition David Park: Personal Perspectives! The article by Lou Fancher gives a deeper personal portrait of Park’s history and his entry into the Figurative Art movement. You can read the entire article online here if you’re not able to pick up a copy.
This unique exhibition is in our gallery until May 23, so please plan on visiting us soon and attending the closing reception on May 22.
The video from our recent event David Park: A Personal Point of View, featuring a presentation by Park’s daughter Helen, gives a family oriented perspective of the artist..
On May 3, the Richmond Art Center will be participating in East Bay Gives 2016. Please help us make our goal of $4,000 to help support our wonderful programs, including Studio Arts Education, Art in the Community, and Exhibitions!
There are several prizes we’d love to win… are you game?
Calling all night owls! The first person to donate between midnight and 1am could win us $500!
For those early birds, the first person to donate the closest to 6:11am will win us the Sunrise Prize, for $1,500!
If we receive a donation between 8-9am, we could win $1,500!
From 11am-noon, we could win $3,500 in the category of Arts Organizations but only if we have the most unique donors!
A $500 donation between 1-2pm could win us $2,500!
The 1st organization with full Board Participation between 2-3pm could win us $5,000!
The Sunset Prize (closest to but NOT past 8:01pm) could win us $4,000!
More night owls could win us the last donation (between 11-11:59pm) for $2,500!
If you have specific questions about East Bay Gives, please read on…
What is East Bay Gives 2016?
East Bay Gives 2016 is:
On May 3, 2016
A 24-hour online giving event
A great way to donate to organizations going fantastic work in your community
How does East Bay Gives work?
On this website, nonprofit organizations register to participate in East Bay Gives 2016. On May 3, visit www.eastbaygives.org to donate to one or more of the participating nonprofits. You’ll receive immediate email confirmation from us and we’ll send the donation(s) to the organization(s) you designate. Please note: donations are tax deductible and non-refundable. All participating organizations will compete to win hourly cash prizes from our Prize Pool.
How can I make a donation to East Bay Gives 2016?
Because this is a national online giving day, the fastest way to make a donation through East Bay Gives 2016 is online, with a credit card. (Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express.) Donations will not be accepted by mail, fax, phone call or email.
What is the minimum donation?
The minimum donation is $20.00. There is no upper limit, and you may donate as many times as you wish, to any number of organizations.
Is my donation tax deductible?
Yes. Donations are 100% tax deductible. After you donate, you will immediately receive an email from the East Bay Community Foundation confirming your tax-deductible gift. Please save the email for your records or tax purposes.
How can I be sure that my donation gets to the correct organization?
Your email confirmation receipt is your proof that you gave. The East Bay Community Foundation distributes all donations received on May 3rd within a reasonable period of time, after all transactions have been verified. Your chosen organizations will also be able to confirm that they have received your donation.
Will my designated organization receive donor contact information?
Unless anonymity is specifically requested, donation amounts and donor information will be forwarded to recipient nonprofits by the East Bay Community Foundation.
How much of my donation goes to the organization I designate?
Participating nonprofit organizations receive the full value of the donation, minus the credit card transaction fees.
Can I donate using my tablet or smart phone?
Yes. Use your smart phone or tablet, or any browser to access http://www.eastbaygives.org
The Richmond Art Center Honored with NobleCause Grant to Foster Volunteerism
RICHMOND, CA–March 24, 2016– The Richmond Art Center is pleased to announce that they have been awarded a $6500 grant through NobleCause, a national grant competition mobilizing volunteers to address the greatest challenges facing their local communities.
These funds will support The Richmond Art Center’s efforts to create a more visible presence of the Richmond Community in their volunteer program, and to make the program, and its benefits, more accessible to the community at large. The center will elect a board of empowered volunteer leaders, a governance team, who will be essential in creating new goals for the volunteer program and in deciding new recruitment and retention strategies. The governance team, with the support of the Art Center’s volunteer coordinator, will implement these new goals and strategies to achieve a volunteer body that is more representative of the Richmond community.
In order to ensure success, each volunteer leader will attend two professional development courses on volunteer management and conduct site visits to volunteer programs that have a successful, diverse volunteer program. The implementation of this governance team will not only help to diversify and increase the center’s volunteer base, but allow volunteers to foster skills such as leadership, public outreach and community development. The governance team will give a voice to the center’s volunteers, and will become a permanent fixture that represents the interests and concerns of all those who volunteer at The Richmond Art Center.
NobleCause is made possible by a donor within the GiveWell Community Foundation and organized by NobleHour.com, a volunteer management tool that promotes a culture of civic engagement and charts meaningful acts of goodness. For more than a decade, NobleHour has been connecting and equipping thousands of schools, non-profit agencies, and organizations to shape well-rounded students and service leaders, build better communities, and measure their collective impact.
In total, the NobleCause competition awarded $1,000,000 in grant, recognizing 100 organizations at the $6500 level, and seven organizations at the $50,000 level. All grant recipients demonstrated a remarkable ability to raise community awareness, foster partnerships, and cultivate leaders who take action.
“We set out to encourage communities throughout the country to tell us their big, sustainable ideas to inspire quality volunteerism, “says Wesley Barnett, managing partner for TreeTop Commons and NobleHour. “By organizing volunteers to address local concerns, NobleCause award recipients are defining social responsibility right in their own communities.”
About the Richmond Art Center: The Richmond Art Center is the largest visual arts center in the East Bay, delivering exciting arts experiences to young and old alike who reflect the diverse richness of our community. The Art Center features hands-on learning, well-equipped studios, traveling Art in the Community programs and contemporary exhibitions in its galleries.
Every year, the Richmond Art Center serves thousands of students through classes and programs taught by professional artists, both onsite at the Art Center and at sites throughout Richmond. The Art Center’s four galleries mount rotating exhibitions that display the works of emerging and established Bay Area artists. Artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Jay DeFeo, Wanxin Zhang, Hung Liu, Ed Rossbach and Peter Voulkos have been showcased here.
The Richmond Art Center originated in 1936, when local artist Hazel Salmi, who worked for the WPA, traversed the streets of Richmond with a suitcase packed with art supplies, eager to teach art to anyone interested. Today, everything at the Art Center continues to breathe life into Salmi’s original vision: That within every person lives an artist.
Please visit the Richmond Art Center’s websitehttps://richmondartcenter.org for a full detail of activities and events.
Our opening reception on Saturday, March 19 kicked off this wonderful retrospective of David Park’s drawings and gouaches. Many of these pieces have never been exhibited before.
We hope you’ll visit the Art Center to see this show, open now until May 22 and free to the public.
THE RICHMOND ART CENTER ANNOUNCES THE WEST CONTRA COSTA UNIFIED SCHOOL (WCCUSD) STUDENT ART SHOW
The Richmond Art Center has hosted this exhibition for more than 50 years, which features the work of over 300 local schoolchildren.
RICHMOND, CA — MARCH 16, 2016 — In collaboration with the West Contra Costa School District (WCCUSD), the Richmond Art Center will present the annual West Contra Costa Unified School District Art Show in its Community Gallery.
The Richmond Art Center has a prosperous and long-standing 51-year partnership with the WCCUSD, and this year there are over 300 works of various media and subject matter on displayrepresenting the creative artistic talents of students from middle and high schools throughout the school district. The Art Center and WCCUSD share an ongoing vision that art education is a crucial component of a thriving and productive society.
There will be a special reception honoring the students and art teachers on Thursday, April 14 from 5-7 pm, which will be free and open to the public.
In addition, numerous art awards will be given out by the Richmond Art Center, the El Sobrante Art Guild, and other community members for the students’ artistic talent and originality.
The West Contra Costa Unified School District has generously sponsored the annual student exhibition.
The student show coincides with the Art Center’s featured exhibitions: David Park: Personal Perspective and The Human Spirit: Contemporary Figuration as an Expression of Humanism focusing on the historical and aesthetic development of Bay Area’s figurative art over the past 60 years.
About the Richmond Art Center: The Richmond Art Center is the largest visual arts center in the East Bay, delivering exciting arts experiences to people of all ages, reflecting the diverse richness of our community. The Art Center features contemporary exhibitions in four galleries hundreds of classes and workshops in its well-equipped six studios, and delivers these same experiences throughout the Community in the schools, community centers and the Richmond Public Library.
This year, the Richmond Art Center serves nearly four thousand students through classes and programs taught by professional artists, both on site at the Art Center and at numerous sites throughout Richmond.
The Richmond Art Center originated in 1936, when local artist Hazel Salmi, who traversed the streets of Richmond with a suitcase packed with art supplies, eager to teach art to anyone interested. Today, the Art Center continues to breathe life into Salmi’s original vision: That within every person lives an artist.
Please visit the Richmond Art Center’s website https://richmondartcenter.org for a full detail of activities and events relating to these exhibitions.
Contact:
Jessica Parker, Communications/Marketing Director jparker@nullrichmondartcenter.org 510-620-6780
To download a PDF of this press release, click here.
Four Gold Stars for the Richmond Art Center!
The Richmond Art Center Honored with NobleCause Grant to Foster Volunteerism
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