90th Anniversary Exhibition
One Artist Contributes, Then Another, Then Another
A 90-Year Continuum
Exhibition: September 2 – November 19, 2026
Location: Main Gallery
SPECIAL EVENTS:
Opening Reception & 90th Birthday Party: Saturday, August 29, 12pm-3pm | Learn more…
Making History: Block Printing in the Galleries: Saturday, October 10, 2026, 11am-1pm | Learn more…
One Artist Contributes, Then Another, Then Another: Gallery Walkthrough: Saturday, October 10, 2026, 1:30pm | Learn more…
Making History: Figure Drawing in the Galleries: Saturday, November 7, 2026 | More info coming soon…
Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 10am-4pm
The galleries will be closed Saturday, September 5, 2026 (Labor Day), Saturday, September 26, 2026 (gala cleanup), and Wednesday, November 11, 2026 (Veterans Day).
Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA 94804
One Artist Contributes, Then Another, Then Another explores Richmond Art Center’s 90-year history as a continuum, connecting artists, artworks, and community voices across nine decades. The story begins in 1936, when artist and educator Hazel Salmi founded Richmond Art Center as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) arts and crafts program. Guided by the belief that art is essential to community life, that arts education should be accessible to everyone, and that civic participation is the foundation of lasting cultural institutions, Hazel Salmi’s values continue to shape the Center today.
Centered on the connections forged through teaching, learning, and creating together, the exhibition brings archival materials into conversation with works by artists who have shaped Richmond Art Center across generations. Letters and audio recordings from Hazel Salmi open up to historic photographs of Richmond Art Center’s art studios, newspaper clippings documenting the Center’s growth, exhibition posters and student artworks reveal how the Center evolved alongside Richmond’s dynamic community and responded to its needs. These archival materials are paired with works by influential teaching artists, renowned Bay Area artists, and emerging contemporary voices, all of whom share a connection to Richmond Art Center.
Rather than presenting a linear history, this anniversary exhibition traces Richmond Art Center through relationships between artworks, archives, artists, teachers and students. It reveals an institution continually shaped by people who believed, as Hazel Salmi did, that art is a public good and that communities are strengthened when people create together. Ninety years is not the finish line; it is a moment to recognize a legacy still unfolding, one artist, one student, and one contribution at a time.
Artists: Fred Alvarado, Bob Anderson, Lauren Ari, Ned Axthelm, Clayton Bailey, Elmer Bischoff, Marisa Burman, Nicola Bucci, Joan Brown, Imogen Cunningham, Ilene Conde, Isiah Daniels, Roy De Forest, Richard Diebenkorn, Henry Frank, Rebeca García-Gonzalez, Audrey Garrard, Renata Gray, Bryan Gomez, The Great Tortilla Conspiracy, Gary Harrell, Art Hazelwood, Raymond L. Haywood, Rae Louise Hayward, Rae Louise Hayward, Tom Holland, Hayward King, Ilah Jarvis, JoeSam, Betty Kano, Anna Kingsley, Ernie Kim, Paul Kos, Felix Kuang, Julia LaChica, Janice Langdon, Mary Law, Jennifer Linderman, Felix Lucero, Janet Lipkin, Viviana Martinez, Ralph McCaskey, Katya McCulloch, Erin McCluskey Wheeler, Travis Meinolf, Eli Nguyen, Magdalena Olvera, Valerie Otani, Emmy Lou Packard, Patricia Patterson, Clayton Pinkerton, Rigo 23, Virginia Rigney, Keena Romano, Hilda Robinson, John Roeder, Hazel Salmi, Kaleb Saephan, Alexis Saepharn, Jos Sances, Raymond Saunders, Murial Savin, Nancy Selvin, Rikki Lee Smeltzer, Andrée Singer Thompson, Judy Stone, Beth Thielen, John Toki, Peter Voulkos, Hershell West, John Wehrle
Special thanks to all the artists and lenders who generously loaned works from their collections, including: Alameda County Arts Commission, Eric Murphy, Golden Gate Weavers Guild, Hercules Middle School, John Natsoulas Gallery, Julie Weitz, Malik Seneferu, Rebeca García-Gonzalez, Richard Diebenkorn Foundation, The Richtik Salmi Family, and Susie Hodges.
Image: Hazel Salmi’s paint box
