Richmond Confidential: Looking for holiday gifts or fun? The Richmond Art Center has you covered
Weblink: https://richmondconfidential.org/2024/12/06/richmond-art-center-holiday-arts-festival/
Richmond Confidential
Looking for holiday gifts or fun? The Richmond Art Center has you covered
Edith Matthias on December 6, 2024
The annual Holiday Arts Festival will return to the Richmond Art Center for its 62nd year on Sunday, with over 50 local arts and crafts vendors, live music, food, and art activities to create your own holiday gifts.
Everything from ceramics to knitwear will be showcased by artists from across the Bay Area, including many from Richmond. This year, the festival will include the Zine Zone for the first time, spotlighting independent zines, comics and prints. Amy Spencer, community engagement director at Richmond Art Center said that the Zine Zone was introduced after art instructor Shani R. Ealey ran a zine-making class at the center last summer.
“The work made in the class was really powerful and we wanted to find a way to share it with the broader community at a public event,” Spencer said.
The Zine Zone will provide the public with a different way to engage with art, one that revolves around something other than shopping.
“The Zine Zone will highlight non-commercial art and art as a vehicle for activism, at this event,” Spencer said.
Holiday Arts Festival
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave. in Richmond
What: More than 50 artists and crafters, about 20 zinesters, ceramic studio sale, music, food, drinks, art activities.
More information: Richmondartcenter.org
Oakland-based indie comic producer and former Richmond resident Avy Jetter is excited to display her work in the Zine Zone. Jetter, whose art prioritizes marginalized voices, hopes the Zine Zone will help diversify the festival.
“It’s super important to hold space for people who don’t necessarily get the shine or attention that they deserve,” Jetter said.
Among the independent artists, local nonprofits such as The Latina Center and Urban Tilth also will have tables at the festival. One of the nonprofits with the longest-standing relationships with Richmond Art Center is NIAD, a progressive art studio that serves adults with developmental disabilities, providing them with a space to make art that is then featured in exhibitions. NIAD has been present at the Holiday Arts Festival for over 10 years.
Ember Avalos, community programs director at NIAD, said the relationship has put the focus more on community building than art sales.
“People are interested in the stories of the artists and the story of how we fit into Richmond community and culture,” Avalos said.
About 1, 300 to 1,500 people are expected to attend the festival, which is free and runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“I think this event really puts Richmond on the map in the East Bay as a hub for art,” Spencer said, “allowing the artistic community to come together.”
(Top photo: The 2022 Holiday Arts Festival, by Sasha Schell)
Tags: featured
