If you are passionate about art and the community then joining our board might be for you!
Richmond Art Center’s board plays an important role in supporting and guiding the organization. Different individual board members bring different experience, skills, knowledge and connections to their Board work.
People who live and/or work in Richmond, who are community-minded and thoughtful about how Richmond Art Center could better serve the community in and around Richmond
Artists and others who know and love Richmond Art Center
People with accounting/bookkeeping expertise with the potential to serve on the board finance committee and/or as board teasurer
A lawyer (for the general knowledge and issue-spotting ability lawyers tend to have)
People who can help us raise money for Richmond Art Center
Leaders with the potential to be board vice president and president in the future
What can you expect?
Board members attend board meetings (mostly held via Zoom, sometimes in-person), act as ambassadors at select evening and weekend events, give of their expertise and wisdom and make a personal financial contribution to the extent that they can. A Board member’s term is three years, with a two-term limit. Service on the Board of Directors is unpaid.
To volunteer / apply:
Contact jose@richmondartcenter.org who will forward to the chair of the board nominations committee.
A CV/resumé/brief bio would be appreciated but is not necessary.
Top image: Eli Africa’s interactive mural in the WCCUSD Student Art Show 2024
Celebrate Light and New Beginnings through Art! Saturday, April 27, 2024, 12pm-3pm | FREE Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond Event webpage: richmondartcenter.org/familyday
Richmond, CA: 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, 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. Richmond Art Center is located at 2540 Barrett Avenue in Richmond.
Accessibility and Parking: Ample free parking is available in the 25th Street lot across the street from Richmond Art Center. The facility is accessible to wheelchair users via the Barrett Avenue entrance, adjacent to a parking lot with six accessible spaces. Parking and Entrance Map
About Richmond Art Center: For over 80 years, Richmond Art Center has served the residents of Richmond and surrounding communities through studio arts education programs, exhibitions, off-site classes, and special initiatives for community-wide impact. Richmond Art Center’s mission is to be a catalyst in Richmond for learning and living through art. richmondartcenter.org
For more information contact: Amy Spencer, amy@richmondartcenter.org
Top Artwork: Family Day participants in 2023 work on a community mural project led by Luis Garcia Above Photos: Visitors to Richmond Art Center work on our jumbo coloring-in wall by Eli Africa.
About the Program: The Youth Artist Xchange is a series of free summer intensive classes. The program gives middle and high school students, as well as young adults (up to 24 years), in-depth, hands-on arts learning experiences in our studios led by professional artists.
How to Join:
Available classes are listed below (click the LEARN MORE button to see the class schedules)
Prospective students are invited to complete a short online application to let us know their arts interests and class preferences.
Learn how public art is a powerful tool for community building. A cohort of twelve young artists (ages 14-24) will create a collaborative mural project with artists Fred Alvarado and Keena Azania Romano. Los Artistas Maestros hablan español.
In this class, you’ll learn how designers and artists use 3D modeling software (CAD programs) to turn their ideas into physical realities like art, cars, jewelry, buildings, toys, tools and more! Using the online program Tinkercad, you will learn how to model in 3D and print your own ideas using a 3D printer! What will you create? All materials and tools are included. This class is a youth space for ages 13 to 17.
Dreams of Liberated Futures: A Zine & Printmaking Series
An intensive six-week summer class (with 12 sessions) for 8-12 youth (ages 14-24) that combines hands-on visual arts learning with storytelling. Taught by artist Shani Ealey, the class is rooted in traditional African Indigenous wisdom to provide inspiration for students to explore visual storytelling through zinemaking. Students will then develop illustration and storyboarding skills through the creation of zines as a way to express their ideas, especially related to complicated concepts such as liberation, power, and our connection to the earth.
Learn the art of storytelling through filmmaking! Participants will explore the language of creating visual narratives using professional filmmaking processes. From storyboarding and directing to shooting and editing, students will gain hands-on experience in crafting their own short movies. All materials and tools are included. This class is a youth space for ages 13 to 17.
Do you love glass beads? Ever wonder how they’re made? Join us and get started making your own glass beads! Students will receive an overview of glass history, safety, and technology. They will then get to explore how to sculpt, manipulate and finish the media using professional glassworking tools. Class time is balanced with safety procedures, demonstrations, and plenty of time for hands-on work. All materials included.
Learn how to sculpt your creative vision in clay as functional and nonfunctional ceramic art. Students will learn foundational handbuilding techniques like making coils, slab construction, to more technical skills from clay pinching methods to glaze application and how to finish your artwork. All materials and tools are included. This is a youth space for ages 13 to 17.
Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA
Unique, Handmade Gifts by Local Arts & Crafts Vendors
Ceramics Studio Sale
Free Art Activities
Community Partner Pop-Ups
Raffle
Food and Drinks
Be a vendor! Local artists, artisans, crafters and makers are invited to apply to be vendors at the Holiday Arts Festival. This shop-local event is a great way to expose your work to an audience of 1,000+ who appreciate hand-crafted gifts. There is no application fee and first-time vendors to the Festival are encouraged to apply.
Join the HAF vendor mailing list to be notified when applications for the 2024 festival open.
Richmond Art Center (courtyard), 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA
FREE
Richmond Art Center is one of the participating venues for Richmond Open Studios. This event is organized Visual Artists of Richmond. Registration is now open for artists who’d like to participate. CLICK HERE to learn more.
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
