Saturday, May 14, 12pm-3pm | FREE Richmond Art Center (courtyard), 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond Event webpage: richmondartcenter.org/familyday2022
Richmond, CA: Kids of all ages and their grown-ups are invited to Richmond Art Center’s Spring Family Day on Saturday, May 14, 12pm-3pm. This free, family event is an opportunity to celebrate the gifts of spring through art-making, dancing, and music.
Activities will include making clay flowers, live printing by Liberación Gráfica, succulent art planters, flower photo booth, and bomba dancing by Quenepas. Visitors will have an opportunity to work with Fencelines to contribute to a public art project, as well as meet the folk from Richmond Our Power Coalition to learn about organizing work around the environment and housing happening in Richmond.
Richmond Art Center is located at 2540 Barrett Avenue in Richmond.
Covid-19 Prevention: Mask wearing is a condition of entry to RAC’s galleries, studios and public indoor spaces. Vaccinations are strongly encouraged. Masks may be removed in our courtyard.
Thank you to Richmond Rotary Club for sponsoring this event.
About the Program and Participants:
Bomba by Quenepas: Bomba music and dance originated over 400 years ago in the sugar cane plantations of Puerto Rico where enslaved Africans played, sang, and danced to survive and to resist colonial oppression. Quenepas is a vibrant Puerto Rican Bomba music and dance youth ensemble that had its inception in 2008 at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley. Quenepas youth have been studying and performing under the direction of Hector Lugo and Shefali Shah for over 15 years and many of the youth have been involved in the practice of Bomba through observing and participating in community jams and performances with their families. Contact: bombaaguacero@gmail.com, 510-681-1036
Live Printing by Liberación Gráfica: Liberación Gráfica is a collective of young printmakers from Richmond whose members create work to uplift social justice, the Richmond community, and young voices. As educators the collective has developed a curriculum that helps young people engage in printmaking through exploring historical political posters and creating their own posters on topics they feel connected to. The collective has held multiple live screen printing workshops around the community at events, high schools, and local organizations like RYSE, Urban Tilth, APEN and Richmond Art Center.
Workshop by Fencelines: Join the Fencelines team for an art-making workshop to paint messages and stories about environmental justice onto colorful fence slats. Fencelines is a participatory art project that responds to the Chevron petroleum refinery. The project’s team are artists, designers and community organizers, who have collaborated for years on projects for urban environmental and infrastructural transformation here in Richmond.
Richmond Our Power Coalition: Special guests Richmond Our Power Coalition will have an information table set-up for folks to learn more about the work ROPC does in organizing around issues of the environment and housing here in Richmond.
Succulent Art Planters: Take home a spring succulent in an artful planter made by students at Richmond Art Center. These weird and wonderful creations can be yours for a small donation.
Amazing Clay Flowers: Join teaching artist Lauren Ari to sculpt and decorate clay flowers using air dry clay. Lauren Ari is a Richmond-based artist and educator.
Family Photo Booth: Rally your friends and family, strike a pose, and take home a special polaroid photo to remember Spring Family Day forever!
Pottery Demo with a Kick Wheel: Artist Colleen Garland will demonstrate the fun of throwing pottery on a kick wheel. Colleen grew up in Richmond and works as a potter and ceramics teacher at Richmond Art Center.
Gallery Search and Find: Have fun exploring Dewey Crumpler’s Crossings exhibition in the main gallery with a unique search and find activity. Find Pikachu, Miss Piggy and their friends to win prizes!
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
For more information contact: Amy Spencer, amy@richmondartcenter.org
Images: Former Family Day fun at Richmond Art Center
Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond
CLICK HERE to read an important notification about parking at RAC during the Members’ Meeting
Richmond Art Center’s Board of Directors invites current, recent and prospective members, as well as the general public, to our Annual Members’ Meeting on Saturday, June 18 starting at 1pm. Learn about RAC’s accomplishments over the past year and what we have planned for the future.
At the meeting current members will also be invited to vote to elect new members to our Board of Directors (see short biographies for members who are standing for election below). Voting will open at 12:30pm and close at 1:30pm.
The Members’ Meeting will be followed by the Opening Reception for our summer exhibitions from 2pm to 4pm.
Prospective New Members to Our Board of Directors
John Boychuk
John Boychuk is a professional artist and art professor who works with a wide variety of materials and processes, both traditional and digital. Over the course of 20+ years of art making, John has shown and taught internationally as well as in the Bay Area. He is a new teaching artist at Richmond Art Center. John grew up in the Detroit metropolitan area and now lives with his family in Richmond. Being a RAC board member would further connect his local community, his love of art and his experience of mentoring artists.
John has taught at Berkeley City College, SAE Expression College in Emeryville, and the University of Silicon Valley in San Jose. His greatest accomplishments as an educator are in supporting multicultural, gender-diverse, and economically challenged students to achieve their academic and personal goals. He encourages his students to question conventional ideas, form their own opinions and communicate that through their art. He is excited to work with Richmond Art Center to increase the creative opportunities for the communities of Richmond.
Jane Diokas
With her Master’s in printmaking from Illinois State University and background in teaching art at schools in underserved communities, as well as starting and running two successful design-based businesses, Jane Diokas is uniquely qualified to provide real world solutions that bridge the gap between idealism and financial necessity. She believes that art can be first and foremost a joyful pursuit that naturally expresses a higher truth. She hopes to help carry on the mission of the founder of Richmond Art Center – who believed there was an artist in everyone and that art was as vital as breathing – while aligning it with both contemporary values and needs.
Nettie Hoge
Nettie Hoge is an East Bay resident who is deeply grateful to the staff and faculty at Richmond Art Center for her cultivation of self-expression and personal growth in and as a result of Richmond Art Center’s painting and drawing classes. She would love to give back to RAC and the community surrounding it by serving on the board.
Nettie would bring a wealth of nonprofit experience to Richmond Art Center’s board. She has served on three nonprofit boards, including a stint as the chair of the Heyday Press board. She is a retired lawyer who has worked in many governmental and nonprofit organizations including as an executive director and a senior staff member. She served as Chief Deputy Commissioner at the California Department of Insurance during the term of Dave Jones. She provided legal assistance to victims of domestic violence as a Legal Services lawyer. While working for Consumers Union, she served on the advisory board for Health Access and litigated to establish funds for community health efforts as nonprofits like Blue Cross converted to for profit institutions. She was Executive Director for six years at TURN, a nonprofit, legal organization advocating at the Public Utilities Commission for utility consumer rights, and fare rates.
Susan Kuramoto Moffat
Susan Kuramoto Moffat melds the arts and the humanities and environmental design disciplines to study urban life. She is Executive Director of Global Urban Humanities Initiative and Creative Director of Future Histories Lab, two grant-funded interdisciplinary programs at UC Berkeley. She has worked in organizations ranging from small advocacy organizations (Greenbelt Alliance) to large bureaucracies (UC Berkeley) and has served on Albany’s City Council-appointed Waterfront Committee and Arts Committee in Albany. She founded a small non-profit community arts organization called Love the Bulb that brings outdoor music, dance, and theater performances and public art to non-traditional audiences. She brings an anti-racist and equity lens to all her work.
Susan earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard University and master’s degrees at UC Berkeley (City Planning) and Columbia (Journalism). She has lived in Albany since 1997. She looks forward to bringing her experience and expertise to Richmond Art Center’s board.
Rachel Sommovilla
Rachel Sommovilla was born and raised in the Philadelphia area, and received her B.A. degree in biological anthropology from Harvard University. She earned her law degree from UC Berkeley School of Law, practiced law in San Francisco and clerked for numerous Federal District Court judges before joining the Richmond City Attorney’s Office in 2012. As a Senior Assistant City Attorney and Interim City Attorney, Ms. Sommovilla’s duties included the handling of complex litigation and land use matters for the City, and advising the City Council, City Departments, and various boards and commissions. Ms. Sommovilla currently serves as Assistant County Counsel for Alameda County. While in the Richmond City Attorney’s office, Rachel and her two sons participated in various Richmond Art Center classes and summer programs. Rachel lives in El Cerrito with her two sons, husband and dog.
Image: Past and current members speaking about their artwork in 2019. Photos by Bill Johnston Jr
Liberación Gráfica at the Richmond Juneteenth Festival
Saturday, June 18, 12pm-3pm
Nicholls Park, 3230 Macdonald Avenue, Richmond, CA 94804
FREE
Join art collective Liberación Gráfica at Richmond’s Juneteenth Festival at Nicholls Park!
This summer Liberación Gráfica will be out in Richmond engaging youth and families at community events and local gathering places with live screen printing demonstrations. The prints will raise awareness to social issues faced in Richmond while reflecting the joy and resilience of the community. The goal of this project is to bring art directly to the people and inspire the community to engage with Richmond and each other through art.
Community Event Schedule:
Liberación Gráfica at the Richmond Juneteenth Festival Saturday, June 18, 12pm-3pm Nicholls Park, 3230 Macdonald Avenue, Richmond, CA 94804
Liberación Gráfica at Low Rider Sundays Sunday, July 31 12pm-3pm 23rd Street Between Grant Avenue and Rheem Ave
Liberación Gráfica at Richmond Flea Market Sunday, August 21,12pm-3pm 716 W. Gertrude Avenue, Richmond, CA 94801
More dates and locations to be announced. If you are interested in inviting Liberación Gráfica to a community event this summer, please contact Roberto Martinez at roberto@richmondartcenter.org
Liberación Gráfica is a community based art collective whose mission is to provide opportunities for self and community expression through silkscreen printing. The collective is made up of Richmond-based artists, teachers, and community organizers: Eddy Chacon, Lisette Vera, Daniel Cervantes and Francisco Rojas. Liberación Gráfica was established in 2019 and since has worked towards teaching youth the process of silkscreen printing through a social justice lens with the intention to bridge gaps between communities of color and bring awareness to social injustices faced by the Richmond community.
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 (currently being held via Zoom), 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.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11:00am – 2:30pm June 7 – June 30, 2022 For this three-week course, artists ages 13-17 will join mixed media visual artist, Alex Martinez, in exploring what legends, characters, and icons that have informed their personal identity or cultural understanding and shape their visual language.
Summer Mural Program for Richmond Youth Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1pm to 4pm June 14 – July 28, 2022 With instructors Fred Alvarado and Keena Azania Romano, a cohort of twelve young artists (ages 14-24) will learn about different models of community art projects and create a collaborative mural project. Students will learn basic color theory, composition, and painting methods. This class welcomes Spanish speakers and is an inclusive bilingual space. El Artista Maestro habla Español.
S.P.O.T.S: Supporting Peoples Outlooks, Talents, and Speech
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1pm to 4 pm
Jul 5 – Aug 11, 2022
The painting spot, the gathering spot, the spot light or epicenter of action.
Public art is a powerful tool for community building. This program will introduce young artists to the means to create vibrant community art works. A cohort of twelve young artists (ages 14-24) will learn about different models of community art projects, help to define how the program will local youth, and create a collaborative mural project. Students will learn basic color theory, composition, and painting methods.
CLICK HERE to view the mural created by youth participating in the program in 2021.
Eligibility: This six week class is for youth ages 14-24 who live, work or study in Richmond.
Stipend: Each student will receive a $200 stipend for their work at the completion of the program.
Schedule: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1pm-4pm, Jul 5 – Aug 11, 2022
Instructors: Fred Alvarado and Keena Azania Romano
This class welcomes Spanish speakers and is an inclusive bilingual space. El Artista Maestro habla Español.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11:00am – 2:30pm
June 14 – June 30, 2022
For this three-week course, youth ages 13-17 will join artist Alex Martinez to explore the legends, characters and icons that have informed their personal identity and cultural understanding, while developing their own visual language in mixed media.
La instructora de clase es bilingüe ingles / español.
About the Artist: Alex Martinez (she/her/they) is a Queer Latinx mixed media visual artist and teacher who is based in Oakland, California. Her mixed media paintings and prints playfully juxtapose her ancestors with Mexican ephemera, folklore, legends, and pop culture characters that represent her personal identity and visual landscape.
From April 6th to June 4th, the Richmond Art Center is presenting the paintings of popular local artist Dewey Crumpler. The exhibit features an absorbing survey of Crumpler’s “shipping container” work.
More than 120 pieces of his art will be on display, providing an opportunity for viewers “to consider the history, lived legacy and future impact of the global shipping industry”. In this series of works, including new large-scale paintings, Crumpler juxtaposes our dependence on container shipping with the consequences and heritage of cargo ships crossing the oceans over the centuries.
Dewey Crumpler: Crossings asks us to consider the history, lived legacy and future impact of the global shipping industry. Presenting over 120 works, from sketches to large scale paintings, the exhibition represents Crumpler’s twenty-five years of investigation into the beauty and power of ribbed, metal cargo boxes.
In Crumpler’s work shipping containers are dense metaphors; encompassing stories of mass migration, transformation and voyages destined to be repeated. They trace transatlantic trade routes that emerged in the 15th century and are still used today. They also show industry that has irrevocably shaped port cities like San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond. Through connecting historical and contemporary systems, time in Crumpler’s work becomes a loop of rebirth and decline pressed forward through the crossing of water. Crumpler explains, “At the heart of these works is memory.”
For more than 30 years Dewey Crumpler has been a major influence in Bay area artist communities. He has taught at the SF Art Institute since 1989. Recent retrospectives and exhibits include the Hedreen Gallery in Seattle and Frieze 2020, a virtual presentation curated by Zoe Whitley of London’s Chisenhale Gallery.
Crumpler’s work is in the permanent collections of museums in Oakland, Santa Clara and Los Angeles. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and other grants.
JEANNE POWELL is a published poet and essayist. She holds degrees from Wayne State University and the University of San Francisco. Jeanne has taught in the CS, UB and OLLI programs at universities in the City. Her books in print include MY OWN SILENCE and WORD DANCING from Taurean Horn Press.
Could there be a more perfect cover artwork for our Spring Catalog than instructor Chris Harper Triplett’s Flower Cowgirl? Some students may recognize this piece as Chris created it as a demo in her watercolor class back in 2018.
As Covid-19 case numbers continue to go down and the Bay Area gradually “opens up” you’ll see some positive changes rolling out at Richmond Art Center. Our gallery hours are expanding (Wed-Sat 10am-4pm), new staff hires are arriving (welcome Elaine Moreno, our new Visitor Services Coordinator), and more in-person classes will run as part of our Spring Session schedule. A highlight for me in the galleries this spring is—after a two year pause—the return of the WCCUSD Student Art Show. Be inspired by the skill and vision of the next generation of local artists.
There’s also a lot happening behind the scenes at RAC. Our education team is collaborating with RYSE Youth Center and East Bay Center for the Performing Arts to run a professional development training series for educators. The makeover of the metals studio continues and we are hosting the Metal Arts Guild Picnic. Artists-in-residence Liberación Gráfica are working in the print studio with a group of students from Richmond High. And we were excited to send three staff to the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference in Sacramento this past March. Marisa Burman, RAC’s Ceramics Manager, described the event as, “rich and stimulating”.
