Thank you for being an important part of Richmond Art Center’s vibrant and creative community. We really appreciate your generosity — especially now when your continued financial support is so vital to keep Richmond Art Center running.
For 85 years Richmond Art Center has been sharing and nurturing creativity in Richmond, CA. We are the largest visual arts center in the East Bay, a showcase and hands-on learning center that gives wide-ranging audiences the opportunity to create, see and learn about art. And this last year was momentous. After an eighteen month closure of our facility due to Covid-19, in September we successfully reopened for classes, exhibitions and some fabulous community events (see below for some highlights of 2021).
But these successes came at a cost. Richmond Art Center continues to take a financial hit with reduced enrollments, limited capacity for community activities, and shortened gallery and studio hours. We have ambitious plans for 2022, but with Covid-19 numbers currently increasing, we know we need to be poised for whatever comes our way.
Your donation, whatever the amount, will support our efforts to sustain our current activities, develop new programs, and be ready to tackle our next challenge.
We look forward to seeing you back at Richmond Art Center in 2022. Until then, we hope you stay safe and well.
With gratitude,
José Rivera Executive Director
Carlos Privat President, Board of Directors
Thank you to our community who came together in 2021 to…
Make our facility sparkle with renovated galleries & public spaces!
Run in-person, online & off-site classes for over 1,300 students!
Present 5 in-person exhibitions, 6 online exhibitions & 6 artist talks featuring over 350 artists!
Expand our scholarship program & free classes (30% of students took a class for free)!
Bring hundreds of people together safely in our courtyard for special events celebrating local art & artists, Día de los Muertos, and Indigenous Peoples’ Day!
Begin an artist residency with print collective Liberación Gráfica!
Plus so much more… and we ask for your help to keep going!
About: Pretty Fun Designs creates jewelry that reflects an eclectic mixture of frivolity, power and elegance. The items are consciously designed, hand-assembled, and energy-charged. Feel & look great wearing Pretty Fun Designs.
Pretty Fun Designs will be a vendor at the Holiday Arts Festival from 10am to 5pm on Sunday, December 4 at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond.
Julia Beery will be a vendor at the Holiday Arts Festival from 10am to 5pm on Sunday, December 4 at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond.
About: I combine hand blown glass and wood to make unique creations. I use wood sourced from tree jobs and that I find on hikes. Some pieces I carve and/or burn for desired effect.
Eyes for Trees will be a vendor at the Holiday Arts Festival from 10am to 5pm on Sunday, December 4 at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond.
About: Necklaces, scarfs and purses and bags are the major items I create in textiles, using my own designed fabric. Pillows, table cloths and abstract work you can use as interior design. I am showing at ETSY and the East Bay Open Studios regularly.
About: As a ceramic artist I love the diversity of form and surface with clay. I make one of a kind functional art & sculpture; no two pieces are the same. Visit my Etsy page to see more. Have a question, email me: CERAMICSbyREGINA@gmail.com
CERAMICSbyREGINA will be a vendor at the Holiday Arts Festival from 10am to 5pm on Sunday, December 4 at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond.
“It gave me a sense of hope and that my circle of support was widening at a time when we were all feeling increased isolation.”
By Laura Kamian McDermott
In Summer of 2019 I dropped off my “Studio Ceiling, Giant Trade Center” tapestry at the Richmond Art Center for their annual Members Exhibition. I was elated to hear from the curator on the eve of the opening that this tapestry had earned me a 3-person exhibition to be held in the Summer of 2020! The other artists chosen were Steven Morales, a Richmond-based mixed-media artist who is influenced by materials and themes in his architecture practice, and Oakland-based ceramicist and painter Leslie Plato Smith whose work focuses on climate issues.
Leslie, Steven and I started having rotating potluck dinners at each other’s houses to get to know each other better and talk art. In January of 2020 Amy Spencer, the RAC Exhibitions Director, came to our studios to choose work for the summer show. Then came March 2020…
Throughout the shutdown, all four of us kept in touch, checking in on each other, our families, our art practices, and how we were all coping. It was comforting to have these brand-new connections in my life. It gave me a sense of hope and that my circle of support was widening at a time when we were all feeling increased isolation. Big thanks to Amy, Leslie, and Steven for staying in touch!
Fast forward to Fall 2021… We are cautiously entering better times! The galleries at the Richmond Art Center are now open and they are offering some in-person classes in addition to the online classes they hosted throughout the pandemic. Our show, now titled “Opossum Magic,” based on an opossum trapped in Leslie’s studio, is one of 4 shows on display during this tender moment of reopening. The theme of our show centers on our shared use of materials and inspirations from our everyday life in our creative work. My “Jagged Skyline of Car Keys” series, based on keys from my junk drawer, is on display as well as several other tapestries. Also included is a large-scale felted I-Cord (knitted tube), hung in the abstract gesture and knotted shape that the felting process helped set it into. I also updated my Armenian Alphabet series, spelling out some new words related to our shared pandemic experience and re-opening: “Breath, shunch”, “Community, hamaynk”, and “Connection, kap.” My work is interspersed with Leslie and Steven’s throughout the gallery. All our works are full of rich textures and vivid colors, a great celebration for the RAC’s re-opening! We were able to hold a Covid19-friendly reception on October 16th, making use of the outdoor courtyard. It very nearly felt like a normal reception and was so good for the soul. Thank you Care and Dance for coming out! Throughout the show I’ve been meeting friends and family, some of whom I haven’t seen in over two years, at the gallery for intimate small group visits. It has been a sweet and hopeful way to re-gather. As of this writing, two of the key skyline pieces have sold from the RAC show, and I’ve also sold a few pieces off of my website and Instagram earlier in the year. Priorities shifted during the past couple of years, and I’m glad to see personal art purchases bringing joy and comfort into people’s homes.
Opossum Magic is on display through November 18th. I hope those of you who are nearby get a chance to see it in person! Let me know if you are planning a visit, I’m 10 minutes away and may be able to meet you. And check out the three other exhibits while you are there:
Laura Kamian McDermott wrote this piece for the Tapestry Weavers West newsletter. Thank you for sharing it with us also, Laura! tapestryweaverswest.org
Top Image: Leslie Smith (left), Steven Morales (center), and Laura Kamian McDermott (right) at Richmond Art Center. Note, masks were temporarily removed for this photo. Please wear your mask at RAC. 🙂
About: My ceramic work is primarily thrown on the wheel and hand-painted with underglaze. It is made from very durable porcelain clay which is food safe, and microwave and dishwasher friendly. I often color the clay itself using powdered mason stains. Then I paint on top of that colored background and fire the clay in a high-fire reduction kiln. I like to imagine each piece after it leaves my studio and continues its life in someone’s home. It brings me endless satisfaction to share with others and communicate through clay. I believe that daily rituals with handmade vessels can enrich our lives with joy, meaning, and community.
Please contact me via email if you have any questions or want to connect! marisa.burman@gmail.com
Marisa Burman will be a vendor at the Holiday Arts Festival from 10am to 5pm on Sunday, December 4 at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond.
