Tom Marioni is a San Francisco-based artist, curator, and writer who played a key role in Bay Area conceptual art in the 1970s—a movement in which artists used humor and action to intertwine art and daily life. Marioni moved to San Francisco from Cincinnati in 1959. His first major foray into the San Francisco art scene occurred nine years later, when he became curator at the Richmond Art Center.
From 1968 to 1971, Marioni presented exhibitions at the Richmond Art Center that challenged traditional notions of art. Exhibitions such as The Return of Abstract Expressionism centered Marioni’s artist peers—a group that made ephemeral artwork that centered movement—and placed them into dialogue with art historical figures. Other exhibitions, such as Invisible Painting and Sculpture, demonstrated these artists’ move away from object-based artworks and towards art practices that prioritized space and ideas. While Marioni’s exhibitions at the Richmond Art Center are now celebrated as defining moments in Bay Area art history, they were controversial and challenging for audiences in the 1970s. As a result, Marioni was dismissed from his job at the Richmond Art Center in 1971 after the opening reception of California Girls. The exhibition, which marked the end of Marioni’s tenure at the Richmond Art Center, presented artwork by women living in California and included early works from the feminist art movement.
Independent curator Shaelyn Hanes interviewed Marioni in April 2021 to reflect on his time at the Richmond Art Center and consider the 50th anniversary of California Girls.
SHAELYN HANES: What was the Richmond Art Center known for when you became curator in 1968?
TOM MARIONI: The Richmond Art Center was founded by a woman named Hazel Salmi in 1936. It was one of the most forward-looking galleries in the Bay Area. In the 1950s, it showed the Bay Area Figurative artists. In the 1960s, it showed the Funk artists. When I became curator at the Richmond Art Center in 1968, I wanted to carry on that tradition. That’s when conceptual art was born, so that’s what I showed. Conceptual art wasn’t the majority of what I did, but those were the things that got noticed because they were controversial and underground.
HANES: The Richmond Art Center gained a lot of recognition for those exhibitions, right?
MARIONI: I curated an exhibition called Invisible Painting and Sculpture in 1969. It was the first time Larry Bell, an important leader of L.A.’s Space and Light movement, was seen in the Bay Area. The exhibition didn’t get reviewed in the [San FranciscoChronicle] newspaper, so I wrote a letter to the editor and the art critic. I explained the concept and argued that Invisible Painting and Sculpture was an important show. After that, the editor decided to pay more attention to the Richmond Art Center. That was when [Bay Area art historian and critic] Thomas Albright became an art critic. Albright didn’t drive, so he’d take the bus to the Richmond Art Center. At first, he was critical of the shows I did, like The Return of Abstract Expressionism. It took a long time for him to come around to conceptual art, as it did for most of the Bay Area.
HANES: How did working as a curator inform your practice as a sculptor? Did curating play a role in your move towards the social artworks [staged events in which the artist controls the environment and/or participants] that you made in the 1970s?
MARIONI: When I moved to San Francisco in 1959, I was a minimalist sculptor. San Francisco was expressionistic and figurative. I was doing work that looked like it came out of L.A., where the style was clean and plastic. After hanging shows at the Richmond Art Center, my sculpture expanded to focus on installation instead of single objects. I became a conceptual artist around 1968 when I learned of Joseph Beuys’s idea of social sculpture [the concept that everything in life is art and anyone can be an artist]. The work that I’m most known for, The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art (1970), is like an opening reception. Receptions are like parties. I always thought the alcohol was an aid to communication. It gets everybody to loosen up.
HANES: What about the logistics of working as both an artist and a curator? I know you worked under a pseudonym for a while.
MARIONI: When I did Invisible Painting and Sculpture, I produced a catalog that listed the artists alphabetically. I included myself in the catalog by inserting two blank pages where my name would have been. That was the first time I included myself as an artist in an exhibition. When I was organizing the next show, TheReturn of Abstract Expressionism, I selected mostly wall pieces. I needed something on the floor, so I created Birds in Flight (1969). For that piece, I sent instructions to throw crumpled paper on the floor to myself, the curator, from someone named Allan Fish. I made artwork under the name Allan Fish for the next three years while I was curator at the Richmond Art Center. It was a conflict of interest to be an artist and a curator, especially if you put yourself in the show. I exposed it in 1971 after I left the Richmond Art Center.
The Return of Abstract Expressionism (installation view), 1969. Richmond Art Center Archive
HANES: Could you tell me about some of the more memorable exhibitions you curated at the Richmond Art Center?
MARIONI: Every year, the Richmond Art Center would have a juried annual, which alternated between a Sculpture Annual and a Painting Annual. I got [renowned American painter] Wayne Thiebaud to jury the Painting Annual and Larry Bell to jury the Sculpture Annual. Larry Bell’s Sculpture Annual was a scandal because he only picked three artists and they were all conceptual artists: Terry Fox, Paul Kos, and James McCready. Everyone else was a “first prize winner” and got their $5 entry fee back. I got blamed for it, but it was all Larry Bell. I had no idea that he would select those works.
HANES: Terry Fox’s Levitation (1970) was also a bit of a scandal, right?
MARIONI: I first met Terry Fox when I included him in The Return of Abstract Expressionism. After that, I invited him to perform his famous Levitation piece at the Richmond Art Center. He covered the gallery floor with white paper and made a dirt island [in the center of the room]. He laid on the floor and tried to levitate. Fox had Hodgkin’s disease and the piece was related to his illness. The Director of Parks and Recreation forced that show to close after three days because he said it was obnoxious. He got the Health Department to say the dirt was a health hazard and the Fire Department to say the paper was a fire hazard.
Terry Fox, Levitation, 1970. From Performance Anthology: Source Book for a Decade of California Performance Art (San Francisco: Contemporary Arts Press, 1980), page 15.
MARIONI: Another work that closed early was Paul Kos’s Richmond Glacier (1969). I met Paul Kos when he came to see InvisiblePainting and Sculpture. He showed me his work and I invited him to have a solo show, which was titled Participation Kinetics (1969). Richmond Glacier was in that show. It consisted of 25-pound blocks of ice stacked to make a big [7,000 pound] sculpture that would have taken a few days to melt. It blocked the main entrance of the museum. Kos wanted viewers to go around the side of the museum to get into the gallery, but the city carted it away.
Paul Kos, Richmond Glacier, 1969. Richmond Art Center Archive
HANES: Are there any other moments or artworks that stand out in your memory from your time at the Richmond Art Center?
MARIONI: Before I applied to the job at the Richmond Art Center, I showed my sculptures to Hayward King, who was the director and curator at the time. He invited me to have a show. Then, about a month later, I interviewed for the curator’s job and they hired me. In the meantime, my show was already scheduled by Hayward King, so I installed it. When the exhibition was reviewed, a reporter claimed that the first thing I did as curator at the Richmond Art Center was to exhibit my own work, which wasn’t true. That was something I always regretted not being able to correct.
HANES: What was the last exhibition you curated at the Richmond Art Center?
MARIONI: The last show I curated was a group exhibition of women artists from L.A. and San Francisco. Janet Webb was an interesting conceptual artist in L.A., and she gave me the idea for the name for the show—California Girls, based on the Beach Boys song that was popular in the late 1960s. Liz King had a very interesting piece in the show. My favorite was Marsha Fox’s sculpture, which was a bra for a cow. It had big straps that went around the cow with a cup for each of the nipples. It was a really great hanging sculpture made out of cloth, like a [Claes] Oldenburg. I was friends with Judy Chicago and her husband, Lloyd Hamrol, at the time. Chicago was a prominent artist in L.A. who also taught feminist studio art classes at Fresno [State College]. The fact that she was a woman that didn’t keep her down any, because she was so strong. She was responsible for me getting fired from the Richmond Art Center. We weren’t friends after that, and I haven’t seen her since.
HANES: Was your relationship with Chicago and Hamrol what connected you to the feminist art movement and led to the California Girls exhibition?
MARIONI: Not really. I always thought that men become artists because they want to express their female side. I think most male artists are feminists. That’s what the premise of the show was. And I think it was probably one of the first feminist art shows in the country. I can’t say for sure, but I didn’t know of any other at the time.
HANES: Were all of the artists part of the feminist art movement or was the exhibition feminist because the works were political?
MARIONI: I didn’t think of it as a feminist art show at the time. I just thought of it as a show of women artists.
HANES: Can you tell me about the opening reception of California Girls and the piece that Judy Chicago sent her student [from the Fresno State College Feminist Art Program] to perform?
MARIONI: Ernie Kim was Head of Education [at the Richmond Art Center] and taught ceramics. He asked me what was going to happen at the opening, and I told him. Kim told the Director of Parks and Recreation, who never came to any of the openings of the shows I curated. The Director of Parks and Recreation came to California Girls and stayed until the end, when Judy Chicago’s student [Cheryl Zurilgen] performed. She wore a white, two-piece bathing suit and strapped a milking machine to herself. She laid a long strip of paper on the floor of the front hall. She crawled on her hands and knees and dragged cow’s blood on the paper. It was creepy. I got fired the next day.
HANES: Did they fire you because, similar to the Fox piece, there was blood in the gallery?
MARIONI: The Richmond Art Center had been trying to fire me since the Terry Fox show, but Hayward King wouldn’t do it. He always gave me a good review because I was putting the Richmond Art Center on the map. They fired him a year before I left, so I was in charge the last year I was there. As soon as I got fired, they made Ernie Kim acting director. It’s like he was after my job. It was a dirty trick.
HANES: I’m interested to hear about your approach to curating California Girls 2 in 2021. How does this presentation of artists relate to the original exhibition? Are you going to invite any of the original artists?
MARIONI: I don’t know any of the original artists anymore. It’s been 50 years and some of them have died or moved away. Liz King became a famous sculptor in West Virginia. Janet Webb lives in New Mexico. There’s no way to invite any of the original artists after this many years. The women I’m inviting to California Girls 2 are women artists that I know and admire.
HANES: Why is it important to reconsider California Girls from the current contemporary moment?
MARIONI: Two reasons: it’s the 50th anniversary of the original exhibition and there’s the #MeToo movement. Also, some of the most prominent artists today are women.
Shaelyn Hanes is a San Francisco-based curator, writer, and arts professional. She has supported curatorial projects at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art. Shaelyn earned an MA in Curatorial Practice at California College of the Arts in 2021 and a BA in Interdisciplinary Field Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 2010. Her graduate thesis explores the role that women artists played in Tom Marioni’s Museum of Conceptual Art in the early 1970s.
CLICK HERE to view California Girls 2, an online exhibition curated by Tom Marioni.
Top image: Allan Fish (Tom Marioni), Birds in Flight, 1969. Courtesy of the Artist
The Richmond Art Center (RAC) is celebrating Pride month by hosting a free online “Drag Queen Story Hour with PerSia” on Saturday, June 12 from 10-11 a.m. In an event geared toward kids and their families, PerSia will read A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, according to the RAC.
ISSUE 22 The Latest Edition | Celebrating Pride | Live Online Soon! | Summer Fun for Young Artists Taller de comunicación gratuito (Free Communications Workshop)
The Latest Edition
Summer 2021 Class Catalog
Our Summer Class Catalog is here! Register today for online classes starting weekly June through August.
Richmond Art Center celebrates Pride with this special online event. Join PerSia as she reads A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss. This event is for kids and their families.
Drag Queen Story Hour captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models.
Live Online Soon! Artist Talks with Richmond artists & their peers
End in Sight
Three Artists’ Bittersweet Journey Through a Pandemic
Online Artists’ Talk: Thursday, June 24, 7-8pm PST
Three Richmond artists – Elishes Cavness, Tiffany Conway and Marva – have studios very close to each other, and over the past eighteen months have developed a special bond.
We’ve lined up some exciting online activities to keep young artists creative this summer! Drop in to single classes or sign up for an entire session. Unicorn Camp, Squishy Wonderful Clay, plus so much more… For Ages 5+
Taller de comunicación gratuito (Free Communications Workshop)
Cuenta Tu Historia
Taller: Sábado, 12 de junio, 9:15 am – 11:15 am
Un taller de narración personalizado para líderes, defensores y aquellos motivados a hablar por y servir de manera significativa a su comunidad.
En este taller de 90 minutos facilitado por The Practice Space, los participantes aprenderán cómo crear y entregar historias personales convincentes, conectar las experiencias personal con los temas importantes, y tendrán la oportunidad de agregar sus historias a un repositorio creciente de historias de personas que viven y trabajan en la ciudad de Richmond.
Richmond Art Center celebrates Pride with this special online event. Join PerSia as she reads A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss. This event is for kids and their families.
About PerSia: With a pedigree from weekly performances at the late, iconic Esta Noche, PerSia’s trajectory has gone on to include art curation, stand-up, television, and maybe a quinceañera or two, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and México. Currently she is a regular performer in the nationally acclaimed “Drag Queen Story Hour” as well as an educator in residence at the Children’s After School Arts (CASA) program in the San Francisco Unified School District profiled on KQED Arts and National Public Radio.
About Drag Queen Story Hour: Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) is just what it sounds like—drag queens reading stories to children in libraries, schools, and bookstores. DQSH captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models. In spaces like this, kids are able to see people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people can present as they wish, where dress up is real.
ISSUE 21 Summer Session is Here | An Update on Reopening RAC | Live Online Soon! | The Beginners Gallery | Job Opportunities
Summer Session is Here
Registration for Summer Session NOW OPEN
Classes for Adults! Paint Sketching Experiments, Figure Drawing from Photos, Beginner’s Sumi-e, and more!
Classes for Kids! Squishy Wonderful Clay!, Animals and Beyond, Unicorn Camp, and more!
And don’t forget, we have scholarships too!! Apply now.
Image: Artwork by Lauren Ari. Lauren is teaching Animals and Beyond! this summer for kids (K-3rd grade) to get to know their letters, shapes and numbers in fun and creative ways.
“It’s happening! The gradual process of reopening Richmond Art Center will begin this summer. While the bulk of our classes and events remain online for now, plans are in place for a series of small on-site activities starting in July that will pilot our ability to open safely to the general public in early fall,” says RAC’s Executive Director José Rivera.
“The great news is, with dedicated funding from an anonymous donor, we are able to use this transition time to makeover some of our public spaces and galleries. RAC is going sparkle!”
Three artists discuss the threads and themes of their work
Online Artists’ Talk: Thursday, June 10, 7-8pm PST
We hope you can join us for a special event bringing together three artists: Shari Arai DeBoer, Manon Wada, Irene Wibawa. While working in different media, scale and modes for investigation, the artists’ work is interconnected through their consideration of family stories, nature and resilience during these challenging times. Note: Due to an unexpected occurrence this event is now happening on Thursday, June 10, 7-8pm (it was previously scheduled for 5/27).
These beautiful drawings are by beginner students in Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez’s online Fundamental Drawing class. Want to learn to draw like this? Sign up for Rebeca’s next beginners class starting Wednesday, June 2.
Staff selected to share these amazing works by students Jeanette, Judith, Lorna, and Susana. But there is so much more! Stay tuned for a ‘Call for Art’ coming soon as we feature student work in an online exhibition this summer.
Richmond Art Center is looking for a Curator! This part-time position will be responsible for a number of exhibitions as we plan to reopen our facility later this year.
Richmond Art Center is looking teaching artists for in-person and online classes this fall. We offer arts education classes for adults, teens, kids and families. We are open to new class proposals in all/any visual media!
Art Researcher / Writers / Curator, City of Richmond
The City of Richmond is seeking art researchers/writers/curators to document public art in Richmond. This documentation will require site visits to procure or confirm rough measurements, materials used, assess the current condition or maintenance needs, and take photographs. Fee: $10,000
Facilitator, Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County
The Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County is seeking a professional to facilitate two community workshops and complete an Arts and Culture Prospectus of Contra Costa County.
Top image: Nicole Mueller’s site specific installation, Thresholds, at Richmond Art Center, 2019. Photo by Bill Johnston Jr.
Richmond Art Center is implementing a COVID-19 Prevention Plan (download the complete plan below) to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
RAC’s safety protocols for all visitors include:
A requirement that all staff and visitors over the age of two wear masks at all times inside the building
An attendance limit of twenty-five percent capacity in all studio classes and galleries
Increased sanitizing of public spaces
Hand sanitizer stations installed at the entrances
Requirements that folks stay home if they:
Have symptoms of COVID-19;
Have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and have not yet been released from isolation; or
In the past 14 days, have had contact with someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 and is considered potentially infectious (i.e., still on isolation).
COVID-19 PREVENTION PLAN
Effective August 18, 2021
Richmond Art Center’s COVID-19 Prevention Plan (CPP) is designed to control exposures to COVID-19 that may occur in our workplace. It is intended to comply with requirements pursuant to the Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) in place for COVID-19 under California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 3205(c). Richmond Art Center has utilized the Cal/OSHA model program and the FED/OSHA regulations and tailored the content to our workplace.
Richmond Art Center’s COVID training is for regular attendees including students, staff and volunteers to our facility. It’s purpose is to communicate RAC’s plan for reducing the risk and spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.
ISSUE 20 Three Artists Talk | Two Artists Talk | We’re Hiring!
Flora, Family Ghosts + Resilient Correspondence
Three artists discuss the threads and themes of their work
Online Artists’ Talk: Thursday, May 27, 7-8pm PST
Join us for a special event bringing together three artists – Shari Arai DeBoer, Manon Wada, Irene Wibawa – to discuss intersecting themes within their creative practice. While working in different media, scale and modes for investigation, the artists’ work is interconnected through their consideration of family stories, nature and resilience during these challenging times.
Image: Details of work by (l-r) Irene Wibawa, Shari Arai DeBoer, and Manon Wada
A conversation between Raymond Holbert and VirgiNia Jourdan
Online Artists’ Talk: Saturday, May 15, 3pm-4:30pm PST
Raymond Holbert is a prolific artist, professor of art and design, and fascinating person. Holbert’s street photography focuses on a range of subjects; from a fascination with medicine, science and leisure, to current public dilemmas. For this online special event, that is part of Art of the African Diaspora 2021, Holbert will speak about his work with artist VirgiNia Jourdan.
Richmond Art Center is looking for a Curator! This part-time position will be responsible for a number of exhibitions as we plan to reopen our facility in the summer. Position open until filled.
Image: Nicole Mueller’s site specific installation, Thresholds, at Richmond Art Center, 2019. Photo by Bill Johnston Jr.
Job Title: Curator Organization: Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA 94804 Salary: $33.65 per hour Job Type: Part-Time, 12-Month Contract Schedule: This position is 20 hours per week. Many of the position’s duties can be conducted offsite. The schedule is flexible, but the Curator must be able to be onsite for exhibition installations, and attend opening receptions and program events that often happen on weekends and weekday evenings. Application Deadline: Open Until Filled
About Richmond Art Center: For over 80 years, Richmond Art Center has served 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. Our organizational values – relevance, equity and creativity – guide our programming.
About the Exhibition Program: The goals of our exhibition program are to introduce new artists, artwork and perspectives on art; engage Richmond audiences; enhance the visibility of underrepresented groups/artists; and serve as a catalyst for community interaction. Before the covid pandemic, we presented 12-16 exhibitions and attracted over 15,000 visitors to our four gallery spaces annually. Our exhibitions featured the work of predominantly Bay Area artists at different stages in their careers – established, early career, students and youth. Notable annual community exhibitions include Art of the African Diaspora/The Art of Living Black (since 1997, an annual exhibition of work by artists of African descent), and the WCCUSD Art Show (since 1965, an annual exhibition of over 500 student works from 12 local middle and high schools).
Position overview: Richmond Art Center is looking for a part-time Curator to be responsible for a number of exhibitions, and correlating public programs, as we plan to reopen our facility in the summer.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Support Richmond Art Center’s commitment to producing exhibitions that reflect our values and our community.
Curate at least 2 exhibitions, as well as coordinate the production of 3-4 more working with guest curators and/or community groups. Note: 75% of our 2021-2022 exhibition calendar is scheduled, so the Curator needs to be open to managing exhibitions that are already on the roster. But there is some space for developing new projects from start to finish.
Develop, plan and run public events that support the exhibitions, including (but not limited to) talks, tours, performances, and workshops.
Support all areas of exhibition planning in conjunction with the Executive Director and Exhibitions Director, including loan paperwork and contracts, installation (pitching in when appropriate), budgets, and assessment/evaluation.
Build relationships with local artists, community organizations, and Richmond Art Center’s students to support and grow the reputation of Richmond Art Center.
Seek resources and sponsors for projects, and assist in providing content for grant applications.
Assist design promotional material, give creative input, and edit images
Skills and Qualifications
Four years work experience in a relevant field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Prefer experience focused on contemporary art, local artists, non-profit arts, and/or community organizing.
Strong interpersonal skills, and friendly demeanor with an ability to collaborate with artists, guest curators, partners, and staff. Must be comfortable with public speaking.
Proficiency with Google Docs, administrative softwares, and social media platforms.
Experience with art handling and installation.
Spanish language proficiency is a plus, but not required.
To apply: Interested candidates should send a cover letter, their resume, and (optional) writing samples (such as a press release, curatorial text, website content, promotional material, etc): jobsapp@richmondartcenter.org
Richmond Art Center is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
Top image: Nicole Mueller’s site specific installation, Thresholds, at Richmond Art Center, 2019. Photo by Bill Johnston Jr.
ISSUE 19 AOTAD Artist Talk | WCCUSD Student Art | It’s Nearly May Already! | Classes Starting Soon | Call for Poets Artist Talk
ART – A Life Long Commitment
A conversation with Raymond Holbert
Saturday, May 15, 3pm-4:30pm PST
Raymond Holbert is a prolific artist, professor of art and design, and fascinating person. Holbert’s street photography focuses on a range of subjects; from a fascination with medicine, science and leisure, to current public dilemmas. For this online special event, that is part of Art of the African Diaspora 2021, Holbert will speak about his work with artist VirgiNia Jourdan.
Image: Artist Marva Reed having an impromptu conversation with Raymond Holbert at RAC in early 2020
We celebrate all the amazing artwork in the 55th Annual WCCUSD Student Art Show, and are excited to announce the students who have received Artistic Merit Awards: Jasmine Agapito, Hercules High; Yamna Ahmadi, Pinole Valley High; Aaeh Chao, John F. Kennedy High; Monica Jimenez, John F. Kennedy High; Karyna Kolley, De Anza High; Jeremy Lara, Pinole Valley High; Bertha, Pinole Valley High; Monte, Pinole Valley High; Nhi, De Anza High; Jonathan, Richmond High; Isabella Sesante Aurigui, Fred T. Korematsu Middle School
Congratulations on your creative achievements this past year!
With the moon nearly a third of the way through its orbit of 2021, we think its as good a moment as any to take some time for reflection and intention around self-care. Please enjoy this bilingual activity sheet by Vero d. Orozco @verodorozco
The City of Richmond’s Arts and Culture Commission (RACC) is seeking a new Poet Laureate! In recognizing that poetry should be accessible to people from all walks of life, the Richmond Poet Laureate promotes the appreciation and dissemination of poetry in Richmond and acts as a spokesperson for the growing number of poets and writers in Richmond.
Name five things you do to take care of yourself! This can include anything you do for your mental, physical or spiritual health. For example, running, watching your favorite movies with your family, praying, or dancing.
Nombra cinco cosas que haces para cuidarte. Esto puede incluir cualquier cosa que hagas por tu salud mental, física o espiritual. Por ejemplo, correr, ver tu película favorita con tu familia, orar o bailar.
