BIO Being exposed to Art and the Art world is how Val started. First she began studying Music then Dance and painting. Along with these endeavors, there was her camera. Her camera was present from High School on. Ever present, Photography slowly became her main vehicle of expression. Creating, capturing and preserving moments, documenting the Bay Area Black Experience, is Val’s overall artistic vision. All facets of her work present a world of images. A world where she creates, shares and grows.
STATEMENT While always working to perfect and expand her traditional/digital skills, Val dabbles with mixed media. Taking her images and converting them into canvas, creating multiple images in 1 frame or using color in unusual ways.
About: I like making all kinds of art. I like colors, I like sewing. Those are my drawings. I’m excited to show at the Richmond Art Center. I am from Richmond and I like being a NIAD artist.
About: I am a working artist living in Oakland, California. I make images by way of a camera selecting tonal relationships to my feelings. I am drawn to portraiture. Black and white film processing and printing in the darkroom are my ways of bringing the final image to life. Making portraits is an exciting way to connect with people. While I have the honor of having an individual before the lens, my goal is merging with the medium. These images I chose represent my black and white work that expresses my empathy to the Black Male in portraiture.
Most recent juried exhibits of my work include: Berkeley Civic Center Art Exhibition, 2019-Current; “In Focus: Current Photography”, Richmond Art Center, 2018; “The Capture of Life Absent from Color”, Joyce Gordon Gallery, 2014; “Seeing Berkeley”, Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, 2015- commissioned and purchased; “Dis/Order”, Juried Annual 2013, Pro Arts, Oakland, California.
About: I was born in the East Bay area and have lived and worked here my entire life. At 64 I am now retired and can focus on my love of artwork. I began collecting African trading beads at the Berkeley flea market back in the ’70s and never stopped; my works are created from beads found all over the world. The possibilities are endless with this medium and they are what keep my creative juices flowing. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do!
About: Keisha is an Artist from Richmond Ca. She likes working with textiles with lots of color and texture. Keisha is inspired by texture, colors, spring, flowers, grass and the sun.
About: Janay uses Acrylic paint on Canvas. Janay is using a Marbling technique inspired by other artists featured in YouTube Videos. Janay likes purple and is inspired by color. During shelter in place Janay has been making Art at home mostly at dinning room table.
About: As a Black woman artist living in Oakland, I am dedicated to creating art examining the impact of the African diaspora on our identity and sense of belonging.
The African word Sankofa best expresses the guiding force behind my work- to retrieve wisdom from the past that has been lost and taken away in order to reclaim, revive, and reshape it as we move forward to achieve our full potential.
I am combining elements from past drawings and prints in order to tell the African-American story of being uprooted from our homeland, re-rooted in a new and hostile environment. We have spilled out life’s blood into the earth through captivity and have labored to rise up from oppression, conflict, and turmoil.
About: I am a ceramic sculptural artist. I use African history to bring visual images to my art. I also have studied other cultures history to complete my art form. Using the human form is my key to these replications. At times I want movement to my art, I use dancers bodies, to show the strength and integrity of the people I may just use the torso and head.
With African features there are so many ways to show them. They are so expressive and those of African descent I hope can relate to the clay sculptures by seeing themselves or others in them. The hair is always combed in ways to show the texture of it, the lips and nose are full and very sensual. The skin coloring rich with the colors of the earth.
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More info: In a virtual show my sculptures are show as flat pictures 2D images verses 3D in the round. So the pictures are for sale which make beautiful wall hangings which go with any décor or mood of a space.
About: Deatra is an artist working at NIAD Art Center who likes to work with pencils, paper, paints, silkscreen, lino-cut print, ceramics and fiber.
“I am thinking about my work when I am doing my work. I’ve been coming to NIAD for a long time and I’m going down in history with NIAD. I like to cook, read and I like fashion.”
