Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA
FREE
Learn about Art of the African Diaspora in 2025! All artists interested in participating in the event, as well as those who have already registered, are invited.
Meet the Steering Committee members who are organizing the event
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 (courtyard), 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA
FREE
Richmond Art Center is excited to be one of the participating venues for Richmond Open Studios. Open Studio artists who will be at Richmond Art Center on August 17 are:
Hear about the journeys from San Quentin Arts Studio to Art Hazelwood’s studio in Richmond, and to Diablo Valley College for live steamroller printing.
Saturday, August 10, 11am-1pm
Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA
FREE
Join us for a conversation with JUST ARTISTS, a group of teaching artists and program alumni from the William James Association’s San Quentin Prison Arts Project. The artists will discuss their Taking Liberties print series, currently on view in the West Gallery.
Galleries open at 10am. Come early for an informal reception and to meet the artists. The program starts at 11am with an artist talk followed by a print demo.
JUST ARTISTS: Henry Frank, Nicola Bucci, Gary Harrell, Isiah Daniels, Felix Lucero, Katya McCulloch, Beth Thielen, Art Hazelwood
Henry Frank is a descendant of the great indigenous nations of the Yurok and Pomo Tribes. He is a returning resident, former Arts In Corrections participant/clerk, and currently working for the William James Association as the Communications Director and Teaching Artist at California Medical Facility (CMF). He uses his art to amplify the voices of people of color (specifically Native Americans), people who are currently experiencing incarceration, and returning residents (aka formerly incarcerated) to expose the mistreatment, dehumanization, and desolation.
Felix Lucero is of Mexican descent, a William James Association board member, a Returning Resident, a sheet-metal worker, a husband and father. He is a visual artist, specifically a block printer. He produces museum quality prints and has prints in the Library of Congress. He is a prolific writer and a self-taught guitarist.
Mwasi Fuvi was born in Springfield Mass. – a runaway who faced the adversities of the streets alone, searching for beauty in a world of loneliness and heartbreaks. Throughout he shows these struggles and beauty. He reveals the loneliness and the heart aches that he has endured. With a stroke of his brush he made the tears he shed disappear, the sadness he felt he turned to laughter, and his pangs turned into rains of a warm summer day. He can change day to night and paint a heaven from hell. No matter where he came from in life, his destination is only as great as his imagination.
Beth Thielen has worked with incarcerated and at risk populations for over 30 years. Her work and the work of her students are represented in the Library of Congress, the Getty Research Institute, the Hammer Museum. Houghton Library at Harvard, Yale University, as well as other public and private collections. She is the recipient of awards from the Puffin Foundation, the Kalliopeia Foundation, and is a Blue Mountain Center and Rauschenberg fellow. She currently resides in Fresno California.
Katya McCulloch, Director of TeamWorks Art Mentoring Program, is a community artist whose work, and collaborative works with students, are exhibited internationally and in private and public collections including the Library of Congress, UC Berkeley, Emory University, Stanford University, among other special collection libraries. As TeamWorks founding artist, she has made art with justice system involved youth in Marin County for 20 years. She has created community murals and public art in a wide variety of unconventional settings: Music Outback Foundation (Australia), Marin County Fair “Public Art Days”, Italian Street Painting Festival. Katya has 20 years of experience teaching printmaking at San Quentin State Prison through the William James Association Prison Arts Project.
Gary Harrell is aesthetic pleasing to the eyes. He is 69 years young. He is always thinking about his next project.
JUST ARTISTS who unfortunately cannot attend the event:
Art Hazelwood recently received the Art is A Hammer award for political printmaking from the Center for the Study of Political Graphics. This lifetime achievement award was previously given to artists including Jos Sances, Juan Fuentes and Emory Douglas. The obsession through which he’s worked as an artist is in searching out ways and means for art to have value in society; political, personal and cultural.
Nicola Bucci, an artist passionate about community outreach, expressing through surrealism, using life experiences, and spreading joy through art.
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.
