A calendar full of exciting Spring events takes place this month at the Richmond Art Center.
Events are for everyone at the Richmond Art Center this April. Starting off the month on Saturday, April 1, a panel of artists from the Marking Space sculpture and installation exhibition. Artists Mari Andrews, Genevieve Hastings, Jann Nunn, Gay Outlaw, and Lucy Puls will speak to their work and the ways that sculpture have moved off the historical pedestal in a variety of methods and materials. The panel will be moderated by Jan Wurm, the Art Center’s Director of Exhibitions, and takes place in the Main Gallery from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. This talk is free. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/artists-panel-marking-space/
On Wednesday, April 5, artist, educator, and author of Living and Sustaining a Creative Life, Sharon Louden will be discussing her new book, The Artist as Culture Producer. Opening a dialogue on how artists contribute and enrich our culture, the author will share a collection of artists’ essays, a wealth of experience and dedication by artists active across the country. This talk and book launch will take place from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm and is free to the public. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/living-sustaining-creative-life/
On Saturday, April 8, another artists’ panel, featuring several artists showcased in Mapping the Uncharted will discuss their varied and fascinating approach to understanding maps and creating art with and from them. Mark Garrett, Indira Martina Morre, Lordy Rodriguez, and Diane Rosenblum, in conversation with Director of Exhibitions Jan Wurm, share their use of physical maps as a point of departure for reconfiguring impressions of geography, politics, and visual language. This talk takes place in the Main Gallery from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and is free. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/artists-panel-mapping-uncharted/
Printmaking artists are encouraged to submit their work by April 10 to the upcoming juried show, Pressing On—Contemporary Printmaking Juried Exhibition (June 13 – August 19, 2017), which offers the opportunity to see the most contemporary explorations in contemporary printmaking. In a time when things happen with the push of a button, the hands-on mixing materials and process – the transformation from plate to print—is still magical. All current trendmakers in printmaking are encouraged to apply. The juror for Pressing On is Karin Breuer, Curator in Charge of the Achenbach Graphic Arts Foundation of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. For more information about this Call for Artists, please visit the Richmond Art Center’s website: https://richmondartcenter.org/calls-for-artists/
The Richmond Art Center has a five decade-long partnership with the WCCUSD, and many of the district’s art students receive instruction from teachers who have received art-specific training through the Art Center. The public is invited to a special reception honoring the WCCUSD students and art teachers on Thursday, April 13 from 5:00 – 7:00 pm. The 52nd Annual WCCUSD Student Art Show features over 250 works of art, created in a variety of media—from ceramics to acrylic— representing the creative artistic talents of students from middle and high schools throughout the school district. The John F. Kennedy Band will perform and several art awards will be given out for the students’ artistic talent and originality. The West Contra Costa Unified School District has generously sponsored the annual student exhibition. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/wccusd-student-art-show-reception/
On Saturday, April 22 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, the Art Center’s Open House is a day to celebrate and honor RAC students, teaching artists, and the community! The public is invited to explore the galleries and studios, and meet the teaching artists and students. The Open House will include demos and activities in each studio, and a wonderful variety of art for sale created by our talented students. Visitors should bring their appetites: the Open House will also have a bake sale (to benefit the Studio Education department), handmade pasta from the Cosa Nostra Food Truck, and Richmond’s own Kim’s Louisiana Fried Turkey sliders. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/open-house-2/
Finishing up April on Saturday, April 29, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm is the monthly See & Make Art class, which takes place the last Saturday of each month. Meet at the Madeline F. Whittlesey Community Room at the Richmond Public Library, Main Branch (325 Civic Center Plaza) for a story and to make some art. The group continues to the Art Center to visit the galleries and enjoy the latest exhibitions. See & Make Art is open to all ages, and families welcome. This event is free. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/see-make-art/
Images: Gay Outlaw, For Sale By Owner
Mark Garrett, Black Europa
Joelle Park, Landscape 1
We have a few spaces left for our current student artists to sell their work at our upcoming Open House on April 22. Click here to learn more and apply!
We add our voice and join with so many others who understand and value the crucial impact the arts and humanities bring to us as individuals, as members of our communities, and to our society, nationally and globally.
The proposed federal budget estimates $54 billion in domestic program cuts, which will eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the funding for afterschool programs throughout the country. These critical funds support local artists, writers, poets, historians, and nonprofit arts organizations, such as the Richmond Art Center’s Art in the Community program, making the arts accessible to underserved Richmond children and teens.
The Richmond Art Center stands with our nonprofit and cultural partners, and with citizens across our country, to support those agencies and organizations that may be impacted by this proposed budget. Our own roots at the Art Center trace back to 1936 when, with the support of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), local artist Hazel Salmi traveled the streets of Richmond with a suitcase packed with art supplies, eager to teach art to anyone interested. The value the role of the arts and humanities play in our lives, and the benefit to our larger society, cannot be discounted.
We realize that the House of Representatives and the Senate are now tasked with refining, reviewing, and approving the federal budget—a process that will span the next few months.
We will be urging our representatives in Congress to continue funding these agencies and hope that you, our dedicated and vibrant community of artists and arts enthusiasts, will lend your voices in speaking to your legislators about the vital influence, critical discourse, and positive societal impact that the arts bring to all of our lives.
Very best regards,
Ric Ambrose Executive Director, Richmond Art Center
Behind the scenes when installing a new show can be adventurous work! Here are a couple of peeks from our new exhibition, Marking Space, which opens next Tuesday, March 21, at 10:00 am. But you can see everything this coming Saturday at our Opening Reception for Spring Exhibitions from 5:00 to 7:00pm.
This unique survey of sculpture and installation features the work of Mari Andrews, Robert Brady, Genevieve Hastings, Jann Nunn, Gay Outlaw, Lucy Puls, and Tracey Snelling.
Thanks to Director of Exhibitions Jan Wurm for the photos.
52nd Annual West Contra Costa Unified School District and Richmond Art Center Art in the Community Student Shows This Spring
Popular shows featuring the artwork of hundreds of local students return to the Art Center’s Community Gallery this season.
RICHMOND, CA — March 9, 2017 — This Spring, the Richmond Art Center will present two exhibitions showcasing the work of West Contra Costa Unified School District’s elementary, middle and high school students. The 52nd Annual West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) Student Art Show opens in the Community Gallery on Tuesday, March 20, followed by the Richmond Art Center’s Art in the Community Show on April 29, 2017.
Joelle Park, 10th grade, El Cerrito High School
The Richmond Art Center has a five decade-long partnership with the WCCUSD, and many of the district’s art students receive instruction from teachers who have received art-specific training through the Art Center. This exhibition features over 250 works of art, created in a variety of media—from ceramics to acrylic— representing the creative artistic talents of students from middle and high schools throughout the school district. Says Executive Director Ric Ambrose, “The Richmond Art Center and WCCUSD share an ongoing vision: that art education is a crucial component of a thriving and productive community. We are proud to support the efforts of so many teachers and students in our district as they discover and learn through explorations in art.”
There will be a special reception honoring the WCCUSD students and art teachers on Thursday, April 13 from 5-7 pm, which will be free and open to the public. The John F. Kennedy Band will perform and several art awards will be given out for the students’ artistic talent and originality. The West Contra Costa Unified School District has generously sponsored the annual student exhibition.
Opening on April 29, the Richmond Art Center’s Art in the Community Show will feature the work of the area’s youngest artists: children from elementary and middle schools who participated in the Art Center’s popular Art in the Community program throughout the year. The reception for the Art in the Community will take place on May 21, 2017 at noon.
These student shows coincide with the Art Center’s featured exhibitions: Marking Space, a survey of modern sculpture and installation art,and Mapping the Uncharted, an updated appreciation of mapmaking. All events and exhibitions are free and open to the public. For more information about Spring exhibitions, programming, and events, please visit the Richmond Art Center’s website: https://richmondartcenter.org
About the Richmond Art Center:
The Richmond Art Center is the largest visual arts center in the East Bay, delivering exciting arts experiences to young and old alike who reflect the diverse richness of our community. The Art Center features hands-on learning, well-equipped studios, Art in the Community programs and contemporary exhibitions in its galleries.
Every year, the Richmond Art Center serves thousands of students through classes and programs taught by professional artists, both onsite at the Art Center and at sites throughout Richmond. The Art Center’s four galleries mount rotating exhibitions that display the works of emerging and established Bay Area artists. Artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Richard Misrach, Wanxin Zhang, Mildred Howard, Bella Feldman, Hung Liu, William Wiley, June Schwartz, and David Park have been showcased here.
The Richmond Art Center originated in 1936, when local artist Hazel Salmi, who worked for the WPA, traversed the streets of Richmond with a suitcase packed with art supplies, eager to teach art to anyone interested. Today, everything at the Art Center continues to breathe life into Salmi’s original vision: That within every person lives an artist.
The Boundaries of Sculpture and the Alternate Meanings of Maps at the Richmond Art Center Two new exhibitions, Marking Space and Mapping the Uncharted, bring new meaning to the traditional arts of sculpture and mapping this Spring.
RICHMOND, CA — February 22, 2017 — In the new Spring sculpture exhibition Marking Space, opening on March 21, seven artists examine the nature of material and expose structure in a myriad of forms. Bay Area artists Mari Andrews, Robert Brady, Genevieve Hastings, Jann Nunn, Gay Outlaw, Lucy Puls, and Tracey Snelling use diverse materials to mirror habitat and architecture, to reflect on social structures, and to represent various human concerns.
In Marking Space, the very boundaries of what sculpture has become are redefined. Turning our attention to identity, the environment, systems of power, and inequality, these artists have followed different paths with a common passion of expression. These works investigate language, the body, and the nature of image, recognition, space and orientation. Throughout these artworks, a narrative emerges: self, home, loss, boundaries.
The companion exhibition, Mapping the Uncharted, uses physical maps as a point of departure for reconfiguring impressions of geography, politics, and visual language. Historically, maps have been drawn to mark where we are, what lies around us, what lies before us, and to note the paths taken so that others may follow or we may return.
The five artists in Mapping the Uncharted give new meaning to the art of map making. Mark Garrett cuts and paints and transforms maps into visualizations of patterns that emphasize the fragility and debasement of the ecology. Lordy Rodriguez expands and conflates maps to make visible our cultural and political conceits. Diane Rosenblum appropriates artworks and superimposes auction prices creating a map of the art world. Guillermo Galindo creates scores of music composed with instruments made of found objects, these collected along the US – Mexico border in collaboration with photographer, Richard Misrach. Indira MartinaMorre creates delicate surfaces marking the most ethereal — cyberspace – passwords and passages are noted with symbols and layers noting information.
The exhibitions Marking Space and Mapping the Uncharted open in the Main, West and South Galleries on March 21 and run through May, 20, 2017, at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA. The opening reception for both shows will take place on Saturday, March 18 from 5 – 7 pm.
Two Artists’ Panels will be presented in conjunction with these exhibitions: April 1 and April 8, both starting at 2 pm. All events and exhibitions are free and open to the public. For more information about Spring exhibitions, programming, and events, please visit the Richmond Art Center’s website: https://richmondartcenter.org
Images:
Robert Brady, Return
About the Richmond Art Center:
The Richmond Art Center is the largest visual arts center in the East Bay, delivering exciting arts experiences to young and old alike who reflect the diverse richness of our community. The Art Center features hands-on learning, well-equipped studios, Art in the Community programs and contemporary exhibitions in its galleries.
Every year, the Richmond Art Center serves thousands of students through classes and programs taught by professional artists, both onsite at the Art Center and at sites throughout Richmond. The Art Center’s four galleries mount rotating exhibitions that display the works of emerging and established Bay Area artists. Artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Richard Misrach, Wanxin Zhang, Mildred Howard, Bella Feldman, Hung Liu, William Wiley, June Schwartz, and David Park have been showcased here.
The Richmond Art Center originated in 1936, when local artist Hazel Salmi, who worked for the WPA, traversed the streets of Richmond with a suitcase packed with art supplies, eager to teach art to anyone interested. Today, everything at the Art Center continues to breathe life into Salmi’s original vision: That within every person lives an artist.
We’ve added Family Art Fridays to keep all ages making art together. These free classes take place at the E. M. Downer YMCA, located at 263 South 20th Street in Richmond, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Bring the whole family! Snacks provided! No registration required.
March 31,6:00 – 8:00 pm: Jump Into Printmaking with Dawline Oni-Eseleh
April 28, 6:00 – 8:00 pm: Painting and More with Lauren Ari
May 26, 6:00 – 8:00 pm: Stencil Screen Printing with Rachel Schaffran
See you at the YMCA!
See & Make Art
Our popular Saturday afternoon series continues full steam ahead! Join us on the last Saturday afternoon of each month! Meet us at the Library for a story, make some art, then head over to the galleries to enjoy our latest exhibition. Open to all ages. Families welcome. Please meet the group in the Madeline F. Whittlesey Community Room at the Richmond Public Library, Main Branch (325 Civic Center Plaza) and we’ll walk as a group over to the Art Center.
March 25, 1:00 – 3:00 pm: Mask Making with Grace Rosario Perkins
April 29, 1:00 – 3:00 pm: Exploring Your Dreams with Vreni Michelini Castillo
May 27, 1:00 – 3:00 pm: Making Paper Dragons
June 24, 1:00 – 3:00 pm: Journal Making with Rebekah Erev
July 29, 1:00 – 3:00 pm: Stamping Patterns with Dawline Oni-Eseleh
One-day workshops are perfect for diving into a new skill or jumpstarting a creative process. Bring a friend, make a new one. And for our first-time students, apply discount code FA16W for a $5 discount when you register!
March 5: Moon Tools: Primal Creative Process
Are you passionate about a project, an art vision or a new habit? Do you find you don’t quite have the motivation or stamina to get it going, or you are halfway through and lose steam? Maybe you’re almost done but can’t seem to do those last few steps to complete it. This workshop is for anyone at any of these stages.
You don’t have to be a child to love to make dioramas. It’s one of those classic projects, where one can capture a perfect moment in time all in miniature.
Lorraine Bonner was born and raised on the East Coast. She moved to California in 1970, and began working in clay in the early 90’s. Her work began in response to trauma, but soon evolved to embrace the larger political and spiritual themes of dominationism and the mutually reflective processes of the political and personal. She lives in Oakland and is a mother and a grandmother.
What do you find most inspiring about making art? Tell us about your current projects.
The most inspiring thing I find about art is how much I learn from the clay. It’s as if whatever experience or question has started the imaging and creating process, the clay has a way of illuminating (at least for me) a continuous unfolding of understanding, from the cellular to the cosmic, but most importantly, from the personal to the political.
I have been working for some time on a series entitled, “Multi-hued Humanity and the Redemption of Black,” in which I use clay of many colors to represent humanity and our many colors. I want anyone who looks at these works to be able to find their own skin color somewhere in the sculpture, and to enable us all to recognize the way that limiting our definition of ourselves to the two boxes “black” and “white” makes our thinking small.
Hunger
At the same time, it is important to remember that the archetypes “Black” and “White” are equally powerful and essential to a full spiritual existence. Heartless, anti-human political and economic power, defining itself as “White” has subordinated “Black,” and my current work is an attempt to bring this imbalance into view and create an opening in which black and white have larger meanings.
How did you become involved with The Art of Living Black? How does your work represent and uphold the tradition of this exhibition?
I became involved in The Art of Living Black many years ago, when I still had trouble thinking of myself as an artist. The support and encouragement, the feeling of family, the inspiration of other artists, all enabled me to develop greater confidence in myself and my art. I hope I am able to pass some of that inspiration and encouragement on to other artists.
What was your path to becoming an artist? Please share some of your favorite work.
I was dealing with personal trauma, therapy wasn’t working, and a friend gave me a bag of clay. My favorite work is a series called “Exploring the Perpetrator” in which I look at the impact of betrayal of trust, which is how I define “perpetration.”
Studying the Perpetrator
Who are your inspirations?
My main inspirations are the people who were the Civil Rights Movement. When I feel afraid, I think of them.
What do you like to do when you’re not making art?
When I’m not doing art I like to garden, read, or hang out with my kids and grandkids.
What’s on your bucket list?
I don’t really think I have a bucket list, at least at the moment, other than doing more art and writing.
If you could meet one artist, living or not, who would it be and why?
James Baldwin. His mind and courage and skill with language blow me away.
Lorraine’s Open Studio takes place this coming weekend, March 4-5, from 11am – 5pm @ 6725 Mokelumne Avenue in Oakland. Her work is currently showing at E14 Gallery, located at 472 9th Street in Oakland.
The Boundaries of Sculpture and the Alternate Meanings of Maps at the Richmond Art Center Two new exhibitions, Marking Space and Mapping the Uncharted, bring new meaning to the traditional arts of sculpture and mapping this Spring.
RICHMOND, CA — February 22, 2017 — In the new Spring sculpture exhibition Marking Space, opening on March 21, seven artists examine the nature of material and expose structure in a myriad of forms. Bay Area artists Mari Andrews, Robert Brady, Genevieve Hastings, Jann Nunn, Gay Outlaw, Lucy Puls, and Tracey Snelling use diverse materials to mirror habitat and architecture, to reflect on social structures, and to represent various human concerns.
In Marking Space, the very boundaries of what sculpture has become are redefined. Turning our attention to identity, the environment, systems of power, and inequality, these artists have followed different paths with a common passion of expression. These works investigate language, the body, and the nature of image, recognition, space and orientation. Throughout these artworks, a narrative emerges: self, home, loss, boundaries.
The companion exhibition, Mapping the Uncharted, uses physical maps as a point of departure for reconfiguring impressions of geography, politics, and visual language. Historically, maps have been drawn to mark where we are, what lies around us, what lies before us, and to note the paths taken so that others may follow or we may return.
The five artists in Mapping the Uncharted give new meaning to the art of map making. Mark Garrett cuts and paints and transforms maps into visualizations of patterns that emphasize the fragility and debasement of the ecology. Lordy Rodriguez expands and conflates maps to make visible our cultural and political conceits. Diane Rosenblum appropriates artworks and superimposes auction prices creating a map of the art world. Guillermo Galindo creates scores of music composed with instruments made of found objects, these collected along the US – Mexico border in collaboration with photographer, Richard Misrach. Indira MartinaMorre creates delicate surfaces marking the most ethereal — cyberspace – passwords and passages are noted with symbols and layers noting information.
The exhibitions Marking Space and Mapping the Uncharted open in the Main, West and South Galleries on March 21 and run through May, 20, 2017, at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA. The opening reception for both shows will take place on Saturday, March 18 from 5 – 7 pm.
Two Artists’ Panels will be presented in conjunction with these exhibitions: April 1 and April 8, both starting at 2 pm. All events and exhibitions are free and open to the public. For more information about Spring exhibitions, programming, and events, please visit the Richmond Art Center’s website: https://richmondartcenter.org
The Richmond Art Center is the largest visual arts center in the East Bay, delivering exciting arts experiences to young and old alike who reflect the diverse richness of our community. The Art Center features hands-on learning, well-equipped studios, Art in the Community programs and contemporary exhibitions in its galleries.
Every year, the Richmond Art Center serves thousands of students through classes and programs taught by professional artists, both onsite at the Art Center and at sites throughout Richmond. The Art Center’s four galleries mount rotating exhibitions that display the works of emerging and established Bay Area artists. Artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Richard Misrach, Wanxin Zhang, Mildred Howard, Bella Feldman, Hung Liu, William Wiley, June Schwartz, and David Park have been showcased here.
The Richmond Art Center originated in 1936, when local artist Hazel Salmi, who worked for the WPA, traversed the streets of Richmond with a suitcase packed with art supplies, eager to teach art to anyone interested. Today, everything at the Art Center continues to breathe life into Salmi’s original vision: That within every person lives an artist.
everyone at the Richmond Art Center this April. Starting off the month on Saturday, April 1, a panel of artists from the Marking Space sculpture and installation exhibition. Artists Mari Andrews, Genevieve Hastings, Jann Nunn, Gay Outlaw, and Lucy Puls will speak to their work and the ways that sculpture have moved off the historical pedestal in a variety of methods and materials. The panel will be moderated by Jan Wurm, the Art Center’s Director of Exhibitions, and takes place in the Main Gallery from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. This talk is free. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/artists-panel-marking-space/
On Saturday, April 8, another artists’ panel, featuring several artists showcased in Mapping the Uncharted will discuss their varied and fascinating approach to understanding maps and creating art with and from them. Mark Garrett, Indira Martina Morre, Lordy Rodriguez, and Diane Rosenblum, in conversation with Director of Exhibitions Jan Wurm, share their use of physical maps as a point of departure for reconfiguring impressions of geography, politics, and visual language. This talk takes place in the Main Gallery from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and is free. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/artists-panel-mapping-uncharted/
The Richmond Art Center has a five decade-long partnership with the WCCUSD, and many of the district’s art students receive instruction from teachers who have received art-specific training through the Art Center. The public is invited to a special reception honoring the WCCUSD students and art teachers on Thursday, April 13 from 5:00 – 7:00 pm. The 52nd Annual WCCUSD Student Art Show features over 250 works of art, created in a variety of media—from ceramics to acrylic— representing the creative artistic talents of students from middle and high schools throughout the school district. The John F. Kennedy Band will perform and several art awards will be given out for the students’ artistic talent and originality. The West Contra Costa Unified School District has generously sponsored the annual student exhibition. https://richmondartcenter.org/event/wccusd-student-art-show-reception/
We’ve added Family Art Fridays to keep all ages making art together. These free classes take place at the E. M. Downer YMCA, located at 263 South 20th Street in Richmond, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Bring the whole family! Snacks provided! No registration required.
h! Meet us at the Library for a story, make some art, then head over to the galleries to enjoy our latest exhibition. Open to all ages. Families welcome. Please meet the group in the Madeline F. Whittlesey Community Room at the Richmond Public Library, Main Branch (325 Civic Center Plaza) and we’ll walk as a group over to the Art Center.
Lorraine Bonner was born and raised on the East Coast. She moved to California in 1970, and began working in clay in the early 90’s. Her work began in response to trauma, but soon evolved to embrace the larger political and spiritual themes of dominationism and the mutually reflective processes of the political and personal. She lives in Oakland and is a mother and a grandmother.
In 
patterns that emphasize the fragility and debasement of the ecology. 
