The Richmond Art Center represented this weekend as part of the Cinco de Mayo Parade on Saturday, and the Cinco de Mayo Festival on 23rd Street on Sunday. Our Art in the Community staff supported the families who took part in the float parade. This partnership between the Richmond Art Center, The Latina Center and the Richmond High School was made possible through the generosity of the City of Richmond’s Neighborhood Public Art program and the San Pablo Koshland Fellows.
The goals of both float design classes included involving teens, their parents and their siblings in civic efforts, to encourage them to learn about the Peace and Unity Parade’s history, and to teach the to take an art idea through the entire design process. The colorful floats were created with recyclables and carried conservation and social messaging designed by families from San Pablo and Richmond. The Latino Spanish-speaking families attended a free, eight week float design class taught by Richmond Art Center teaching artists Patricia Rodriguez and Simon Tran, who are part of the Art in the Community program.
On Sunday, the day when the 23rd St Merchant’s Association organized their 5 de Mayo parade, our Studio program staff was on hand with several volunteers to help hundreds of parade goers to learn more about the Center. Those who stopped by our spacious booth were rewarded with an art-making activity, picked up promotional materials about the work of the Richmond Art Center and even filled out scholarship applications. It was a warm day, full of fun and adventure at the corner of 23rd and Garvin streets!
On May 3, the Richmond Art Center will be participating in East Bay Gives 2016. Please help us make our goal of $4,000 to help support our wonderful programs, including Studio Arts Education, Art in the Community, and Exhibitions!
There are several prizes we’d love to win… are you game?
Calling all night owls! The first person to donate between midnight and 1am could win us $500!
For those early birds, the first person to donate the closest to 6:11am will win us the Sunrise Prize, for $1,500!
If we receive a donation between 8-9am, we could win $1,500!
From 11am-noon, we could win $3,500 in the category of Arts Organizations but only if we have the most unique donors!
A $500 donation between 1-2pm could win us $2,500!
The 1st organization with full Board Participation between 2-3pm could win us $5,000!
The Sunset Prize (closest to but NOT past 8:01pm) could win us $4,000!
More night owls could win us the last donation (between 11-11:59pm) for $2,500!
If you have specific questions about East Bay Gives, please read on…
What is East Bay Gives 2016?
East Bay Gives 2016 is:
On May 3, 2016
A 24-hour online giving event
A great way to donate to organizations going fantastic work in your community
How does East Bay Gives work?
On this website, nonprofit organizations register to participate in East Bay Gives 2016. On May 3, visit www.eastbaygives.org to donate to one or more of the participating nonprofits. You’ll receive immediate email confirmation from us and we’ll send the donation(s) to the organization(s) you designate. Please note: donations are tax deductible and non-refundable. All participating organizations will compete to win hourly cash prizes from our Prize Pool.
How can I make a donation to East Bay Gives 2016?
Because this is a national online giving day, the fastest way to make a donation through East Bay Gives 2016 is online, with a credit card. (Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express.) Donations will not be accepted by mail, fax, phone call or email.
What is the minimum donation?
The minimum donation is $20.00. There is no upper limit, and you may donate as many times as you wish, to any number of organizations.
Is my donation tax deductible?
Yes. Donations are 100% tax deductible. After you donate, you will immediately receive an email from the East Bay Community Foundation confirming your tax-deductible gift. Please save the email for your records or tax purposes.
How can I be sure that my donation gets to the correct organization?
Your email confirmation receipt is your proof that you gave. The East Bay Community Foundation distributes all donations received on May 3rd within a reasonable period of time, after all transactions have been verified. Your chosen organizations will also be able to confirm that they have received your donation.
Will my designated organization receive donor contact information?
Unless anonymity is specifically requested, donation amounts and donor information will be forwarded to recipient nonprofits by the East Bay Community Foundation.
How much of my donation goes to the organization I designate?
Participating nonprofit organizations receive the full value of the donation, minus the credit card transaction fees.
Can I donate using my tablet or smart phone?
Yes. Use your smart phone or tablet, or any browser to access http://www.eastbaygives.org
Learn how to move and shape metal with basic hammering techniques and surface finishing. Beginning with copper stock, we will cold forge handmade spoons. In addition to technical skills, we will explore design elements such as functionality, concept, proportion, ergonomics, and decoration. All skill levels welcome.
Spend Mother’s Day making unique, colorful pom-poms that can be used in a variety of artistic projects. Students will walk away with a cardboard template, a completed project of either a keychain or flower and as many pom-poms as they can make in a session. All materials will be provided. No previous experience required. Moms, dads, and kids 7+ are welcome!
What is a zine anyway? Well, a zine is a self-published, small handmade magazine, and you can make one of your very own! It can be about anything you want, and you can use collage, writing, and drawing in this art form. The most important part is self-expression, whatever that means to you. In this short workshop we will be making mini-zines, and you’ll see a lot of examples of what can be done in this diverse and important art form. $5 Materials fee due to instructor.
We will begin by drawing and painting the figure from a live model and then move into creating monotypes using this direct printmaking method. Linda’s own drawing, largely representational with occasional forays into abstraction, is solidly placed in the Bay Area Figurative tradition. She is directly linked to this legacy, having studied as an undergraduate with Nathan Oliveira and Frank Lobdell—two of the principals in this movement. Learn to take your figurative work from drawings to prints utilizing improvisation and experimentation as your guide. Technical demonstrations and drawing instruction. All levels and teens welcome.
Mosi Jogakbo, or patchwork bojagi, is made with remnants of fabrics from leftover cloths in the past. Youngmin will teach basic mosi (ramie) jogakbo construction in this workshop. Ssamsol is a special seam technique that makes the front and back of this jogakbo identical. We will use many small pieces of ramie fabrics to make a geometric patterned bojagi. The finished project will have unique compositions of shapes, lines and texture. $30 materials fee due to instructor includes all mosi (raime) fabric and thread needed; additional supplies online.
This workshop is designed to help the beginning through advanced level wheel thrower gain a better understanding of the fundamentals of manipulating clay on the potter’s wheel. After an initial six-step demonstration and individual consultation on the wheel, more advanced techniques will be demonstrated. Tall cylinders, vases, bowls, proper shaping and stretching methods, and pouring vessels will all be demonstrated.
Learn a few ways to carve your own stamps! In this class, you will learn several methods to carve basic stamps out of rubber and similar materials. You can use these stamps in your artwork, scrapbooking, to make wrapping paper, or as a signature on whatever you would like. We will carve EZcut material, erasers, and talk about some other options for stamp making around the Bay. You will go home with a few of your very own stamps! $10 materials fee due to instructor.
Save your avocado pits and weeds from the garden! Learn to produce paints, dyes and prints from plant materials. Working with native and invasive plants of the California Bay Area and waste from the kitchen, we’ll explore a diversity of different plant dye and dye processes. $20 materials fee due to instructor.
Welcome to the amazing world of marbling! Marbling is an ancient paper-decorating technique where designs are suspended on the surface of a liquid, manipulated with combs and brushes and then transferred to paper or fabric. These papers are often used in hardbound books. Learn the basics of marbling and create a series of beautifully marbled papers. Materials list available online. $35 materials fee due to instructor.
We’re still smiling from our great day at the Art Center yesterday. Upcycle 2016 was a great day full of creative energy, focused on reusing and remaking found materials, and our courtyard and studios were filled with families and friends making art! Over 300 people attended our event!
Our thanks extend to the Richmond community who turned out to explore and create with us: everything from weaving rugs with Travis, to relief printing with Dawn, to treasure box mosaics with Daud, to metals with Taylor, and screenprinting with Joyce and Michael. The dance was in the air, thanks to DJ Agana, and everything ran so smoothly thanks to our facilities staff (Rebeca, Ted, and Petey), our Volunteer Coordinator Nisha, and her gang of superhero volunteers. And the Watershed Project had a great interactive demo to teach us all about our precious local ecosystem. Thank you to our sponsors, the Richmond Rotary Club and Localwise, for their support of our event.
We hope you’ll join us again next year for Upcycle, and keep all of our upcoming events in mind! See you soon in the galleries and in class!
(We have even more photos on Facebook, so check those out too! And if you’d like to volunteer for one of our events, we’d love to talk to you.)
Celebrate our planet and the art of creative reuse tomorrow with us at Upcycle, our own maker festival! Our event is free, family-friendly and lots of fun.
Check out the exciting workshops we’ll be offering from noon-4pm in our courtyard and studios! Bring your friends!
Create, see and learn at this hands-on maker festival for the whole family. Upcycling workstations will feature hands-on activities that creatively re-use materials otherwise headed for the landfill. Screen print and take home your very own T-shirt, make copper pressed drawings, colorful mosaics, relief prints with recycled materials, floating plastic sculptures, back strap weaving and so much more! Live music from Vanessa Espinoza aka DJ AGANA. Kids under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
Up-Cycle Artists and info:
Back-strap Weaving & Woven Bookmarks:
Learn the basics of weaving on a simple back-strap loom, discover new techniques and make a tapestry with found recycled materials. Using small cardboard looms, make simple woven bookmarks
Come embellish a City of Richmond trash can, with recycled ceramic & mosaic pieces and turn it into aTreasure Box. After the festival, the Treasure Box will live on a street corner in the neighborhood!
Join us in learning how to turn our everyday trash into creative printmaking tools! At the Upcycled Relief Printmaking station, we will use everyday discarded items like bubble wrap, straws, string, cups and cardboard to make graphic, beautifully printed (recycled!) papers.
Come by to make jewelry & sculpture with a variety of materials like painted cardboard, plastic bottles, sequins, office supplies, plus so much more using a variety of techniques!
Join us in the Printmaking studio for the creation of printed patches made from recycled jeans. Great opportunity to re-purpose a favorite garment and keep it out of the landfill.
Silkscreen and take home your very own T-shirt. Choose from a variety of designs made by Richmond Art Center teaching artists, to print onto your shirt.
Ever wonder what to do with all your plastic bottles? Turn them into sculptures! Join us in making floating underwater sea creatures using plastic bottles and containers.
We had a wonderful reception to celebrate the young artists of the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD). Over 150 people attended our event, including parents, friends, teachers and Bruce Harter, the WCCUSD superintendent. The jazz band from Pinole High School played several sets while attendees mingled, enjoyed refreshments, and took in all of the art.
We invite you to the Community Gallery to see this exciting collection of student art, which will be on exhibit through May 22.
The Richmond Art Center was proud to host a public presentation about the artist David Park’s work and life by his daughter, Helen Park Bigelow. In this deep and touching presentation, Ms. Bigelow shared some of her earliest memories of her father, their family life and the community of artists that surrounded the Park family, his transition from Abstract Expressionism to Figuration, and his work up until his death at age 49.
The Main Gallery was full to capacity, and the presentation included a slide how and an opportunity for attendees to purchase Ms. Bigelow’s new book about her father, David Park: Painter, published by Counterpoint Press.
Put your business front and center as a sponsor of our 4th Annual Upcycle event!
This hands-on maker festival is free and brings the whole family together to create, see and learn about the art of upcycling—the creative re-use of materials otherwise headed for the landfill.
We have sponsorship levels for every business and budget.
Connect your business with thousands of people. Upcycle will be advertised through the Art Center’s website, e-news, social media, on local cable and radio and through community outreach.
The Art Center is proud to partner with other nonprofit and community-based organizations to provide a range of fun arts and crafts upcycling activities. Help us make these experiences possible for kids and their families by becoming a sponsor of Upcycle in 2016.
Become a Sponsor
If you’re interested in sponsoring Upcycle, please contact Ric Ambrose, Executive Director at Richard@RichmondArtCenter.org or 510.620.6777.
The Richmond Art Center Honored with NobleCause Grant to Foster Volunteerism
RICHMOND, CA–March 24, 2016– The Richmond Art Center is pleased to announce that they have been awarded a $6500 grant through NobleCause, a national grant competition mobilizing volunteers to address the greatest challenges facing their local communities.
These funds will support The Richmond Art Center’s efforts to create a more visible presence of the Richmond Community in their volunteer program, and to make the program, and its benefits, more accessible to the community at large. The center will elect a board of empowered volunteer leaders, a governance team, who will be essential in creating new goals for the volunteer program and in deciding new recruitment and retention strategies. The governance team, with the support of the Art Center’s volunteer coordinator, will implement these new goals and strategies to achieve a volunteer body that is more representative of the Richmond community.
In order to ensure success, each volunteer leader will attend two professional development courses on volunteer management and conduct site visits to volunteer programs that have a successful, diverse volunteer program. The implementation of this governance team will not only help to diversify and increase the center’s volunteer base, but allow volunteers to foster skills such as leadership, public outreach and community development. The governance team will give a voice to the center’s volunteers, and will become a permanent fixture that represents the interests and concerns of all those who volunteer at The Richmond Art Center.
NobleCause is made possible by a donor within the GiveWell Community Foundation and organized by NobleHour.com, a volunteer management tool that promotes a culture of civic engagement and charts meaningful acts of goodness. For more than a decade, NobleHour has been connecting and equipping thousands of schools, non-profit agencies, and organizations to shape well-rounded students and service leaders, build better communities, and measure their collective impact.
In total, the NobleCause competition awarded $1,000,000 in grant, recognizing 100 organizations at the $6500 level, and seven organizations at the $50,000 level. All grant recipients demonstrated a remarkable ability to raise community awareness, foster partnerships, and cultivate leaders who take action.
“We set out to encourage communities throughout the country to tell us their big, sustainable ideas to inspire quality volunteerism, “says Wesley Barnett, managing partner for TreeTop Commons and NobleHour. “By organizing volunteers to address local concerns, NobleCause award recipients are defining social responsibility right in their own communities.”
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, traveling 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, Jay DeFeo, Wanxin Zhang, Hung Liu, Ed Rossbach and Peter Voulkos 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.
Please visit the Richmond Art Center’s websitehttps://richmondartcenter.org for a full detail of activities and events.
The Richmond Art Center Honored with NobleCause Grant to Foster Volunteerism
