Press Release: Holiday Arts Festival Celebrates 53rd year at the Richmond Art Center!

Posted on November 13, 2015

Doors Open Saturday, December 5 at 11 a.m.
Shop for unique, handmade ceramics, arts and crafts gifts and fine art while supporting
the oldest, largest visual arts center in the East Bay.

RICHMOND, CA — Mon., Nov. 9, 2015—On Saturday, December 5, 2015, the largest community event and fundraiser for the Richmond Art Center returns for its 53rd year, offering visitors a chance to buy unique holiday gifts from local arts and crafts vendors, enjoy holiday food and beverages, and participate in auctions, raffles, and creative art-making activities for the whole family. The Festival’s gift sale runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and its live auction of fine art and unique life experiences will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond.

The Holiday Arts Festival kicks off with a free, daytime family-friendly event. Attendees can enjoy shopping for handmade arts and crafts from a diverse selection of local vendors, as well as the Art Center’s famous ceramics sale that features hundreds of plates, mugs and objects made by artists in the Center’s ceramics studio. Guests and their families are encouraged to participate in holiday art-making activities, and a pop-up café will be serving delicious food and warm beverages to hungry festival goers. Live music will be provided by the Primavera Latin Jazz Band.

“The Holiday Arts Festival gives the instructors in our Studio program—as well as students in our ceramics studio—the opportunity to present their wares,” says Erin Wheeler, Studio Education Director. “And through their work, you can see demonstrated first hand what the Art Center’s Studio Education program makes possible.”

Following the free daytime event, the Art Center will host an exciting live auction from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. that showcases exceptional works of fine art by internationally recognized California artists, including Hung Liu, Richard Shaw, Judy Dater, Claire Falkenstein, and Enrique Chagoya. Other life experience live auction items include two tickets to see the Golden State Warriors versus the Miami Heat at the Oracle Arena, and a day of sailing the Bay for two couples or a family of four, to mention a few. Live music performance by the Primavera Latin Jazz Band, wine and hors d’oeuvres are part of the evening’s live auction. Tickets are $25 for members and $35 for nonmembers and can be purchased online: http://bit.ly/1Hr68dn

“We are excited to celebrate the holidays and our outstanding community of local artists,” says Ric Ambrose, Executive Director. “We hope that visitors to our arts festival will be impressed by the dedicated individuals who make the Richmond Art Center special.”

All proceeds from the event benefit the Richmond Art Center.

Featured Artists at the Holiday Arts Festival Live/Silent Auctions include:

Richard Ambrose
Clayton Bailey
Enrique Chagoya
Judy Dater
Gene Erickson
Claire Falkenstein
Katie Hawkinson
Raymond Holbert
John Hundt
Diana Krevsky
Carol Ladewig
Hung Liu
Malcolm Lubliner
Kara Maria
Louise McGinley
Clayton Pinkerton
Juan Carlos Quintana
Terry St. John
Nancy Selvin
Richard Shaw
Joe Slusky
Livia Stein
Pam Stefl-Toki
Inez Storer
John Toki
John Wehrle
Heather Wilcoxin
Jan Wurm

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 the surrounding community. The Center delivers hands-on learning, well-equipped studios, traveling Art in the Community programs and contemporary exhibitions in its galleries. Learn more at www.richmondartcenter.org.

Press Contact
Jessica Parker
Communications Director, Richmond Art Center
(510) 620-6772
jparker@richmondartcenter.org

DONATED by PAULSON BOTT PRESS
Hung Liu, Shan – Mountain 2012
Color aquatint etching with gold leaf
Somerset white paper Image size 36″ x 26″ Paper size 47″ x 36″
Edition of 40

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Press Release: Student Artists to Enter Fab Lab Design Challenge!

Posted on October 13, 2015

Student Artists Invited to Enter the Mobile Fab Lab Design Challenge

West Contra Costa Unified School District students can see their Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) designs permanently displayed on the new Mobile Fab Lab

RICHMOND, CA October 13, 2015 –Chevron, the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) and the Richmond Art Center today launched the Mobile Fab Lab Design Challenge – an opportunity for local students to design the “wrap” that will be applied to the exterior surface of the Mobile Fab Lab trailer.

The Mobile Fab Lab, which will travel to schools throughout the district, is a small-scale digital workshop equipped with computer-controlled tools, such as 3D printers, laser-cutters, routing machines, 3D scanners, 3D milling machines and programming tools. Made possible as part of a $1 million grant from Chevron to the Fab Foundation, the Mobile Fab Lab will provide hand-on learning to spark the interest in STEM and prepare students for jobs that will require basic STEM literacy over the next five years.

“We’re excited to sponsor the Mobile Fab Lab Design Challenge” said Andrea Bailey community engagement manager of the Chevron Richmond Refinery. “It’s a great opportunity for kids to integrate STEM into art.”

Students from grades K -12 are invited to design a colorful image depicting STEM related ideas. No artistic ability is required. Winning images will be permanently displayed on the outside of the Mobile Lab and multiple entries from every grade level will be chosen and merged into one design.

“This is wonderful opportunity for all students from K – 12 to display their artistic talents for the entire community to see” said Philip Gonsalves, senior director for curriculum and instruction for Mathematics, Science, and STEM in the West Contra Costa Unified School District. “I look forward to seeing the students’ interpretation of STEM through their designs.”

Chevron and the WCCUSD are partnering with the Richmond Art Center and one of its teaching artists, Alex Wang, to create a design that incorporates all of the winning submissions.

“We are thrilled to partner with Chevron and the WCCUSD to help bring the Mobile Fab Lab to life through the students designs” said Richmond Ambrose, executive director of the Richmond Art Center. “With the support of the Richmond Art Center, the students’ designs are sure to be creative and inspiring.”

The Richmond Art Center will offer free workshops to help assist students in submitting a design:

• Thursday, October 15 : Lupine Hills Elementary School, Multipurpose Room, 6:00pm-7:30pm
• Tuesday, October 20: Coronado Elementary School, Multipurpose Room, 6:00pm-7:30pm
• Thursday, October 22: Richmond High School, Library, 6:00pm-7:30pm
• Thursday, November 5: Helms Middle School, Multipurpose Room, 6:30pm-8:00pm
• Saturday, November 14: Kennedy High School, Rooms 401 and 402, 10:00am to 11:30am

The deadline for submission is November 20, 2015, 5:00pm. Contact Drew Kravin at akravin@wccusd.net for additional information and for the submission form.

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Superheroes and Princesses Make Art During Skeletonfest

Posted on October 31, 2014

More than 300 people from all across Richmond and the East Bay, including superheroes, witches, princesses and bumblebees, came to make art and celebrate the multicultural traditions of Halloween and Day of the Dead at Skeletonfest on Saturday, Oct 25, 2014.

The Richmond Art Center first hosted Skeletonfest in 2009 and it’s been a wildly popular annual event ever since. And this year was no different.

Kids, parents, grandparents and community members sat side-by-side and spent a fun afternoon coloring and constructing paper masks, learning about Mexican paper cutting and making cool paper creations, designing movable skeletons and decorating sugar skulls with colored frostings and adornments (a crowd favorite)!

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