September 4 – November 21 Opening Reception: Saturday, September 7, 1pm-3pm Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA 94804 Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 10am-4pm Exhibitions and events are all free and no rsvp is necessary
Richmond, CA: This fall, Richmond Art Center’s galleries will showcase a dynamic range of art, spanning innovative local visions and ideas, to traditional Japanese ink paintings, and beyond.
In the Main Gallery, Right Here, Right Now, Richmond celebrates local artists’ innovative work. Now in its third iteration, this biennial exhibition features new work by Anthony Delgado, Art Hazelwood, e bond, Erin McCluskey Wheeler, Helia Pouyanfar, Quinn Keck, and Taro Hattori, reflecting on Richmond’s history, environment, and vibrant communities.
“As the artists created new work for this show, a theme to emerge is ‘home’ in its many forms—physical, cultural, and emotional,” says Roberto Martinez, the biennial’s curator. “Maybe it’s obvious, but in a rapidly changing city, home is always worth exploring.”
Also opening at Richmond Art Center this fall are three more exhibitions:
Sentinels & Saviors: Iconic Avatars presents work by Joell Jones and Kim Thoman, who create space for introspection. Jones’ paintings explore a woman’s journey into self-discovery through pictorial art. Thoman presents abstract steel figures inspired by Chinese Terracotta Warriors, symbolizing guardianship and protection during her illness recovery.
Abi Mustapha‘s solo exhibition shares her new series of paintings that fuse portraiture with vibrant botanical landscapes. Mustapha states, “My hope is to elicit a sense of reverence for the magic of our interconnectedness.”
Finally, the Community Gallery will feature The Art of Sumi-e, showcasing Japanese ink brush paintings by students from Fumiyo Yoshikawa‘s beginner sumi-e class at Richmond Art Center, along with works by Sensei Yoshikawa herself.
An Opening Reception for all exhibitions will be held on Saturday, September 7, from 1pm to 3pm. All are welcome to attend.
Richmond Art Center will be open late on Friday, September 20, from 5pm to 8pm for a Sunset Social. The courtyard and galleries will be transformed into a space for celebrating the artists featured in Right Here, Right Now with performances, live art demonstrations, and more. It’s not often we open our galleries after dark – don’t miss it!
Richmond Art Center is located at 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, CA 94804. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10am to 4pm. Admission is free.
About Richmond Art Center: Richmond Art Center has been sharing art and creating with the community since 1936. Our programs encompass classes, exhibitions and events at our facility in downtown Richmond, as well as off-site activities that bring free, high-quality art making experiences to WCCUSD schools and community partners. richmondartcenter.org
Right Here, Right Now is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Top image: Abi Mustapha, Dionaea, 2024, 30″ x 24″, Oil and Acrylic on Canvas
Welcoming Andres Serrano, Our New Artist-in-Residence
We’re excited to welcome Andres Serrano as the new artist-in-residence at Richmond Art Center. A lifelong Richmond resident, Andres brings a strong community connection and a creative practice focused on queerness, home, and culture through ceramics.
Andres holds an MFA in Art from San Francisco State University and a BA from UCLA in Spanish and Chicana/o Studies. His work has been showcased at the Berkeley Art Center, 500 Capp Street, and here at Richmond Art Center. Beyond ceramics, Andres is passionate about serving the Richmond community through various nonprofit organizations.
Outside the studio, you might find Andres biking around Richmond, experimenting with ceramic glazes, exploring Sprouts’ bulk bins, or enjoying the latest Real Housewives drama.
Andres shared his goals for this residency, saying, “I am excited to be working with the Richmond Art Center to continue supporting youth and local residents in our community through the arts, especially through ceramic arts. From my own lived experience, I had limited access to art and art studios, and this residency provides me with opportunities to spread the joy of ceramics and other expressive mediums within our vibrant Richmond community. This residency will allow me to deepen my connection within Richmond and provide space and opportunity for others to explore and enjoy themselves through art-making.”
About the Richmond Artist Residency: The Richmond Artist Residency is an 8-month program designed to support emerging and mid-career visual artists. The residency offers a unique opportunity for artists to pursue their creative work while actively engaging with the Richmond community. The residency also focuses on building skills in various studio disciplines such as ceramics, printmaking, and fiber arts, with access to technical support and shared studio equipment.
This Richmond Artist Residency is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Volunteers assist our team, help out in the studios, support outreach, and more. Volunteer benefits include a discount on classes. We can also support students (ages 16+) wanting community service hours for class credit.
*We especially need volunteers who can assist with light physical duties such as setting up and breaking down events.
Calling All Arts and Crafts Vendors! Be part of the 62nd Annual Holiday Arts Festival!
Event Date: Sunday, December 8, 10am-4pm Vendor Application Deadline: Monday, September 30, 2024, 11:59pm
Applications are now open for local artists, artisans, and makers to showcase their work at the Holiday Arts Festival. This shop-local event offers a fantastic opportunity to present your work to an enthusiastic audience of over 1,000 people who value hand-crafted gifts.
There is no application fee and first-time vendors to the festival are encouraged to participate.
Animation amazingness from Summer Art Camp at Richmond Art Center. Campers made over 50 short videos in the “Animation All Over” camp with Maggie Burns this summer. From flip-notes on sticky pads to crafting hands-on paper stop motion, they drew inspiration from their surroundings to bring pictures to life through movement.
Class Registration Opens Wednesday, August 14, 10am
Fall art classes are being posted on our website (don’t worry if the class says ‘Fully Booked’ this will change once registration opens). Browse listings now and plan which class you’ll sign up for. And don’t forget to get your scholarship applications in early!
Richmond City Council Chambers, 440 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond, CA 94804
In celebration of the Richmond Art Center’s new partnership with the Richmond City Council, our inaugural Council Chambers exhibition explores the relationships between nature, people, and the built environment—elements central to life in Richmond.
This exhibition features artwork created by the Richmond Art Center’s expansive community, including pieces from our students, teachers, staff, members, and volunteers.
With an 80-year history of serving the people and City of Richmond, our first Council Chambers exhibition pays homage to the vision and legacy of Richmond Art Center’s founder, Hazel Salmi. From the early days when Hazel would bike around town with art supplies in her basket to serve the burgeoning Richmond arts community, to the post-war decision to include an art center with studios and galleries in the Civic Center complex, to our current efforts to educate and empower local artists of all ages—we’re honoring the enduring commitment to the arts shared by the Richmond City Council and Richmond Art Center.
We hope you’ll join us in celebrating this exciting new collaboration. More to come!
Through 8/17 This season, the Richmond Art Center is showcasing several exhibitions’ worth of artworks. The View From Here and Taking Liberties highlight pieces from incarcerated or formerly incarcerated creators, while the Richmond Open Studios Preview exhibition showcases the talent of the city’s own artists ahead of the event. richmondartcenter.org.
Eduardo Ramirez, a Philadelphia-based mural artist, was incarcerated for 27 years in a Pennsylvania prison for a crime he did not commit. Since he was exonerated in November, Ramirez has found solace in making and teaching art in his community.
“When a person creates, there’s a sense of pride in the act of creating, regardless of what the final product looks like,” he said.
His art is on display through Aug. 17 at the Richmond Art Center in an exhibition called “The View From Here.” The exhibition features 24 incarcerated artists from the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution Phoenix. It came together through letters exchanged between men at the two prisons about creating art and communicating their thoughts into something tangible. It is being presented by the San Quentin Prison Arts Project in collaboration with Mural Arts Philadelphia and also was on display in Philadelphia in March.
“They were creators,” Ramirez said of the people he worked with during his time in prison. “They were much larger than the worst mistake they ever made in their lives.”
What: “The View From Here” art exhibition
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday until Aug. 17
Where: Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave.
Cost: Free
Some of their letters are also on display at the exhibition, representing those who are unable to visit their own showcase. One letter reads, “I am in a beautiful art program here at San Quentin, I am in all the art classes hahaha. Remember that you have entered the realm of ‘timelessness’ with the art you’ve done.”
Carol Newborg, program manager at the San Quentin Arts Project, emphasized the artists’ absence in the exhibition space, saying the system imposes “cruelly long sentences” despite its contention of rehabilitation.
The collaborators wanted to make the artists’ presence felt, which includes their letters as well as songs that hold personal meaning for them.
“As you walk around and look at the art, you can hear the music that was selected by the artists,” said Amy Spencer, community engagement director at the Richmond Art Center. “You are seeing their work but you’re also hearing something that they helped shape as well.”
Ramirez is one of the few artists who is out of prison and the only one who will be able to attend the exhibition. He chose the track ‘Cha Cha Cha’ by MC Lyte released in the late ‘80s to go with his painting titled “Radiohead.”
The artists came up with the exhibit’s title, wanting to convey what prisoners think of the outside world and what the public thinks of prisons.
“A lot of people in society have their preconceived notions of what prison life is like. And that’s because they’ve never been to prison,” Ramirez said. “The reality is that a person’s life is multifaceted and multilayered, and ‘The View From Here’ gets at that.”
The exhibition creates a space for dialogue between the public and the incarcerated. Richmond Art Center is also organizing a panel discussion on July 13 with Ramirez and artist Mwasi Fuvi, whose work is not part of the exhibition, alongside facilitators of the two prison art projects, Newborg and Phoebe Bachman. It will be followed by a mural painting workshop with Ramirez, where the community is welcome to help complete a mural designed by artists from the Pennsylvania prison.
The event and exhibit are free to attend.
(Photos: “Fishing from a Hole in a Wall” by Keith Andrews; “Bridge to Freedom” by Jeffrey A. Isom, photographer Peter Merts. Courtesy of Richmond Art Center)