54th Annual Holiday Arts Festival Is Richmond Art Center’s Largest Community Event of the Year Richmond favorite festival hosts 50+ artisan vendors, local nonprofit community partners, gourmet food trucks and a silent auction.
RICHMOND, CA — November 4, 2016—On Sunday, December 4, 2016, the largest community event and fundraiser for the Richmond Art Center returns for its 54th year, with over 50 local artists and artisan collectives participating. This year’s Holiday Arts Festival is on track to be a exciting experience, with many new artist vendors added to the roster, and gourmet food trucks and food vendors on site. Art collectors mark the day as an opportunity to bid on collectible, prized works by notable Bay Area artists. This year, the festival has expanded to present and give visibility to nonprofit partners with the Richmond Art Center, which include Rosie the Riveter Trust, Girls Inc. of West Contra Costa, NIAD Art Center, and RYSE Youth Center.
“The Holiday Arts Festival is a long-standing annual tradition that really brings the East Bay arts community together,” says Ric Ambrose, Executive Director. “This festival not only celebrates and showcases the talents of many local artists, but it allows a larger community to appreciate, own, and gift handmade art. We enjoy this annual opportunity to bring many new people to the Art Center so they can learn what we’re all about, and to gather with our longtime students and supporters.”
The festival opens its doors to the public at 11am and ends at 5pm at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue in Richmond, CA. Attendees will be able to decorate their own canvas tote bag, perfect for shopping or carrying art supplies, create their own handmade terrariums, bid on silent auction items, mingle with many local artists and Richmond Art Center art instructors, and learn more about what’s happening in the Richmond nonprofit community. All within a few steps of great meals served up by Curbside Kitchen and Opie’s Gourmet Stacked Burgers.
To see the list of vendors and community partners participating in this event, please visit the Holiday Art Festival’s web page as it will be continuously updated with current information: https://richmondartcenter.org/holiday-arts-festival/
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, Jay DeFeo, Wanxin Zhang, Hung Liu, William Wiley and Peter Voulkos have been showcased here.
Now celebrating its 80th anniversary, 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.
Looking to add some creativity to your holidays? Or perhaps you want to make some gifts to give this season? Check out these holiday-themed one-day workshops and sign up soon!
Family Holiday Workshop: Gingerbread & Printmaking
Get ready for the holidays with some art making fun! Parents and children are invited to create fun and festive projects together including a Gingerbread sculpture to help kick off the holiday season. You’ll enjoy using a variety of materials and supplies.
Print Your Own Holiday Cards (Adults)
Looking for something unique to send out to friends and family this holiday season? Join us for this one day workshop to design and create your own holiday card using a variety of materials and techniques. No experience necessary!
Gifting From The Heart
Often, making something for someone else can free us up to access our own authentic creativity. Join us for this workshop to prepare two paintings to give as gifts or to get a jump on your own creative practice.
Felted Holiday Ornaments (Adults)
Create something special this holiday season and make your own felted holiday ornament. You’ll learn a simple and fun felting technique and come away with your own festive ornament to celebrate the holidays.
It’s an exciting time to be a part of the Art Center. As we close our celebrations of 80 years this year — and begin to look forward, we continue to ask ourselves, “What does it mean to be a community arts space in Richmond?” For us that means taking a closer look at our long, rich history, exploring how we connect with our community and finding ways to do it better.
We continue to strive for the Art Center to be a space where all feel welcome — whether you’re a first time visitor, someone trying out a workshop or class for the first time, or a long-time returning student. The Education Office is conveniently located right at the Studio/25th Street entrance. Lukaza, Marisa, and I are here for you — to lend a helping hand and provide support in ways we can.
And with the new year, we’re embracing a new look for our class catalog, a tree-friendly version — which acts as a simple brochure with additional details on our website. We’ll be sharing an online version of this new catalog after November 9, and we’re very excited for you to get a peek at our Winter quarter classes. You can register for classes and workshops on November 29.
We look forward to seeing you around the Art Center this quarter!
This year’s vibrant Fall Family Day, Skeletonfest, welcomed almost 350 people to the Art Center. Focused on traditional arts associated with Dia de los Muertos, kids and grownups enjoyed making paper flowers, mini pinatas, metal milgros and Calavera hats. DJ Agana kept the mood lively and we were so proud to share our space with so many of our RAC family members. Read more from the Richmond Standard, 4Richmond, Richmond Confidential, and check out even more photos on our Facebook page.
Celebrate the Fall and upcoming Day of the Dead at the Richmond Art Center with an afternoon full of fun and art-making for all ages. Make Calavera hats with Dawn Gonzales, mini honoring pinatas with Isaías Rodríguez, paper flowers with Lisa diPrima, and milagros and nichos with Malena Lopez-Maggi and Taylor Zarkades King. This event is free and open to all ages. Create and honor with us!
Back to school also means back to school for art. Check out these great class offerings for kids and teens to add creativity and color to their week! You can register online via the links below.
Calder Circus (Ages 6 – 8): Be inspired by the magic of Alexander Calder’s 1927 Circus to create dioramas, small wooden figures, animals and other fantastical creatures. We will work in variety of mediums including clay, found materials, fabric and paint.
Forms in Clay (Ages 8 – 11): Work with clay! In this class, young artists will learn a variety of techniques for making functional vessels in clay.
Home School (Ages 6 – 10): Students engage diverse art making approaches utilizing painting, clay, and drawing.
This year the Richmond Art Center turned 80 and we threw two big parties to celebrate! We’re looking forward to the next 80 years of sharing art, education and community with you.
Our Back to School Community Celebration was a family-friendly event, full of heart, art, and delicious food. All ages were welcome to share a meal with us at our new communal tables in the courtyard, and the first 80 guests received a special handmade ceramic bowl crafted by none other than our talented ceramics manager, Marisa Burman. Delicious rice bowls were cooked and served by RAC students and volunteers, and our bar was staffed by RAC staff. DJ Juice provided danceable music for hours and our teaching artists Michael Perkin and Joyce Shon showed people the ropes in how to screenprint their own limited edition tote bags (with hand-drawn art by our Studio Education Coordinator Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo).
Our 80th Anniversary Gala was a stylish, elegant event where guests mingled in the galleries, met some of the artists—including Hung Liu, Jim Melchert, Richard Shaw, William Wiley, Mary Hull Webster and Lia Cook—whose works are now on exhibition in Making Our Mark. With Board President Inez Brooks-Myers and Board member Susan Wittenberg driving months of planning, this gala was beautifully executed by our entire Board and a team of volunteers (with thanks to our Volunteer Coordinator Nisha Chauhan-McGrath). Custom screenprinted tortillas featuring RAC founder Hazel Salmi were a big hit, thanks to the Great Tortilla Conspiracy, and guests listened to jazz singer Terrie Odabi in our Main Gallery while enjoying refreshing Vodka cocktails and wine bar , which were supported by donations from St. George Spirits in Alameda, and Jacobs & Co. and Vintage 59 Imports.
Almost 200 guests enjoyed a 3-course dinner, catered by Richmond favorite Menbere Aklilu and her restaurant Salute E Vita. The evening ended with a lively auction offering donated art, trips, theater and sports events to a very generous crowd. The funds raised from the auction and the Fund-a-Need will go towards supporting the Art Center in the upcoming year.
It was a great pleasure to see the enthusiastic gathering at the opening reception for Making Our Mark. The air buzzed with a sense of history – so many artists who had exhibited here in the past, including former director Kathryn Reasoner, former curator Michael Schwager, and former Board President, John Wehrle – all joined the astonishing group of artists in Making Our Mark: Dru Anderson, Megan Atherton, Christopher Brown, Ethan Caflisch, Squeak Carnwath, Enrique Chagoya, Lia Cook, Sofia Córdova, Yvette Deas, Allan deSouza, Nathan Dollarhite, Michael Hall, Scott Hewitt, Mildred Howard, Hung Liu, Nicholas Makanna, Bruce McGaw, Jim Melchert, Richard Misrach, Kate Nartker, Deborah Oropallo, Shari Paladino, Johanna Poethig, Richard Shaw, Ehren Tool, Mary Hull Webster, William T. Wiley, Wanxin Zhang – who have filled the Art Center with their vibrant works and challenging ideas.
These first two weeks of the exhibition have drawn many visitors and groups of students from California College of the Arts, Contra Costa College, and UC Berkeley. If you have not had a chance to see the current exhibitions, Making Our Mark and Marking New Paths, highlighting current MFA candidates at UC Berkeley, do come by for these stimulating arrays of artwork. If you attended the exhilarating opening, we hope you will come back and bring a friend! And we would love to see you at our upcoming artists talks. The first series of talks features Chris Brown, Enrique Chagoya, Yvette Deas and Megan Atherton on October 15 at 2pm.
We’re happy to announce that the Richmond Art Center, in partnership with the City of Richmond and The Trust for Public Land, has received a new grant from Kaboom to create the Mathieu Court Alley Play Street.
“It’s exciting that elementary school students will have the experience of transforming an outdoor community space in a lasting way. We have a strong team of teaching artists who will be facilitating this project bringing students, families and neighbors together in the process.” says Rachel Schaffran, our Art In the Community director.
Elementary school students from Peres Elementary and Nevin Community Center, along with their families and RAC teaching artists Vreni Michelini Castillo and Sophie Siegmann will paint interactive games & artwork on a recently transformed “green alley.” This inventive play street will give families a fun, green, and clean place to play in a underserved and park-deficient neighborhood in the city.
The Art Center and grant partners will host a design and development activities to discuss ideas for the play street and will work with artists, local non-profits and volunteers to carry out the plan. Possible innovations to the space include games painted on the ground, fence art, a trash & recycling receptacle, and community garden boxes with seating areas. Proposed interactive educational signs will share the green features of the alley, and offer ideas on nutrition and healthy living. Safety in the area will be enhanced with a barrier that can be closed when families are playing and fencing for the play street. English and Spanish signage will be installed to encourage full use of this play street by non-English speaking area residents.
We’ll be sure to share more information with you as this project develops.
Starting off an exciting weekend with a highlight from KQED Arts’ The Do List:
Sept. 23-Nov. 12: Another 80th birthday now, this time for one of the Bay Area’s best and most innovative art centers. The Richmond Art Center celebrates with the show Making Our Mark by some of the great artists who’ve shown there, and their students, featuring work by Hung Liu, Christopher Brown, Squeak Carnwath, Enrique Chagoya, William T. Wiley, and more. This evening the RAC celebrates its role teaching art to thousands of local school kids, with a Back to School Community Celebration with art-making and food. Tomorrow the Del Sol Quartetplays music by Terry Riley at 2pm — just ten bucks for that. Details for the gallery show and other goodies are here.
RICHMOND, CA — November 4, 2016—On Sunday, December 4, 2016, the largest community event and fundraiser for the Richmond Art Center returns for its 54th year, with over 50 local artists and artisan collectives participating. This year’s Holiday Arts Festival is on track to be a exciting experience, with many new artist vendors added to the roster, and gourmet food trucks and food vendors on site. Art collectors mark the day as an opportunity to bid on collectible, prized works by notable Bay Area artists. This year, the festival has expanded to present and give visibility to nonprofit partners with the Richmond Art Center, which include Rosie the Riveter Trust, Girls Inc. of West Contra Costa, NIAD Art Center, and RYSE Youth Center.
Dear Art Center Family,
It was a great pleasure to see the enthusiastic gathering at the opening reception for 
We’re happy to announce that the Richmond Art Center, in partnership with the City of Richmond and The Trust for Public Land, has received a new grant from Kaboom to create the Mathieu Court Alley Play Street.
