Events

A screenprint portrait by NIAD studio artist Raven Harper in red ink of a female figure from the shoulders up. The words at the bottom of the print read "Rosa Parks".

Online Exhibition: “Super Powers” organized by Aubrey Ingmar Manson

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About the exhibition   As artists, we all have super powers. We can say what we feel and build worlds out of nothing. We can demand change and speak out about injustices. We can protest for our rights, freedoms, and share with others our views. It is the outside world viewed through the artist’s lens. Our powers are both inside and outside of us. Who among us will stand up for what they believe in? Who among us will help out? Who among us has a vision? Who among us desires change and progress? And who among us will do Read More …

A black ink drawing, smudged in some areas, with three crowded rows of bees filling the bottom half and three rough rows of winged figures in the top half, jostling each other for space.

Online Exhibition: Ravel, organized by Danny Volk

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About the exhibition   Ravel is an exhibition of two and three dimensional work that attracts with loose references leaving the mind to give up meaning in the pursuit of possibility. Recommended listening to accompany the viewing of the exhibition: Maurice Ravel’s Boléro. About the organizer Danny Volk received a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art from the University of Chicago (Chicago, IL) and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Studies from Kent State University (Kent, OH). His recent exhibitions, screenings and performances include Mrs. Lincoln, What Did You Think of the Play at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (Milwaukee, WI), The News Gallery at SPACES (Cleveland, OH), The Read More …

an inky blue wash dilutes to a pale blue, shrouding a brilliantly red figure that gazes intensely at the viewer. The face of the figure is the same red as the body, which has no visible characteristics. Two blue eyes, a blue nose, an open red oval for a mouth. A bluish-green half-circle shape crowned with red dots is attached to the figure's cheek.

Online Exhibition: I See What You’re Feeling, organized by Daniel Krakauer

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About the exhibition   Have you ever met somebody whose emotions are so big they seem to fill up a room? These wonderful drawings remind me of those passionate people. Each subject fills their piece of paper with their emotions. Whether joyful, calm or anxious, their feelings permeate their faces, their bodies and even the spaces around them. Even when the backgrounds are empty, they are empty in ways that amplify the subjects’ inner states.  I don’t know these artists, so I can’t ask what they meant to say. But it’s art, so we each get to make up whatever Read More …

Thirsty Thursday Logo - a blue drop of water with "Th2" superimposed at the bottom and "Thirsty Thursday" underneath

RSVP for Thirsty Thursday – September 9

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Join us online from 6-7 PM PT, Thursday September! NIAD Gallery Manager Julio Rodriguez will waltz us through “Mis Figuras Favoritas,” the September Windows Exhibition featuring a lovely selection of new works on paper by NIAD studio artists and BFFs Carlota Rodriguez and Erica Martinez. Tune in and you can meet friendly NIAD artists, studio facilitators, community members, and chat with Erica or Carlota directly about their work! About the exhibition   This month, our Exhibitions Team has selected a collection of new works on paper by Carlota Rodriguez and Erika Martinez. Pre-pandemic, these two artists would usually sit close to Read More …

Three triangles are stacked on a background painted gray. These three triangles contain multiple other triangles, with bands of color and a blue or black border defining each triangle.

NIAD Windows Exhibition: Mis Figuras Favoritas – Carlota Rodriguez & Erika Martinez

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This month our Exhibitions Team has selected a collection of new works on paper by Carlota Rodriguez and Erika Martinez. Pre-pandemic, these two artists would usually sit close to each other when working in the studio, which would become apparent in their geometric abstractions. When NIAD moved to a Virtual Studio, Rodriguez and Martinez continued to create, though now only able to connect over Zoom. Despite the distance between them, a palpable connection continues in their artwork – a helpful reminder that what connects us transcends the space that separates us.   VIEW THE EXHIBITION RSVP FOR THIRSTY THURSDAY

A linocut print with a slightly rough right edge. the ink is fire-engine red with very lightly speckled patches of white paper showing through here and there. in the upper center of the page, the word YIELD in handdrawn letters is tightly enclosed by an upside-down triangle, with is in turn enclosed by another upside down triangle, with a third triangle tight around the second. The borders of the two outer triangles blend together here and there.

Online Exhibition: Yielding, organized by Ann Marguerite Tartsinis

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About the exhibition   To yield is to submit to pressure, to give way to an external force. It is also to produce or create something, the yield, from one’s own labor. The artworks brought together in this exhibition reflect the multiple ways matter can yield: Clay is molded and punctured by the sharp tip of the stylus, fabric gathers at the pull of the embroidery thread, and brushstrokes accumulate to reveal an overflowing mass of delineated forms on the page. While some of the artworks here physically represent how yielding is embedded in the very processes of their making, others Read More …

a face emerges from a canvas of exuberant brushstrokes - a cornflower blue muzzle, a lavender nose, yellow brows, skin in brown and magenta shades, surrounded by an aura of more magenta paint mixed with lavender and cornflower blue. the canvas is vertically oriented. the face is smiling.

Online Exhibition: 177 years, organized by Julia Goodman and Michael Hall

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About the exhibition   177 Years is a group show including multiple works by Lisa Blevens, Eddie Braught, Sylvia Fragoso, Peter Harris, Tre’von Silva, Jonathan Valdivias, Christian Vassell and Susan Wise. Cumulatively the artists have spent 177 years making art in the NIAD studio working with paint, textiles, ceramics and sound. Julia and Michael co-curated this show from home while their toddler was sleeping.  About the organizers Julia Goodman is known for her low and high relief handmade paper sculptures. Goodman’s innovative approach to papermaking holds strong throughlines with the history of rag paper as she gathers, sorts, tears, soaks and pulps fibers, transforming discarded bedsheets and Read More …

Special Exhibition: SFMOMA x NIAD MiNi Mural Gallery

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About the gallery The NIAD MiNi Gallery is a collection of work that showcases the diversity of NIAD’s studio artists in material and form, featuring the artists who contributed to the SFMOMA MiNi Mural Project. About the event From the SFMOMA website: In 1940, more than sixty-five artists made their creative processes public when they participated in Art in Action, an exhibition of live art making conceived by architect Timothy L. Pfleuger as part of the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. Among these artists was Diego Rivera, who during this time painted the mural Pan American Unity, which Read More …

Untitled (D0897) by Julie MacDonald graphite on woven paper 13 x 19” unique 2019. Row after row of small squares, each divided into four bright triangles, stacked up across the picture plane to form an optical dance (perhaps more of a march?) of color.

Online Exhibition: Holding the Line, organized by jill moniz

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About the exhibition The works in this exhibition use the line to suggest form and meaning. Whether as a solid object or a mere suggestion, the line elicits connections beyond formalism, and resonates with transformative power. The synchronicity between what is made and what is felt enriches the experience with the visual languages offered here. Together, these works tell a story with line, color and form about the pleasure, diversity and complexity born from simple materials that should be required reading. About the organizer  jill moniz is an independent curator of visual narratives. She shares her vision of empowering visual Read More …

Thirsty Thursday Logo - a blue drop of water with "Th2" superimposed at the bottom and "Thirsty Thursday" underneath

Online Event: Thirsty Thursday – August 12

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Join us online from 6-7 PM PT, Thursday August 12! We’ll welcome organizer Jessica Cadkin and guest artist Leigh Barbier in conversation about organizing this month’s NIAD Windows Exhibition, Picnic.  You could have the opportunity to meet and talk with participating NIAD studio artists Saul Alegria, Jeremy Burleson, Jonathan Velazquez, Serena Scott, Shana Harper, Michael Nuñez, Michael Walker, Tre’von Silva and Hacer Acma. Leigh Barbier is a renowned San Francisco-based artist with a singular style. What are Leigh’s career highlights so far? “Working on dioramas for the California Academy of Sciences, being part of an all-girl team to make a Read More …

an acrylic painting on paper of an insect, with four olive green legs, yellow wings, a purple thorax and orange eyes on a bright pink background

NIAD Windows Exhibition: Picnic, organized by Jessica Cadkin

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About the exhibition Ice cream trucks, pool parties, and picnics evoke images of summertime. This year in particular, picnics became an opportunity to reunite with friends and family after so many months of isolation. The summer ritual of gathering outside on blankets with baskets to share a meal, play games, and bask in the sun took on special meaning. So as this summer draws to a close, the artworks selected for this window exhibition are an expression of some of those things. About the organizer  Jessica Cadkin was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up in Napa, California. She received Read More …

Untitled (D0653) mixed media on paper by NIAD studio artist Erica Martinez. image description: a bright magenta feather shape with black ink details on a light yellow background.

Online Exhibition: 20 Continuous Lines, selected by Veronica DeJesus

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About the exhibition 20 continuous linesCommunicationConnectionsRelationshipsModel MakingCirclesFriendsFamilyGrounding StonesVacationsFinding BalanceSeeing things throughColors open up our perspectivesFinding peace and harmonyEVEN through hard shiftsBREATHE WORKPRAYER WORKPERSPECTIVE WORKlaying in a fieldFeeling connected to your purposeHaving your inner light turned on from within About the selector Veronica DeJesus is a visual artist currently living and working in Los Angeles. She was raised in Miami, LA, Oakland and on the open road along Highway 10. Veronica has had numerous solo shows at galleries in New York, Atlanta, and San Francisco, including her remarkable exhibition of Memorial drawings at The Berkeley Art Museum. Her work has been featured Read More …

Image: Untitled (D7526), Karen May.

Online Exhibition: Every Sing, selected by Jesse Malmed

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About the exhibition   Every SingSome SingAny SingThis Sing   Or what we might call singinging, both to and away from alongongs. This online exhibition brings together a series of works from some of the artists at NIAD that harmonize with singing things, through fan culture, instrument studies, exploded gig posters from a pole on the studio table, scores and how songs move. About the selector Jesse Malmed is an artist and curator working in video, performance, text, occasional objects and their gaps and laps over and under. 

James Heartsill Untitled (P0639)

Online Exhibition: Diverse Findings, selected by Paulette Nichols

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About the exhibition Here is a picture by James Heartsill of what looks to be a house, except it has teeth, and there is a sky and trees and the roof looks like it has a hair cut, and a tongue is coming out like a door mat. Don Van Vliet, a.k.a. Captain Beefheart wrote a song called My Head is My Only House Unless it Rains, and that’s what this mixed media on canvas piece makes me think of. We walk around in our heads that protect us like little houses. We inhabit our bodies. They are our homes, and we may own Read More …

Untitled (D3643) Luis Estrada

Online Exhibition: MIND MAPPING, selected by Minoosh Zomorodinia

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About the exhibition I’m interested in recording time and space, so I selected works that visualize and explore everyday thinking.   Why tracking TIME?How is the WEATHER?What do you think of EVERYDAY?How much is a new CAR? About the selector Minoosh Zomorodinia is an Iranian-born interdisciplinary artist who makes visible the emotional and psychological reflections of her mind’s eye inspired by nature. She employs walking as a catalyst to reference the power of technology as a colonial structure while negotiating boundaries of lands.

Thirsty Thursday Logo - a blue drop of water with "Th2" superimposed at the bottom and "Thirsty Thursday" underneath

Online Event: Thirsty Thursday – July 8

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

Join us online from 6-7 PM PT, Thursday July 8th! We’ll welcome Nan Collymore and Celia Lesh in conversation about organizing this month’s NIAD Windows Exhibition, Soft Material. Our guest speakers will share some insight on how this collaborative project came to be. You could have the opportunity to meet and talk with participating artists from NIAD, Creative Growth, and Elbow Room: Deatra Colbert, Shantae Robinson, Raven Harper, Gail Lewis, Sherrie Aradanis, Elmeater Morton, and Ricky Bearghost. About Thirsty Thursday Hosted by Julio Rodriguez, NIAD’s Gallery Manager, Thirsty Thursday is our new event series bringing together artists and curators with interested Read More …

NIAD Windows Exhibition: Soft Material, Organized by Nan Collymore and Celia Lesh

NIAD Windows Exhibition: Soft Material, selected by Nan Collymore & Celia Lesh

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

About the exhibition Soft Material is a collaborative garment construction project, between artists who have an interest in and connection with what one might call fashion and textiles, and what can also be understood as the corporeal, the body and performativity. Soft Material supports and connects artists living with disabilities whose communal studio programs have been severely interrupted by the pandemic. The project was born out of an interest in proposing a model for generating clothes reciprocally, with many voices and a disregard for efficiency.     About the organizers   Nan Collymore makes work that is tactile and continuous—as though Read More …

Flowers in NIAD's garden

Be a NIAD Garden Volunteer – June 26

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Help tidy NIAD’s garden this weekend – in our first volunteer opportunity this year! You’ll cut and deadhead flowers and take home a bouquet! We’ll provide the pastries and gardening gloves. No need to RSVP. Have a question? Email Amanda. NIAD Garden TidyingSaturday, June 2610 AM-Noon551 23rd StreetRichmond, California 94804 * Please wear a mask, even if you’re vaccinated.

Untitled (D8221), Samantha Kershnar.

Online Exhibition: Serotonin Ping, selected by Zoë Taleporos

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About the exhibition   Serotonin Ping is a collection of images that aspire to elicit feelings of well-being, stability, and happiness. Pets, food, inside jokes, oddities, simple statements – these are the things that cheer me up. Hopefully this show makes someone else crack a smile. About the selector Zoë Taleporos is a curator, arts administrator, and writer based in Oakland. She currently works as a Public Art Project Manager at the San Francisco Arts Commission where she is involved in commissioning a wide range of artworks for public spaces.