Online Exhibition: Holding the Line, organized by jill moniz

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 …

Online Event: Thirsty Thursday – August 12

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 …

NIAD Windows Exhibition: Picnic, organized by Jessica Cadkin

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 …

Break Tune Favorites playlist by Jean McElvane

It’s time for the latest playlist from NIAD Studio Artist Jean McElvane! She has this to say about her latest collection: Hello, & welcome to this next occasion starting this month. Here are the top 10 “Break” Tune Favorites.  At least for now. The idea for this playlist is about taking some time off, whenever is needed.   Though, once again, this Jean is taking another one-week off for her birthday (like I do every year), just this first week (8-4-1973 – 4:11 am – Leo), I’m just staying put, & taking it easy at where I am & while turning 48 Read More …

From NIAD’s Director: Open Letter to SFMOMA

Embedded in NIAD’s tagline, “Redefining Contemporary Art,” is a mission to help build a more inclusive contemporary art world. One way we do this is by building partnerships – in Richmond, the Bay Area, and worldwide. Our partnership with SFMOMA has been an especially important one. Marlon Mullen received the SECA Award in 2019 and as I write this, NIAD studio artists are preparing to unveil two collaborative murals on August 14 and 15 at the museum’s Mini Mural Festival. SFMOMA is a meaningful entry point for NIAD studio artists’ visibility and success. However, at this time we are seeing SFMOMA Read More …

Online Exhibition: 20 Continuous Lines, selected by Veronica DeJesus

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 …

Online Exhibition: Every Sing, selected by Jesse Malmed

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. 

Online Exhibition: Diverse Findings, selected by Paulette Nichols

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 …

Online Exhibition: MIND MAPPING, selected by Minoosh Zomorodinia

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.

Online Event: Thirsty Thursday – July 8

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, selected by Nan Collymore & Celia Lesh

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 …

Be a NIAD Garden Volunteer – June 26

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.

Online Exhibition: Serotonin Ping, selected by Zoë Taleporos

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.

Summer Tune Favorites 2021 playlist by Jean McElvane

NIAD Studio Artist, Jean McElvane, created a new Spotify playlist for us to celebrate summer! Songs include: “Summer Breeze,” Seals and Crofts “Summertime Blues,” Eddie Cochran “In the Summertime,” Mungo Jerry “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” Sly & The Family Stone “Summer Day,” Sheryl Crow “Summer,” War “Summer Madness, Kool & The Gang “Summertime,” DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince “Summer Rain,” Johnny Rivers “Heatwave,” Martha Reeves & The Vandellas “Summer’s Daughter,” The 5th Dimension “Summertime,” Billy Steward “Summer in the City,” The Lovin’ Spoonful “Cruel Summer,” Bananarama “Sunny Afternoon,” The Kinks “Summer Nights” from Grease,” John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John Read More …

Online Event: SFMOMA Mini Mural Festival Kickoff – June 24

NIAD is one of three organizations commissioned by SFMOMA to contribute murals to its Mini Mural Festival this summer. During this special online kickoff event, Acción Latina, NIAD, and SOMA Pilipinas will discuss our organizations’ work and missions. Then, the artists will reveal their mural designs for the first time. Don’t miss this special preview! SFMOMA Mini Mural Festival Kickoff (online)Thursday, June 24th, 5:30 PM PTRSVP today! Image: NIAD artists in our courtyard working on sketches for SFMOMA’s Mini Mural Festival. Top row: Luis Estrada, Esmeralda Silva, Miguel Chacon. Circle: Jonathan Valdivias. Bottom row: Julio Del Rio, Deatra Colbert, Christian Vassell’s sketches.

Online Event: Small Business Development Workshop for Richmond-Based Artists – June 23

NIAD and Richmond Main Street Initiative (RMSI) are excited to present an online Small Business Development Workshop for Richmond-Based Artists on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 from 1-2:30 PM PT. Demetri Broxton, Senior Director of Education at the Museum of the African Diaspora, will be the featured speaker. There’s no fee to attend the workshop, but you must register to receive the Zoom link.   Sign up today! This workshop is supported by the Richmond Arts and Culture Commission’s Neighborhood Public Art Program.

Online Exhibition: Perfect Memory, selected by Justin Clifford Rhody

About the exhibition “Our relationship with reality and life is that same relationship that exists between the satellite image and the actual earth.”  – Luigi Ghirri   “Our engagement with the picture, our questioning of it, shapes and defines the ways we draw meanings from it. Pictures tell stories only to the extent that we ask them to; and as our questions change, those stories do as well.”   – Martha A. Sandweiss About the selector Justin Clifford Rhody is an artist working in photography, filmmaking and sound. He currently lives in New Mexico with his partner and frequent collaborator Abigail Read More …

Online Exhibition: Group Chat, selected by Kate Rhoades & Katy Kondo

About the exhibition Since we’re curating this show as a duo, we were drawn to work that deals with collaboration and togetherness. In the last year as we’ve been isolated from our larger communities, we have also been deeply entangled with the few people in our bubble. In this exhibition we present works that were produced through collaboration with those long gone, like Karen May’s Untitled which responds to Man Ray’s Larmes (Tears). We also included works considering groups, like the stoic duck couple in Danny Thach’s Untitled. With our social spheres out of whack, these artists have given us new ways to think about being Read More …

Online Event: Thirsty Thursday with Max Kauffman – June 10

Join us online from 6-7 PM on Thursday June 10! We’ll welcome Max Kauffman in conversation about curating this month’s NIAD Windows Exhibition, Adornment. Our guest speaker will share some insight on how they selected the artworks in the show, and quite possibly show and discuss their own artworks and practice. 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 people like you. Admission is free, but you must register to receive the Zoom link.