The more things stay the same, the more we change.  In order to stay present with the lasting pandemic and this moment in the Movement for Black Lives, we’ve had to move in different ways, and grow.  NIAD’s exhibitions have become even more conversational – at tonight’s Thirsty Thursday event, we’re excited to bring together NIAD curators, studio artists, staff members, and friends to bring the latest NIAD Windows exhibition, Weaving Circle, to life. NIAD’s community studio is also changing as we prepare to work in two ways simultaneously – Virtual and Onsite – as soon as it is safe.  Read More …

Lauren Frances Evans explains, “…Bodies amass, radiating energy, unable to contain the currents of their existence. What is this force? Oozing with life, yet bearing the weight of it. Oh, to be a body in the world.” View the exhibition. (image: Atlas (S0044), Alan Perez)

This week at NIAD, we are reflecting on the idea of safety.  California air quality is improving day by day, and we are watching the fire perimeters shrink, with gratitude for the labor of those who have kept us safe.  Resilience means taking in this moment of relative safety, even as we know our extended community includes members along the Gulf Coast, where hurricanes are making landfall today. At the NIAD studio, where various rules and laws ensure we provide a safe studio space for creative work, we are learning how to become even more intimate with safety. Like so Read More …

Gallerist Jennifer Gilbert explains the show, “I selected these works as I have a real passion for black and white art, my home is a celebration of monochrome works… I believe an artist to be at their most honest when colour is omitted and their skills are manifest.” Enjoy.

We’re delighted and honored to announce that NIAD Art Center is now a member of NADA. The New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) is the definitive non-profit arts organization dedicated to the cultivation, support, and advancement of new voices in contemporary art. We couldn’t be prouder to be a part.

There are many ways and reasons you can travel and not just for vacation. NIAD artist Jean McElvane returns to our blog with another timely post. This one is a Top 20 of videos featuring travel and military service. She says, “The idea for this email came from moving one place to another.  Starting off to Pismo Beach, (aka Pepto Bismo Beach).” And Jean has gathered up the hilarity (much of it from the classic Warner Brothers’ Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes) on many forms of travel and the branches of the service: plane, rocket, naval ship, tunneling and even Read More …

Think of our current online exhibition as a kind of puzzle, as Kate Conlon explains, “(with NIAD) artists thinking about the parts and how they fit together.” Enjoy.

We’re thrilled to see the results of our collaborative project with SaveArtSpace. SaveArtSpace is a non profit organization that works to transform ad spaces into public art. For this project SaveArtSpace worked with curators from NIAD Art Center, Creative Growth, and Creativity Explored to select work made by local artists to display in public spaces. NIAD studio artist Dorrie Reid selected the works which are now on display in these two Richmond bus shelter. The first is a detailed mixed media piece by Julio Del Rio located at San Pablo and Garvin Avenue in Richmond. The second bus shelter holds Read More …

You probably know about Jeremy’s amazing sculptures created from tightly rolling paper into tube forms that bent and twisted into shapes that often resemble the body of a lamp. But, Jeremy is also prolific drawer. Mainly working in India ink on mid-sized sheets of white paper, Burleson explores and notes creatures and flowers of all shapes and forms. The works, frequently drawn quickly and with no preliminary sketches, are deftly stark studies of Jeremy’s interests and obsessions. Have a look.

As you know, it is a crazy time. A rather unbelievable time. But, it can also be a time of hope. Julie Mallis has selected a group show full of vibrancy and ebullience, with almost all works including a touch of yellow, a color known for happiness and evoking joy. Enjoy.

As NIAD contemplates keeping our community safe and connected during a longer-than-expected Shelter in Place, we are thrilled to be offering a reinvented Exhibitions program in our 23rd Street windows in Richmond. Exhibitions are how our artists’ work finds its audience – when artists sell work, their careers as artists are confirmed, and as in most art galleries, we split all art sales 50/50 with artists.  When you purchase art, online or in person, you directly support our artists and everything we do at NIAD.  Our online exhibitions will continue every week. We are grateful for the support of audiences Read More …

Remember going places on a date… like to the movies? And then, maybe, grabbing a slice of pie for dessert? Boy, those were the days. And Katie Kimmel’s show helps bring those days back (digitally, at least). Enjoy!

I often say that NIAD is the artists’ spaceship… as staff, we just get on and get off. It is true that the artists, often with the long-term support of involved and engaged family members, are our permanent stakeholders. Many studio artists practice at NIAD for decades, outlasting some of our most dedicated staff.  However, NIAD’s ship wouldn’t fly without the culture our staff upholds.  This week, NIAD will say goodbye to one of our beloved and influential staff members, Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, who will begin at VCU’s MFA program in the Fall.  In addition to facilitating the groundbreaking weekly Bingo games Read More …

“While we currently aren’t able to physically travel very far during this time of Sheltering In Place due to COVID-19, I wanted to select works that to me suggest a different form of travel, one that occurs inward,” explains curator Lena Gustafson. It’s perfect idea. Enjoy!

From the New York Times: “…Taken one by one, Billy White’s paintings at Shrine (through Aug. 2) are less of a digital challenge. Mr. White, a self-taught African-American artist working out of the National Institute of Art and Disabilities in Richmond, Calif., takes as his subjects an eclectic pantheon of personal heroes, from Vincent van Gogh to hip-hop stars. The pictures are solid and bright; but it’s when they’re seen together, interacting as if at some post-pandemic blowout that they really jump to life, an effect nicely captured in a YouTube video by the veteran art reporter James Kalm…” Read Read More …

From Hyperallergic: “…Similarly to campaigns against Warren Kanders and the Sackler family, the letter calls for the removal of trustees whose business interests and political donations undermine the museum’s community-oriented work. In their place the letter demands ordinary museumgoers — in numbers commensurate with museum revenue from membership and tickets. (Membership and admissions accounted for a combined 28% of SFMOMA’s revenue in the 2018 fiscal year, according to its most recent biennial report.) The letter singles out former board chairman Charles Schwab, the billionaire financier and prolific Donald Trump donor, calling for his and his wife Helen Schwab’s names to Read More …

From The East Bay Times: “Bisa French, who has overseen the Richmond Police Department on an interim basis since September of last year, has been named the city’s new full-time police chief. French becomes the first Black woman to lead the department, an honor that comes seven years after she became its first Black woman captain. The interim tag officially will be removed from French’s title on Aug. 1. She was given the reins in September, after city leaders removed former Police Chief Allwyn Brown following a vote of no confidence from the city’s police union… Read the rest of Read More …

We all have friends, right? And it’s especially great to have friends at a time like this. Well, for this week’s show, NIAD’s Professional Practice Group has selected highlights of their own work as well as pieces from their friends. Enjoy.

For many people, July 13-17 might not be a standout week, but for NIAD it’s been momentous.  This week, following the orders of our health officers, we moved back our target date for reopening from August to September – but maybe longer, depending on health and safety.  And so, this week marks another new chapter in the new world of uncertainty we’re navigating.  Giving up even a hazy vision of reopening requires a lot of coming to terms with how much we can’t control. There’s a lot of learning on the horizon, the kind that comes with confronting new challenges, even Read More …

“…White has a deep affinity to Van Gogh, feeling that they both overcame adversity; in his childhood, White suffered a traumatic brain injury which led to limited mobility. Commenting on the tradition of posthumous legacies, White observes that recognition in the art world is often reserved for dead artists—Van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime…” Read the entire piece.