Dorian Reid

Dorian Reid (b. 1957) is a multidisciplinary artist who joined NIAD Art Center in 2003. Her practice spans sculpture, printmaking, painting, textiles, fashion, and performance. In each medium, Reid engages issues of social justice, civil rights, and animal welfare. She explains, "I'm thinking about the future, and I'm thinking about right now. All the power to the people; all the power to the animals! The politics have been handed down to me, generation to generation. People say, 'Don't keep all your emotions in!' But you can't fall apart either. So I'm trying to express my feelings as animals and shapes. I'm creating my own Black history with objects and cats and horses." To this end, Reid has led fundraising initiatives for local animal shelters and curated several exhibitions with NIAD Art Center, including: This Is My Dream in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and Hurricane Dorian reflecting on the loss of community during pandemic era lockdown. 

In 2020, Dorian Reid mounted a solo exhibition with Kapp Kapp Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, entitled: Never Look Down on Anybody Unless You're Helping Him Up. Her ceramic sculptures were showcased in a solo booth with the gallery at NADA New York in 2024. Reid collaborated with gallery and project space In Concert to present Dorian Reid b/w Reid's Records (2023). The exhibition included paintings, ceramics, tapestries, live performances, and a recreation of her family's famed Berkeley record shop and cultural center. Reid has participated in group exhibitions at numerous Bay Area galleries, including Rebecca Camacho Presents, Fourth Wall Gallery, Chico Art Center, Et al., Richmond Art Center, Minnesota Street Project, and the Oakland Museum of California. Her work is in the permanent collection of the OMCA and the Ohana Center at Montage Health in Monterey, CA.

How do you identify, Dorian?

Well, I didn’t know I had hidden talent from my mom. I found out I have art from her. I didn’t know until I came to NIAD. Then I started thinking about bringing up my history and putting my hidden talents together. I put yourself into my work. I put myself as a cat into a ceramic sculpture. I’ve been bringing out a little bit of my own history into the art. 

I would say I’m an artist because I do every little thing. I can’t say just one thing. Just leave it at artist because I do so many things. 

What do you like about working with cloth or fiber?

I’m putting a statement on a quilt saying “This is me.” I try to put myself into the quilt. I think if it’s leather it’s hard, but with cloth it’s easier. Sometimes I can create with cotton but it doesn’t matter, I can work with anything. You just throw a material at me and I can create. It’s very challenging to come up with what I can come up with. With the fabrics it’s giving me challenges like how to pick the colors. I like to accomplish my challenges in art. 

And ceramics? 

Well, I think with ceramics I’m just thinking about my animal situation and I try to bring it together with Black history. In ceramics I’m creating my own Black history with objects and creations. I kept on thinking of President’s Day for Abraham Lincoln. 

You made Abraham Lincoln into a cat. Why him?

I started putting the words as like a play on words. I like to reimagine Abraham Lincoln and make my own words on them. On Martin Luther King, Jr. I put down “I have a meow,” instead of “I have a dream.” I put myself down as the cat. I like to reinterpret figures from history. In March it’s Women’s History Month and I’m putting it in the cats. 

Why are cats so important in your work?

In my childhood I was raised with a lot of animals and I had kittens all over the place. When I went to my grandmother’s place we had kittens in her yard. 

When I try to talk to people it’s harder. I think of my cats as my children. It’s easier with animals than people. I think of my cats as my therapy. They’re calm, cool and let me know when to get up. I can relate to animals and I feel like I need to advocate for animal rights. My work later moved on to horses. 

What about the idea of utopia in your work? Or like a future paradise? 

Well, one of the reasons I’m looking for a place like that is because is in my childhood I went through a lot of anger and hostility. It seems like to me that there’s no place to get away from the violence and anger. If I can find a peaceful place to do my art I can feel calm and safe. 

It’s interesting to me because it’s almost like through your art work you’re manifesting this safe place you’re looking for.

Yeah, yeah, if I can go to the  NIAD garden I feel a lot more calm. 

How does being from the Bay Area influence your work, do you think? 

Yeah, my father had a family owned business called Reid Records in Berkeley. I was just telling Bobby [Dorian’s brother] we should start a new family business, maybe like with horse back riding and art sales. Reid Records was special to me because I used to hang around with my dad there and I learned about Motown. 

Yeah and when you lose a business you’re not only losing a business, you’re losing this community space. 

Yeah, it was special to me.

What about your mother’s history of social activism? Has that been informative in your work?

Well, to me when she was doing Rosie the Riveter and she told me about the history. Then she met my stepfather who was a professor at Berkeley. I was raised up in Tilden Park. To me Berkeley was my birthplace. I’ve always been a California girl. 

I’m curious about how all of this family history and background influenced your art work? 

Well, what happened was I did the Black Panther quilt. Joan, my aunt, was one of the first women in the Black Panthers and I’ve been thinking about my ancestors. Denis, my uncle, was also involved in the Black Panthers. I did the “All the power to the people” quilt. The politics have been handed down to me. It’s from generation to generation. 

Going back to materials here. What do you like about painting? 

I think when I painted the flower I was thinking about “Where have all of the flowers have gone?”  I think animals are related to our ancestors. When you look at wild cats, they all hunt. 

What’s special about working with paint? 

The thing about paint is you just do your own thing. I started to think about Romeo [Dorian’s cat] because he was my winter baby, he was born on Christmas day. Paint is fine as long as it doesn’t run or drip. My mom used to paint and use oil paints. I do paints because it reminds me of her. 

What’s next for you, Dorian?

My long term goal is trying to get a studio to work on my crocheting and my art and have horses. Since I lost my family-owned business, I’m trying to make plans for going into the horse business and having my own art studio. This is my long term goal for when I retire, to go somewhere peaceful.