Work with NIAD's prolific portrait makers - Shawn Sanders and Dorian Reid - to create your own animal portrait using still life of stuffed animals and photos.
“The love for fashion spreads, and now the whole studio is thriving off of it,” exhibition curator Shantanice Swain explains.
“For me, fashion is about what you’re comfortable with. It can shift, and it can be anything — clothes, earrings, shoes, drawings. It’s a bold and courageous way of saying, ‘I am who I am today.’” Fashion has the power to affirm and transform: what we wear tells a story about who we are and who we might one day hope to become. Over the past year, artists were encouraged to experiment with materials and draw inspiration from personal histories, pop culture, and future fantasies. Presented here is a selection of works on paper that showcase vibrant and innovative adornments.
NIAD is Hosting Artists for 2024 Richmond Open Studios! Bay Area art lovers are invited to the Richmond Open Studios to be held August 17 and 18, 2024, from 11-5 pm. NIAD will be opening its courtyard during this event on Saturday August 17, hosting work by six Richmond artists. This free event will introduce the public to the rich and diverse work of 48 artists opening their studios or showing their work at three sites. This is a fantastic story because Richmond Open Studios is the grassroots, no budget, independent project of a group of five working artists. Read More ...
Join us during Richmond Open Studios on August 17th from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM for a Public Art Workshop hosted by Dorian in NIAD’s 23rd Street Gallery. NIAD artist and curator Dorian Reid will convene voices from Richmond’s community around themes of water, animals, and music to create a collaborative design for cut-metal panel work across NIAD’s building, fence and courtyard gate. Participants can make artwork for submission and possible inclusion in this public arts project as well as in a Spring 2025 exhibition at NIAD that will feature the unveiling of images of the final design and individual participant drawings. All are welcome!
The University Art Gallery at Sonoma State University proudly presents Reflections: Portraits and Self-Portraits from NIAD Art Center, an exhibition curated by Executive Director Amanda Eicher, and Board Member Jay Youngdahl. Artists in their own right, Amanda and Jay are regular conversation partners with the studio artists at NIAD, finding an evocative and lasting dialogue with practices of self-representation and the question of representation itself.
Featured artists include individuals who are emerging and self-taught, are from traditionally underrepresented communities, and those with disabilities. All have paved their own way in the formation of their work, representing personal experiences and interests in individual styles developed outside the conventions of mainstream art education and culture.
This exhibition began in 2006 as a way for DC-area groups working with self-taught artists to exhibit together. Over the last 18 years, the exhibition’s success has seen it grow to feature artists from across the nation alongside our resident artists. With a selection of affordable work in a wide array of styles, the show continues to be an excellent introduction to outsider art for those looking to start their own collection.
Celebrate the creativity of the artists of Creative Growth, the first U.S. organization dedicated to supporting artists with developmental disabilities. Artists and staff from Creative Growth and their sister organizations NIAD and Creativity Explored will be on-site to help us celebrate. If you have an access need, check out Accessibility at SFMOMA to see what we offer!
