Join us at the Eddie Rhodes Gallery for the opening of “3,734 Dreams Not Remembered” featuring work by NIAD Artists who are Contra Costa College alumni. Read More …
This show is all about comfort text: resilience in everyday words, writing and reading. Expression can also be wordless, the use of line and color as new vocabulary, pushing a thought out onto a surface, making marks and continuously trying to communicate with the world.
We tell stories to sustain ourselves and find each other. These messages embedded in art become an emotional telegram– a signal flare with a flame of memory trailing behind it. “Feeling Language” is about books, lists, slogans, language, gesture, touch and the trust given in sharing. Read More …
In the exhibition What’s Cookin?!, you will see food, art and creativity from various NIAD artists. So feel free to pull up a chair in your mind, take a seat at our dinner table, and see what’s cookin’! Cooking Corner is a place where artists can share artwork, make art, share food ideas and recipes, and interests they have in cooking, and also cook along with me from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Since we have returned to being on site, Cooking Corner has made its way back to the 23rd Street NIAD studio, where myself and a group of artists meet weekly, and come up with recipes to prepare, prep, cook and serve to the NIAD community. Read More …
When Peter Harris is asked which of his ceramic pieces is his favorite, he says with conviction, “I love all of them.” This show is a celebration of “all of them.” The title is drawn from Michael Starofsky’s beautiful series of whale sculptures and pencil holders. Several of these artists are new to working in ceramics, and they are already establishing new forms and vibrant styles. Meanwhile, experienced NIAD ceramicists showcase their newest sculptures and functional ware. Whales and Pencil Holders presents this broad spectrum of subjects and inspiration—enjoy them all. Read More …
When I look at these artworks, I see their existence and how they feel as living forces; some elements remain as independent organisms where forms play out their own life; unpredictably relating to and through the viewer’s experience. Read More …
About the exhibition It’s not a superbloom year. It’s not one of those years where the rain fall gives us an explosion of colorful flowers in the desert. But it is spring. There are still median strips full of poppies and untended lots full of lupines and purple vetch. There are bright yellow dandelions growing despite everything. There are the plum trees blossoming then letting loose their purple leaves and then the cherry trees blooming and letting loose their green leaves. These moments of color, of unexpected brightness, bring me so much happiness and ground me to the earth. I Read More …
We are thrilled to announce that fourteen artworks by NIAD studio artists Heather Hamann, Shana Harper, Serena Scott, and Jonathan Velazquez have been acquired by the Mills College Art Museum as part of a newly launched student acquisition project to help diversify the museum’s collection Full Press Release: Mills College Art Museum is pleased to announce the acquisition of 14 works of art by contemporary artists associated with NIAD Art Center in Richmond, California: Heather Hamann, Shana Harper, Serena Scott, and Jonathan Velazquez. These additions to MCAM’s collection are part of a newly launched student acquisition project to identity, research, Read More …
About “SISTER SISTER” Some people think we look alike; others think our voices sound the same, and still others mistake us for each other – but do we have the same taste? We definitely swapped clothes, jewelry, sneakers, and a few items we argued over as tiny pups in the world.In this selection, I tried to choose for my sister a few of the things I think she might have borrowed from my childhood bedroom – or that I’d want to borrow from hers. (Unsurprisingly, we chose a few of the same items the first time around!) As the younger sibling, I Read More …
About “The Zindel Collection” collection The items in this Holiday Gift Guide are perfect for your friend or family member who: 1. loves handsome dudes and fall colors. Mireya Betances, Two Dudes ceramic 13x7x2″ 2. admires intelligence, integrity, and dedication. Raven Harper, MLK T-shirt hand silk-screened, 100% cotton 3. dreams of living in a strawberry. Heather Hamann, Untitled mixed media on paper 12×18″ 4. loves swamp creatures. Saul Alegria, Untitled ceramic 13x10x2″ 5. loves alien swamp creatures. Saul Alegria, Untitled acrylic on paper 30×22“ 6. likes laughing, and ponies on the freeway. Nathan Lam, Bad Traffic Sign graphite on paper, Read More …
We are thrilled to kick off our NIAD Holiday Gift Guide series! Every week we’ll have a fresh collection of artwork from NIAD’s dazzlingly diverse inventory – paintings, afghan blankets, coloring books, planters, posters, necklaces, music, t-shirts, wallhangings, prints, greeting cards, zines, soft sculptures, ceramics, and more. And it’s all lovingly hand-picked by the art aficionados who know it best – NIAD studio artists and staff. Enjoy! About the “Mixed Media” collection “Holidays bring family together. You remember people who aren’t with you. When you look at the gifts, they should make you think about the good times you Read More …
About the Exhibition Memory can be buried deep in our mind. It emerges at a quiet moment, when looking through a window on a peaceful afternoon, or while mixing in a noisy crowd. Memory can come in colors, in detail, or totally abstract. Powerful, but impossible to describe in words.The selected works can be any part in our memories: those sweet, lonely, joyful, silly, bitter, innocent, or nonsensical moments. About the Organizer Born in Beijing, my understanding and sense on art come from the rich memories of the seemingly long past and my present life in lively everyday reality. My Read More …
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 …
About the exhibition These ten artists imbue spirit into everyday objects. Facets of daily life become abstract through their methods; quilts, photographs, clay and paper become magical things through the power of repetition. The rituals of home and comfort are elevated through spiritual fulfillment. The love bestowed upon these items reveals itself. Not merely beauty, these things serve a purpose. They emanate joy, a sense of peace, and a hope of understanding one another. About the selector Max Kauffman Meet the selector (virtually) at Thirsty Thursday, June 10, 6-7pm PT. View the exhibition.View Untitled (S0912), Samantha Kershnar.
About the exhibition Bookend (plural bookends) A heavy object or moveable support placed at one or both ends of a row of books for the purpose of keeping them upright. … one of two things occurring or located at either end of something else. For this exhibition the ceramic works of Ann Meade and Saul Alegria are the supports holding together a shelf full of treasures by NIAD artists. About the selector Ellen Lake is an interdisciplinary artist living in Oakland, California. Her work experiments with technology, explores archives and collections, returns time and again to painting and process, and ranges Read More …
About the exhibition This collection of objects and images meanders through the enchanted woods on a gothic quest steered by good and evil forces. The trees seem to come to life and the ground beneath is wrought with ancient Druidic wisdom. Go forth and may your travels be prosperous, meaningful and enlightening. About the selector Bessie Kunath (b. 1981, Orange, CA) is an artist and curator who lives in Cleveland, Ohio where she currently works as a nurse at the Cleveland Clinic. She has formerly worked at Creativity Explored in San Francisco and at ECF Art Centers in Los Angeles, CA. Read More …
About the exhibition When going through the NIAD archives, I was struck by a number of works that pair text with image in ways that shift language and illustration from a familiar, functional use to something more expansive. I access a similar experience of forming unexpected and generative correlations when I observe my sensations through movement. For this online series, I selected works that opened up my thinking about language and sensory experience. About the selector Nicole is a current MFA candidate at San Francisco State University and has exhibited in Bay Area spaces such as Southern Exposure, Wolfman Books, Read More …
View the show. About the exhibition One of my favorite songs is “Road to Nowhere” by the band Talking Heads. As our nation is currently on a strange road to an ever darker place, I try to remain optimistic knowing that many good people are fighting against the ills of society to put us on a brighter path to an equitable and just future. Artists, like those working at NIAD, are helping to lead the charge, and the works that I selected all reference roads that I hope lead us to a safe space. Art, in kind, should always take Read More …
With the pandemic, humanity has briefly taken a step back from much of the wanton damage we do to our planet everyday. Jesus Herrera has crafted a timely show that is a tribute — and a reminder of the destruction we must stop — to our mother, the earth. View the show.
As the song goes… “It’s astounding; Time is fleeting; Madness takes its toll But listen closely… Not for very much longer I’ve got to keep control… Let’s Do the Time Warp Again!” View and enjoy the exhibition.
NIAD has an Artist Advisory Committee. It is mainly a cadre of our artists who solve problems, plan and “talk about stuff.” And now, they select work for online shows! Have a look. And enjoy.