raven harper

A graphic of a collection of artworks included in the holiday gift guide. arranged in a grid.

NIAD Holiday Gift Guide #4: “SISTER SISTER” collected by Amanda and Sarah Eicher

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

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 …

NIAD Holiday Gift Guide #3: “The Zindel Collection” collection by Bill

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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 …

A two by three grid of six featured artworks in the "Color of Happiness" collection.

NIAD Holiday Gift Guide #2: “The Color of Happiness” collection by Rebecca Jantzen

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

About “The Color of Happiness” collection “It was hard picking out [the collection] because there’s so many different styles and mediums. The happiness feeling is what they all have in common. People should buy art because it will make them feel happy!” About Rebecca Jantzen, the collector “I describe myself as visually impaired and learning disabled. I am a socially engaged artist who loves her art work. I love holidays and I like to make cards for special occasions. I like to draw things that brighten up my spirit and the day; images of peace, love and happiness. One of the reasons Read More …

A screenprint portrait by NIAD studio artist Raven Harper in red ink of a female figure from the shoulders up. The words at the bottom of the print read "Rosa Parks".

Online Exhibition: “Super Powers” organized by Aubrey Ingmar Manson

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About the exhibition   As artists, we all have super powers. We can say what we feel and build worlds out of nothing. We can demand change and speak out about injustices. We can protest for our rights, freedoms, and share with others our views. It is the outside world viewed through the artist’s lens. Our powers are both inside and outside of us. Who among us will stand up for what they believe in? Who among us will help out? Who among us has a vision? Who among us desires change and progress? And who among us will do Read More …

Image: Untitled (D7526), Karen May.

Online Exhibition: Every Sing, selected by Jesse Malmed

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

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. 

Thirsty Thursday Logo - a blue drop of water with "Th2" superimposed at the bottom and "Thirsty Thursday" underneath

Online Event: Thirsty Thursday – July 8

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

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, Organized by Nan Collymore and Celia Lesh

NIAD Windows Exhibition: Soft Material, selected by Nan Collymore & Celia Lesh

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

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 …

Online Exhibition: Faces In The Crowd, selected By Elizabeth Lalley

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

View the show. About the exhibition In her essay “Joy,” Zadie Smith divulges that a source of her daily pleasure in life is, very simply, “other people’s faces.” Beyond the surface of appearance, Smith alludes to the private lives, anxieties, triumphs, and toils she imagines in others—strangers she passes on the street or sits beside on the bus, for instance. Her projections are fictions, but they are a continual exercise in empathy, imagination, and compassion nonetheless.   I think of Smith’s essay often, passing days in the anonymity and excitement that life lived among others, in public space, can shape. Read More …

Online Exhibion: This Is My Dream, Selected By Dorian Reid//

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Multi-disciplinary NIAD artist Dorrie Reid has chosen a show that speaks to and about this moment. As Dorrie explains, “I’m getting sick and tired of hearing news about people getting killed… I’m thinking about the future, and I’m thinking about right now. When will I be able to do my own thing without getting stressed out, and without any violence or cruelty?” View it here.