Saul Alegria

a graphic with "art mode" spelled in dark blocky letters

NIAD at Blu Dot // Art Mode Launch Event

Join us to celebrate the launch of Art Mode: a collection of incredible work from artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Blu Dot partnered with local nonprofit NIAD Art Center, as well as Brooklyn’s LAND Gallery and Austin’s SAGE Studio to bring you 16 unique pieces with all profits going back to the studios. Come check out the art, meet the inspiring artists behind them and enter for your chance to win one of the art prints. Light bites and drinks provided. Read More …

Gallery Reception // “We Make Art In Richmond” organized by Erin McCluskey Wheeler

All of the artists in the show, We Make Art in Richmond, really do exactly that. There are twenty artists here who work in a wide range of disciplines, from bookmaking, textiles, ceramics, printmaking, poetry, and painting.

Half of the artists work out of NIAD’s 23rd Street Studio and the other half work out of their homes or studios scattered throughout Richmond. There are artists who have put in decades making art and some that are just getting started.

In putting together this show, I wanted to shine a light on artists working in Richmond. I wanted this show to feel inspiring and exciting for future and present artists in our community. There are twenty artists in this show, but there could easily have been four times as many artists who are excelling at their craft, sharing their work globally, giving back to their communities, and making it happen here in Richmond. Read More …

close up of yarn in different colors

“Into the Brightness: Artists from Creativity Explored, Creative Growth, & NIAD” at the Oakland Museum of California

In collaboration with three profound Bay Area institutions, Into the Brightness: Artists from Creativity Explored, Creative Growth & NIAD celebrates myriad works from contemporary artists with developmental disabilities. From painting to sculpture to multimedia, these world-renowned artists are producing work of incredible power, exuberance, humor, complexity, and joy. Read More …

painting of famous painters titled "Normal is Boring"

“Rainbow Cat Picnic” organized by Cynthia Ona Innis

About the Exhibition The title of this exhibition comes from a piece included in the show, Dorian Reid’s Rainbow Cat Picnic.  In Rainbow Cat Picnic, numerous cats are joyously picnic-ing under a big colorful rainbow in what looks to be a very festive occasion.  There may be rain but that rainbow safely covers the cats and their food bowls. The sun is just coming out and those cats are really having a good time! The mixed media works in this show are my Rainbow Cat Picnic–20+ pieces representing an inspiring and colorful excursion to a place of creative nourishment and a celebration as a Read More …

NIAD Artists in SFMOMA’s Pet Portrait Day

NIAD artists Saul Alegria and Deatra Colbert will be making pet portraits for visitors to SFMOMA on Saturday, February 4th! From SFMOMA’s website: In celebration of our Joan Brown retrospective, SFMOMA is partnering with the San Francisco SPCA to bring you Pet Portraits Day, an exciting live art extravaganza. Joan Brown was known for her enduring love of animals, and you can find many depictions of cats and dogs (many of them her own pets) throughout the exhibition on Floor 7. With this inspiration in mind, meet us at the museum on February 4 and share a digital photo of your pet with Read More …

an assortment of fruit - grapes, bananas, cherries, limes - drawn with thick black outlines.

NIAD Gallery Exhibition // “What’s Cookin?!,” organized by Terri Moore and the Cooking Corner class

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 …

an assortment of fruit - grapes, bananas, cherries, limes - drawn with thick black outlines.

NIAD Main Gallery Exhibition // “What’s Cookin?!”

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 …

a brightly colored tapestry of an iguana - blue, orange, yellow and black -resting on a branch

NIAD Annex Exhibition // “A Not So Common Iguana and Other Tails”

“This collection presents tapestries woven in wool by me, Janet Moore, after those delightful paintings by NIAD artist Saul Alegria. Saul works at NIAD in the large, shared studio space. I worked there as an artist mentor and instructor in the textiles department. Saul’s renderings of animals delighted me. One of my first thoughts on seeing his work was that they would translate very well in tapestry as they were quite graphic in nature, showed his interest in text and language, had unique color combinations, and expressed a range of emotions that were quite surprising. I decided to ask Saul if he would like to see his paintings woven, and he said yes.” Read More …

A graphic promoting an exhibition. Below a row of black cutout star shapes, centered at the top of the image, in exuberant black text that has a hand-cut feel, are the words “Feeling Language” in all caps. Below that in a smaller size, the words “organized by Kate Laster”. In the left half of the graphic, a page from a book with swirling patterns is covered with ten rows of the handwritten phrase “You Are Here,” hand written in a beige cursive font in all caps. The name “Mitsuko Brooks” appears to the left. In the same font, a column on the right lists the artists participating in the exhibition. Each word is separated by a diamond or a star shape

NIAD Gallery Exhibition // “Feeling Language,” organized by Kate Laster

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 …

NIAD Online Exhibition // “DreamForms” selected by Lauren Ari and Julio Del Rio

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

About the exhibition This online NIAD exhibition is in conjunction with DreamForms, curated by Roberto Martinez, currently at the Richmond Art Center. It represents the ceramic visions of Julio del Rio and (myself) Lauren Ari.  I had the pleasure of being a painting instructor at NIAD where Julio Del Rio is a studio artist. I was inspired by the well of creativity, the open-heartedness and the community which is a sweet world unto itself.  It has been a joy to go back and choose these works to share with you!   “You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one Read More …

A painting on white paper in four colors - yellow, red, indigo and grey. Yellow and red form thick half arches on the left side of the paper. Indigo forms a cloud in the middle and top right corner. Grey is a mass in the mid to lower right. Brushstrokes visible in all the forms.

NIAD Online Exhibition // “Murmuration” selected by Alisa Golden

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

About the exhibition A murmuration is a flock of thousands moving together, a pattern through the sky, each bird attuned to its nearest neighbors. Made up of individual parts, the whole becomes greater and more powerful than when it stands alone. In the works presented here, individual parts are visible: pieced, gridded, grouped, and arranged with lines, letters, and fields of color. And from the thousands of works that fly together at NIAD, here is only a sample of pieces that somehow talk and listen to their nearest neighbors. A murmuration of applause to all. About the selector Alisa Golden writes, Read More …

A satirical print of a white male, wearing a blue uniform, smiling, holding up a blue hood with his raised right hand. The words "Trump equals" above the figure and "cobra commander" at the bottom are handwritten in black.

NIAD Online Exhibition // “Innersense” ushered by Germán Herrera

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

About the Exhibition What is expressed in this small selection of works emanates from tender voices; better equipped than most to express the one quality humankind probably needs the most in this moment: love.  They make me think of canaries in a coal mine and, their message, an invitation to  embrace our humanity. May all of us be inspired by their courage, honesty and capacity to feel. About the organizer Germán Herrera Human being. I am an artist interested in spirituality, communication and art as an extension of consciousness. Student of A Course in Miracles, I live in California with Read More …

An arrangment of artworks related to the Win Win 10 fundraiser, organized in two rows of three, with the Win Win 10 logo in the middle of the bottom row.

Win Win 10 Sneak Preview, collected by Isabel Xilonen Ortiz (online exhibition)

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

Our final NIAD Gift Guide of the season doubles as a sneak peek into what’s in store for you at Win Win 10, NIAD’s Annual Benefit Fundraiser coming up on Saturday March 5, 2022! Isabel X. Ortiz from NIAD’s fundraising team describes the NIAD artworks that inspired her Win Win 10 Sneak Preview collection… About the collection I curated this collection with all the game-lovers and risk-takers in mind. It’s for the artists who are pushing their own creative boundaries. It’s for the innovators who are thinking of their next passion project. It’s for the people who like to spice up their homes with Read More …

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

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

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 …

Online Exhibition: “Stories” selected by B. Wurtz

Posted onAuthorNIAD Art Center

About the Exhibition For this exhibition for NIAD I didn’t want to overthink the process. I decided to begin by going through all the available art and to notice things that kind of jumped out at me. I viewed everything one time and then went back a second time to select artworks. As I viewed the first group of selections I tried to see connections between the works. I noticed that there seemed to be a theme in many of the works that I would describe as being of a narrative nature. I am talking about implied narratives, nothing really Read More …