Richmond Art Center
Front of Richmond Art Center, in Richmond, California
Map
Established1936 (1936)
Location2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, California, U.S.
Coordinates37°56′09″N 122°20′52″W / 37.9358°N 122.3477°W / 37.9358; -122.3477
Type501(c)(3) Arts Center
Executive directorJosé R. Rivera
Public transit accessRichmond Bart Station
Websitehttps://richmondartcenter.org/

Richmond Art Center is a nonprofit arts organization based in Richmond, California, founded in 1936.[1]

History

In 1936, Richmond-resident Hazel Salmi began teaching classes under the Emergency Education Program (EEP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).[2] In 1938, the City of Richmond granted Salmi an old Health Department building to use for classes and exhibitions.[2] Early classes included outdoor sketching, block printing, flower arrangement, color, woodcarving, and leather tooling.[2]

In the 1940s, Salmi and other artists petitioned the City of Richmond to include a permanent art center as part of the new downtown Civic Center development. With funds from a bond measure that specifically funded the art center, the civic center construction plans were the first in the nation to include a community art center. Richmond's Civic Center was designed by architect Timothy Pflueger.[3] The complex, which encompasses City Hall, Hall of Justice, Auditorium, Richmond Art Center, and Public Library, was completed in 1951. The low, linear forms reflect the mid-century modern style of the late 1940s and 1950s.[4]

Richmond Art Center's new facility opened in 1951.[5] Hazel Salmi was the founding director at Richmond Art Center from 1936 until 1960.[6] From 1960 to 1965, Rudy Turk served as the director.[7][8]

Artist Tom Marioni, sometimes under the pseudonym Allan Fish, served as the Curator of Richmond Art Center from 1968 until 1971.[9][10] Richmond Art Center became a focal point for West Coast Conceptualism during his time.[10] Notable exhibitions Marioni organized included Paul Kos’ first solo exhibition Participationkinetics (1969).[11] Under Marioni's curatorship, Terry Fox created one of their seminal works, Levitation (1971).[10] In 1971 Marioni was fired by the Head of Parks following a controversial performance by one of Judy Chicago's students that was part of the exhibition California Girls (1971).

For many years Richmond Art Center operated as a division of the City of Richmond's Parks and Recreation Department. In 1950 Richmond Art Center became an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit.[12]

About

Facility

Richmond Art Center's facility is a u-shaped building wrapping around a courtyard garden and public outdoor space. The building has four galleries, including a 2,200 square foot main gallery, as well as six studio and multipurpose spaces.[13] In the courtyard of the building, many sculptures by artist John Roeder (1877-–1964) were installed after his death in 1964. The Executive Director of Richmond Art Center is José R. Rivera, since 2020.[13][14]

Classes and arts education

Richmond Art Center provides arts classes for adults, teens, youth and families. On-site classes and workshops are taught in the center's dedicated spaces for ceramics, weaving, metalwork, printing, painting and youth arts. Richmond Art Center also partners with non-profit organizations, community groups and West Contra Costa Unified School District to provide intensive art education programs off-site.[15]

In 2020, COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders temporarily closed Richmond Art Center's facility to the public and the organization launched online arts instruction.[14]

Annual events

Exhibitions

Below is a list of notable exhibitions at Richmond Art Center.

Year Title Artist(s) Curator Notes/Citations
1955 Emiko Nakano, Clayton Pinkerton a two person show.[21]
1962 Retrospective Exhibition Jasper Johns solo exhibition.[22][better source needed]
1963 Theodore Odza solo exhibition[23][24]
1968 Richard Diebenkorn Drawings Richard Diebenkorn solo exhibition.[25]
1969 Invisible Painting and Sculpture Larry Bell, Jerry Ballaine, Bruce Conner, Albert Fisher, Lloyd Hamrol, Wally Hedrick, Warner Jepson, Harry Lum, George Neubert, Harold Paris, Michelangelo Pistoletto, David R. Smith, William T. Wiley Tom Marioni [26]
1969 PARTICIPATIONKINETICS! Paul Kos Tom Marioni Kos blocked the entrance with an 1100 pound block of ice and called it "Richmond Glacier'. He sprinkled the ice with salt to encourage irregular melting. Kos created other kinetic sculptures.[11]
1971 California Girls Rita Yokoi, Karen Kimura, Ann Shapiro, Judy Chicago, Judy Raffael, Janet Webb, Andrea Brown, Pat Tavenner, Kathy Goodell, Nancy Haigh, Gae Landrum, Marsha Fox, Cheryl Zurilgen, Judy Linhares, Gi Gi Van der Noot, Terri Keyser Tom Marioni Judy Chicago was teaching a course at Fresno State University and had an exhibition and collaboration with her students. They held a fake beauty pageant and each woman represented a city with her sash and performed.[27][28] According to Marioni, he was fired from his job as curator after this event because of one of the performances was controversial.[9]
1987 Sargent Johnson commemorating the 100th year of Sargent Johnson's birth.[29]
1996 Showing Up: Maximum-Contrast African-American Quilts Elzorah Abram, Mable Battle, Irene Bankhead, Laverne Brackens, Mattie Burnley, Charles Cater, Anna Ruth Crofit, Marye Danner, Louisa Fite, Willia Ette Graham, Georgia Green, Aunt Jewel Harts, Kitty Jones, Madeline Mason, Minnie Lee Metcalf, Fannie Mae Moore, Bessie Moore, Anny Bell Simon, Maple Swift, Lucy Sims, Ora L. Thompson, Rosie Lee Tompkins,[30] Gussie Wells, Arbie Williams Eli Leon [31]
2010 Roses & Thorns: The Legacy of Richmond's Historic Japanese Nurseries Artists contributing images of the building and surviving flowers included Matthew Matsuoka, Ellen Gailing, Fletcher Oakes and Ken Osborn Donna Graves Exhibition explored the former Japanese-American-owned greenhouses next to the Cutting Boulevard exit of Interstate 80. The show, which celebrated the 75th anniversary of the center, featured 55 contemporary photographs shot at location and offered a glimpse at the rich history of the Japanese-Americans of Richmond.[32]
2012 Wanxin Zhang, A Ten Year Survey, 1999 - 2009 Wanxin Zhang John Held Jr. and Peter Held Exhibition featured 16 of Zhang's "six-foot plus clay figures in an austere setting, transforming the gallery space into a living tomb of warriors posed in battle, not for the vanity of political leaders, but for the enrichment of world citizens."[33]
2014 Closely Considered: Diebenkorn in Berkeley Richard Diebenkorn Exhibition featured paintings of Diebenkorn and drawings by Bay Area friends including David Park, Elmer Bischoff, Frank Lobdell, Nathan Oliveria, James Weeks and Joan Brown.[34]
2015 Mildred Howard solo exhibition.[35]
2016 80th Anniversary Exhibitions: David Park: Personal Perspectives and The Human Spirits David Park solo, and Elmer Bischoff, Joan Brown, Enrique Chagoya, Kota Ezawa, Viola Frey, Richard Misrach, Lava Thomas, among others. Jan Wurm The Center celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2016 with two companion exhibitions, “David Park: Personal Perspectives,”[36][37] featuring 35 works by Park in his final decades from the 1930s through the 1960s, and “The Human Spirits,” in which works by many artists influenced by the center were displayed.[38]
2018 Califas: Art of the US-Mexico Borderlands AGENCY (Ersela Kripa & Stephen Mueller), Chester Arnold, Jesus Barraza, Enrique Chagoya, CRO studio (Adriana Cuellar & Marcel Sánchez), Ana Teresa Fernández, Nathan Friedman, Guillermo Galindo, Rebeca García-González, Andrea Carrillo Iglesias, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Richard Misrach, Alejandro Luperca Morales, Julio César Morales, Postcommodity, Rael San Fratello (Ronald Rael & Virginia San Fratello), Fernando Reyes, Favianna Rodriguez, Stephanie Syjuco, David Taylor, Judi Werthein, Rio Yañez. Michael Dear, Ronald Rael Califas: Art of the US-Mexico Borderlands explores representations of the US-Mexico ‘borderlands’ in contemporary art, with a special emphasis on the Bay Area.[39]
2019 Here is the Sea Stephen Bruce, Christy Chan, Tanja Geis, Marie-Luise Klotz, Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang, Love the Bulb Performers, Katie Revilla, Joseph "Jos" Sances, Dimitra Skandali One of the noted pieces of this exhibit was “Or, The Whale” by Jos Sances. Phil Linhares, former RAC Board member and former chief curator at the Oakland Museum of California adjudged the piece “a real tour de force, an impressive work by any measure, worth a trip to Richmond!”[41][42][43]
2020 Art of the African Diaspora Orin Carpenter, Kelvin Curry, Gene Dominique, Anna Edwards, Raymond L. Haywood, Dulama LeGrande, Justice Renaissance, WilParish, Ron Moultrie Saunders, Akili Simba, Michelle Tompkins, amongst others. Co-founded by the late Jan Hart-Schuyers and the late Rae Louise Hayward, The Art of Living Black/Art of the African Diaspora is the longest running event of its kind in the Bay Area to feature artists of African descent. In 2020 works by over 150 artists of African descent were featured.[44][45]
2020 Over and Under Pilar Agüero-Esparza, Ric Ambrose, Tamera Avery, Megan Broughton, Tyrell Collins, Roya Ebtehaj, Sheila Ghidini, Annette Goodfriend, Xandra Ibarra, Lisa Jetonne, Henrik Kam, Maureen Langenbach, Ifra Mahmood, Katie McCann, Sarah Player Morrison, Susan Zimmerman Kevin B. Chen “This exhibition is informed by the interchange of ideas and material, the crisscrossing of bodies and objects, and the weaving of histories and personal narratives. Over 200 artists submitted artwork for consideration; 16 were ultimately selected whose work resonated with these ideas.” [46]

References

  1. ^ Tam, Katherine (March 22, 2011). "Richmond Art Center celebrates 75 years". Oakland Tribune. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Featured Organization: Richmond Art Center". Open Space. SFMOMA. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  3. ^ King, John (2009-05-26). "Richmond Civic Center - where past meets future". SFGATE. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  4. ^ "Richmond Civic Center: Historic Structures Report". City of Richmond. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  5. ^ "Art Center Draws 22,000 in Richmond". Oakland Tribute. Dec 2, 1951. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  6. ^ Doyle, Bill (June 30, 1960). "House That Hazel Built' Honors Her". Oakland Tribute. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Rudy Turk". Berkeley Gazette. 1963-06-20. Retrieved 2023-12-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Concors, Erin (2005-03-13). "Rudy Turk found a life in painting and teaching by chance". East Valley Tribune. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  9. ^ a b "Oral history interview with Tom Marioni, 2017 December 21-22". Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art. December 22, 2017. I got a job at the Richmond Art Center in 1968. And that broadened my horizons. Saw the art world differently and everything. And then I created a fictitious name, Allan Fish, so that I could have a way to be a curator and be an artist at the same time. And I chose Allan because of my old art teacher Allon Schoener.
  10. ^ a b c "Tom Marioni / MATRIX 39 | BAMPFA". UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY ART MUSEUM & PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE. The Regents of the University of California. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  11. ^ a b "PARTICIPATIONKINETICS". San Francisco Good Times. Vol. 2, no. 27. Waller Press. July 17, 1969. p. 18. Retrieved 2020-10-29 – via Independent Voices. PARTICIPATION KINETICS! Paul Kos at the Richmond Art Center, Richmond. July 10- Aug. 10.
  12. ^ "Richmond Art Center Profile". GuideStar. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Richmond Art Center's new executive director has unique resumé". East Bay Times. 2 July 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  14. ^ a b Aldax, Mike (July 10, 2020). "Richmond Art Center launches online classes". Richmond Standard. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  15. ^ "Expression: A Way of Life, the West Contra Costa United School District Annual Exhibition". San Francisco Examiner. April 20, 1997.
  16. ^ Treadway, Chris (November 23, 2010). "Chris Treadway Column". The Oakland Tribune.
  17. ^ "The 34th Annual Student Art Show". San Francisco Chronicle. April 2, 1999. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  18. ^ "Art of the African Diaspora Comes to Richmond Art Center". Richmond Pulse. 3 January 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  19. ^ "Press Release: The Art of the African Diaspora". Richmond Art Center. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  20. ^ "Art of the African Diaspora on Bay Area Art Beat". Bay Area Art Beat. Berkeley Community Media. 3 February 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  21. ^ Cross, Miriam Dungan (January 23, 1955). "Abstract Works on Two Local Artists on View in Richmond". Oakland Tribune. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  22. ^ "Jasper Johns". Matthew Marks Gallery. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  23. ^ "Art Center to Hold Sculptor Exhibition". Newspapers.com. Oakland Tribune. October 21, 1963. p. 17. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  24. ^ Polley, E. M. (December 1963). "E. M. Polley on Ted Odza and Crown Point Workshop". Artforum.com. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  25. ^ "Exhibitions". Richard Diebenkorn Foundation. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  26. ^ Cross, Miriam Dungan (July 27, 1969). "Avant-Garde Art Invades Richmond". Oakland Tribune. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  27. ^ Levin, Gail (2018-10-16). Becoming Judy Chicago: A Biography of the Artist. Univ of California Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-520-30006-4.
  28. ^ "Exhibitions: California Girls". Avalanche Magazine. Winter (2). 1971. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  29. ^ "Richmond Art Center in Group Shows". San Francisco Examiner. March 1, 1987.
  30. ^ Smith, Roberta (2020-06-26). "The Radical Quilting of Rosie Lee Tompkins". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
  31. ^ Leon, Eli. "Showing up" : maximum-contrast African-American quilts. Richmond, California: Richmond Art Center. OCLC 39623548. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  32. ^ Casey, Laura (September 10, 2010). "'Exhibit to shed light on the Japanese Internment, East Bay Life'". Mercury News. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  33. ^ Held, Jr., John (April 27, 2012). "'Review: Wanxin Zhang at the Richmond Art Center'". SFAQ. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  34. ^ May, Meredith (September 10, 2014). "'Closely Considered: Diebenkorn in Berkeley': When friends draw". Hearst. SFGATE. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  35. ^ Baker, Kenneth (April 17, 2015). "Mildred Howard at Richmond Art Center: Wide range of moods". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  36. ^ "DAVID PARK: Personal Perspectives". Mutual Art. Mutual Art Services, Inc. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  37. ^ "David Park/Contemporary Figuration at the Richmond Art Center". Jeanie Craig. 10 April 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  38. ^ Chun, Kimberly (March 23, 2016). "Two exhibits celebrate Richmond Art Center mileston". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  39. ^ "'Califas: Art of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands' at Richmond Art Center, California". Penske Business Media. Artnews. October 29, 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  40. ^ "Califas: Art of the US-Mexico Borderlands" (PDF). Richmond Art Center. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  41. ^ Desmarais, Charles (May 2, 2019). "'The Whale' is an immense topic at the Richmond Art Center". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  42. ^ Hashe, Janis (May 1, 2019). "Jo Sance's Great White Whale". East Bay Express.
  43. ^ "Here is the Sea". Art Week. 2019-03-29. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  44. ^ "March 2020 Arts, music & events calendar". BARTable. 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
  45. ^ "Artist Reception for Art of the African Diaspora". SFADA. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  46. ^ "Megan Broughton's etching selected for Richmond Art Center's spring juried exhibition "Over and Under"". The Oxbow School. February 28, 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-29.

External links

San Francisco Bay Area arts organizations
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