richmondartcenter

Spring Exhibitions 2012
April 3 – June 2, 2012

artists' reception for all shows.
April 14, 2-4 pm

MAIN GALLERY
Wanxin Zhang: A Ten Year Survey
This exhibition provides an in-depth survey of San Francisco-based artist Wanxin Zhang's ceramic sculpture from 1999 to 2009. Zhang’s massive clay figures are a marriage of historical references and contemporary Western culture. His work is deeply influenced by Bay Area figurative movement and ceramic artists such as Peter Voulkos, Robert Arneson and many others. Zhang was the first place recipient of the Virginia A. Groot Foundation Grant in 2006. Zhang and his work help to define the next generation of California ceramic artists.
Workshop Join Wanxin Zhang in our studios: May 5, 10 - 4pm

SOUTH GALLERY
In Conversation: June Schwarcz and John Chiara
Originating from the inspiration each of these artists derives from the other, this exhibition creates a unique dialogue between the work of legendary enamel artist June Schwarcz and pioneering camera obscura photographer, John Chiara. Curated by Muriel Maffre, John Chiara and Emily Anderson.

COMMUNITY GALLERY
47th Annual WCCUSD Student Art Show
Now in its 47th year at the Richmond Art Center, the Annual West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) Student Art Show is a collaborative project between WCCUSD and the Richmond Art Center. Artwork by secondary school students fills the walls with their diverse visions and individual creative voices.

Special reception for the WCCUSD students:
Sat, May 12, 2 - 4pm

gallery/office hours
tuesday - saturday,
11am - 5pm
free parking | wheelchair accessible

Previous Exhibitions

In Conversation: June Schwarcz and
John Chiara

Originating from the inspiration each of these artists derives from the other, this exhibition creates a unique dialogue between the work of legendary enamel artist June Schwarcz and pioneering camera obscura photographer, John Chiara. This is the first time their work will be shown together.

Schwarcz and Chiara push the boundaries of their respective media and are pioneers in their fields through their continued innovation and exploration.

“It is our obligation to understand the intrinsic characteristics and the traditions or our materials and use the knowledge to produce a personal expression of our age.” -June Schwarcz, exhibition catalog Forty Years/Forty Pieces, SF Craft & Folk Art Museum.

Each artist employs a rigorous and detailed process in the creation of their work. Fire, light, darkness, metals, paper and sheer physicality create pieces that cannot be replicated. Both artists leave room in their work for surprise and chance as neither have full control over every aspect of their process. This is the spirit of the conversation as their work, intentionally paired throughout the exhibition, unfolds, informs and offers greater insight into each artist’s vision. The viewer is invited into this conversation, which dwells beyond the linear narrative, invoking inquiry, inspiration and memories.

“Memory is central to my photographic methodology. I’m interested in an experiment that has parameters of my own creation. Ones that include the failure of the process. Feedback from this process feels akin to noise from reconciliation and/or psychological processes involving the recording and recounting of memory.” - John Chiara

June Schwarcz
For more than fifty years, June Schwarcz has been both fearless and experimental in her approach to enameling. Over the decades that she has been creating, Schwarcz's bowls and abstract vessels have come to be synonymous with the medium itself. Regarded by many as the nation’s leading enamellists, June Schwarcz was honored as a gold medal winner in 1998 by the American Craft Council, who also honored her as an ACC Fellow in 1987. The California State Assembly has recognized her as a Living Treasure of California. In 2009, she joined the pantheon of James Renwick Alliance Masters of the Medium. 15 pieces of her work are on display at the de Young Museum in San Francisco as part of their permanent collection. Schwarcz lives and works in Sausalito.

John Chiara
John Chiara photographs cityscapes in a process that is part photography, part event and part sculpture – an undertaking in apparatus and patience. Many times this process involves composing pictures from the inside of a large hand-built camera, that is mounted on a flatbed trailer, and produces large scale, one of a kind, positive exposures. He earned a B.F.A. in photography from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and an M.F.A. in photography from the California College of the Arts. He is a native Californian who lives and works in San Francisco. He has exhibited locally and nationally and currently has a solo exhibition Crestmont at Coral at Haines Gallery, San Francisco from April 12 – May 26th. For more information go to www.lightdark.com and www.hainesgallery.com

San Francisco ceramic artist Wanxin Zhang's "A Ten Year Survey" will be coming to the Richmond Art Center in Richmond, California from April 3rd to June 2nd, 2012. The opening reception will be on Saturday, April 14th from 2:00pm to 4:00pm.

The Richmond Art Center is honored to present this exhibition that will feature 20 pieces of work made within the span of 1999 to 2009.

This national traveling exhibition has most recently been hosted at the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, Montana. Previous locations include the Arizona State University Art Museum, Boise Art Museum in Idaho, Morean Arts Center in Florida, and Bellevue Art Museum in Washington. The exhibition was organized by Peter Held, curator at Arizona State University Art Museum. The Richmond Art Center exhibition marks the show’s last stop after traveling for two years.

Zhang grew up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) where he learned the phrase “long live Chairman Mao” in elementary school. He grew up believing that Mao was a God-like figure and that everyone should listen to him. It wasn’t until after Chairman Mao’s death that Zhang realized he was merely an influential political figure. Zhang was struck by how strongly a political propaganda controlled people’s thinking and beliefs. When Zhang visited the Qin Terra-cotta Warriors in Xi’an, he realized that political propaganda had been in control ever since Emperor Qin ruled over 2000 years ago. Qin ordered the creation of thousands of terra-cotta warriors to protect him in his afterlife, just as Mao ruled tens of thousands of Red Guards.

Zhang's larger-than-life sculptures reinterpret ancient history, contemporary politics, and today's culture, along with his master craftsmanship and profound understanding of human emotions. He hopes that his figures will create a personal dialogue for the viewer that could be thought provoking or humorous. "Art should always reflect the viewer's own life and journey at one moment in time or allow for a personal connection to another," Zhang said.

Before Zhang emigrated from China to San Francisco in 1992, he was known in China for his cutting-edge metal sculptures. He was a young artist with lots of activities in Northeast China and Beijing. His work has also been collected by the National Fine Arts Museum in Beijing. After settling in San Francisco and immersing himself in the regional art scene, his style and characters are both deeply influenced by Bay Area ceramic artists. Now, he is one of the leading, new generation of ceramic artists in California. His art is not just a reflection of the original warriors - he includes in them a new sense of spirit and meaning.

As a studio artist and educator, Wanxin Zhang is a first place recipient of the Virginia A. Groot Foundation Grant in 2006. Since 2010, he has been a lecturer at the UC Berkeley Department of Art Practice.