Innovations in Contemporary Crafts
Tapestry Weavers West Members’ Show
Celebrating 25 Years
A group exhibition of members of Tapestry Weavers West, an organization dedicated to the art and education of tapestries. Members are from the San Francisco Bay Area, the California West Coast and across the US.
The Tapestry Weavers West Members' Show artists are:
Nicki Bair, Bobbi Chamberlain, Myla Collier, Deborah Corsini, Elaine Duncan, Alex Friedman, Tricia Goldberg, Janette Gross, Marianne Haller, Barbara Heller, Nancy Jackson, Katharine B. Kent, Jan Langdon, Sonja Miremont, Maj-Britt Mobrand, Janet Moore, Beverly R. Muir, Christine, Michael F. Rohde, Sara Ruddy, Care Standley, Bob Traxler and Jackie Wollenberg
For two thousand years imagination has been spurred by the tales told by tapestries: unicorns, hunting scenes, thousand flowers, the myths, magic and life of medieval times. This art of wool, silk and cotton continues to enchant as contemporary tapestry again adorns walls with its warmth, color and vision.
Contemporary American Tapestry developed from the European revival of the 1950’s and from the fiber arts movement of the 1960s. Today the work continues to evolve in the hands of artists who create their art on the loom.
A group of tapestry artists working in San Francisco felt the need for increased dialogue. TAPESTRY WEAVERS WEST came into being at an informal gathering in October 1985. Its membership now extends beyond the Bay Area to included people up and down the West Coast and across the US and Canada. TAPESTRY WEAVERS WEST artists exhibit locally, nationally and internationally; participate in national and international symposia; and continually explore new imagery in tapestry.
Seldom Silent: The First 50 Years of the San Francisco Mime Troupe
Jun 29 – Aug 21, 2010
The San Francisco Mime Troupe comes to Richmond
for the first time!
Come experience this unique Bay Area treasure at Richmond's Civic Center Plaza on:
August 25th at 6pm.
All shows are free and open to the public!
Nancy Jackson Annunciation (The Ark),
center tapestry in the Incarnation Triptych, 8-feet x 4-feet, 2003
Innovations in Contemporary Crafts is a juried exhibition of San Francisco Bay Area artists. The show explores innovations in the traditional craft mediums of ceramics, wood, glass, metal, fiber, enamel, paper and jewelry. With the new decade, we survey artists who are forward thinking in their approach to materials and application. This exhibition is open to San Francisco Bay Area artists who work in all craft mediums. The show will be featured in the Richmond Art Center's spacious 6,000 square foot Main Gallery, showcasing each artist’s unique approach to their respective craft.
The Richmond Art Center was founded in 1936 and was originally named the Richmond Art Craft Center. It wasn’t until the early fifties when it moved into it’s current home, that it was re-named Richmond Art Center in order to encompass all of the artistic media that it served. This exhibition brings back the beloved Richmond Art Center’s juried Annual Designer Craftsman Exhibition which started in 1951 and ran for at least 25 years.
The Innovations on Contemporary Crafts artists are:
Brian Andrews, Curtis Arima, Gregory Byard, Ryan Carrington, Linda Fitz Gibbon, Julia Goodman, Mark Goudy, Michelle Gregor, Alissa Goss, Seb Hamamjian, Ana Lisa Hedstrom, Edward Lay, Karl McDade, Alison McLennan, Bruce Mitchell, Crystal Morey, Kate Nartker, Kevin Nierman, Penelope Comfort Starr, Jan Schachter, Adrien Segal, James Shefik, Alexa Simpson, Harry Siter, Judy Stone, Ruth Tabancay, Myrna Tatar, Verena Tent-Braucher, Chris Vance and Brian Wilson
Jurors: Garry Knox Bennett & Nancy Selvin
Garry Knox Bennett is an internationally known furniture maker, woodworker, metalworker and artist known for his whimsical, inventive and unconventional uses of materials and designs. Born in Alameda, California, his long-established workshop and studio in Oakland.
Nancy Selvin is an independent studio artist living and working in Berkeley, California. She has taught for more than 30 years at colleges and workshops internationally, including a stint at her alma mater, UC Berkeley. Nancy studied with Ron Nagle and the late Peter Voulkos while earning her master's degree at UC Berkeley. Among her impressive list of honors are two National Endowment Artist Fellowships, and in 2003 she was awarded a California Arts Council Fellowship.
Sonja Miremont Monterey Perception
30-inches by 24-inches, 2000
An exhibition of photographs depicting the incredible 50-year history of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. In celebration of the San Francisco Mime Troupe coming to Richmond for the first time: Richmond's Civic Center Plaza: August 25th at 6pm. All shows are free and open to the public. For more information go to www.sfmt.org
Founded in 1959, the San Francisco Mime Troupe - which does NOT perform silent pantomime - is one of the oldest and arguably most notorious theatre groups in the country. In its first 50 years, the Troupe has been censored, thrown in jail, banned from college campuses and entire cities, toured in war-torn countries, and launched the careers of many notables - including those of rock promoter Bill Graham, and actors Peter Coyote and Shabaka, among others. The group is as equally revered as it has been vilified, however, and has been honored with a Tony Award for Excellence in Regional Theatre, three Obies, and numerous other accolades in its half century of free public performance.
Based in the traditions of commedia dell'arte, melodrama, and broad farce, the San Francisco Mime Troupe creates original musical comedies that both satirize and try to make sense of the headlines. Past shows have tackled everything from racism ("A Minstrel Show, or Civil Rights in a Cracker Barrel,"1965) and women's rights ("The Independent Female," 1970), to labor issues ("Steel Town," 1984), the Israel-Palestine conflict ("Seeing Double," 1989), gentrification ("City for Sale," 1999), religious fundamentalism ("Factwino Meets the Moral Majority," 1981; "Godfellas," 2006), genetically-modified food ("Eating It," 2007), and the seemingly endless fodder provided by the second Bush presidency ("1600 Transylvania Avenue," 2001; "Making a Killing," 2007). 2009's 50th Anniversary production, "Too Big to Fail," satirically examined the pitfalls and absurdities of a national economy based on credit.
Every year since it's founding, The Mime Troupe has created at least one original work, and over time, summer has been established as our "main season." We tour this piece across the state – our outdoor stage and tech in tow - and, funding permitting, wherever else in the country will have us. The Troupe has also toured internationally, performing and teaching in Europe and Asia, as well as Mexico, Israel, Cuba and Nicaragua – in the latter two instances, the Troupe was the first U.S. theatre company to perform in the country post-revolution.
