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.
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.
Pro Arts East Bay Open Studios
Preview Exhibition
May 11 – June 12, 2010
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.
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.
East Bay Open Studios connects the public with over 400 artists in 14 cities in the East Bay. Pro Arts produces this annual event that runs Saturday and Sunday, June 5 -6 & 12 - 13, 2010. Since 1979, this event remains the largest art event in the region and draws an annual audience over 50,000.
Many studio visitors plan their East Bay Open Studios tour by viewing the over 400 artworks and presentations displayed salon-style in the annual Preview Exhibition. This year, the preview exhibition will be presented across three East Bay community arts venues: Richmond Art Center, Pro Arts and Berkeley Art Center.
The Richmond Art Center is proud to continue supporting and celebrating the energy, creativity and the important voices and visions of our youth.
Artists will have the opportunity to exhibit in their respective communities through this new collaboration. The exhibitions will be on view starting in May of 2010, opening at Pro Arts on May 4, at Berkeley Art Center on May 15, and at Richmond Art Center on May 11. As part of the exhibitions, artist networking sessions will take place at all three venues in addition to an opening reception at Berkeley Art Center on May 15 and an artists’ reception at the Richmond Art Center on May 22. The annual East Bay Open Studios Gala will be held at Pro Arts on June 3, featuring live music and champagne followed by a free reception for friends and family.
This collaborative exhibition embodies the multi-city partnership and increased visibility for the arts community encouraged by 510arts.com, an initiative supported by the East Bay Community Foundation, the San Francisco Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. 510arts.com is a web portal that highlights arts activities in four cities across the East Bay—Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond—to “heighten awareness of our cultural landscape, deepen the impact of the arts on their cities, and further the sustainability of artists and arts organizations”. For this year’s Open Studios presentation, 510arts.com will be involved in special efforts to help promote the events and raise the visibility of Open Studios and its three collaborating arts partners.
Sonja Miremont Monterey Perception
30-inches by 24-inches, 2000
