NIAD Art Center

NIAD Art Center Redefining contemporary art.

Each NIAD artwork is an original piece of contemporary art that tells an individual story from the perspective of an artist with disabilities. Frequently remarkable, surprising, and engaging, NIAD artwork has become a highlight of the Richmond art scene and has received recognition from the national art community.

10/24/2025

Two wildly different artists, one beautiful Silent Auction.

Both of these terrific pieces by NIAD artists Dre’An Cox and Hacer Acma are now open for bids on the Win Win 11 website!

🔗Silent Auction link in bio.

Dre’An Cox’s work is mimetic in nature, often appropriating and mining the rich imagery of animation and fantasy games to create politically-charged works that speak of the moment. This untitled painting resembles the costume elements Dre’An has created to wear to political marches and protests.

Hacer Acma loves to work with fabric. She adores patterned fabric with flowers, the more elaborate the better, which she embroiders on top of. She has made several wall hangings of which she is quite proud. “Tiger” is representative of Hacer’s more recent forays into hand-tufted rug-making.

Video description:
1. NIAD artist Dre’An Cox, wearing a black and white mushroom hat and sleeveless leather jacket, works with pencil and paper at a table in the NIAD studio.

2. “Untitled”
Dre’An Cox
Acrylic on wood sculpture
42 x 16 x .5”
Win Win 11 Silent Auction Lot #832

3. Dre’An dressed in mask and shield, holding up an anti-Trump sign in an outdoor setting.

4. Hacer Acma knitting in the NIAD studio.

5. “Tiger”
Hacer Acma
Tufted yarn on stretched fabric and canvas
10 x 10”
Win Win Silent Auction Lot #800

6. Hacer Acma posing next to “Tiger” and another tufted rug work in the NIAD gallery.

10/12/2025

✊🏾The History of Black History through NIAD artist Arstanda Billy White!

Arstanda is standing in front of NIAD’s Artist of the Month wall, circa 2019.

NIAD artist Dorian Reid created the wall text - “WE ARE CREATING OUR HISTORY” - in hand-painted black and red letters that feel powerful, determined, and LOUD.

✒️ Former NIAD artist Serena Scott’s text-based ink drawings are strung along the wall.

🍌 Take note, too, of NIAD artist Felicia Griffin’s soft sculpture draped deliciously across a chair.

🎙️ The soundtrack is Arstanda working with NIAD Sound Recordings: his rendition of James Brown’s classic funk bop “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud”.

Video description: A montage of three still images of a man with dark skin wearing a dapper gray cap; a red, black and grey argyle sweater, thick glasses and blue striped track pants. Billy flexes a bicep in the first two images and puts his hand on his chest in the last image. He is standing in an interior art studio setting, with a mural, two pedestals and a chair behind him.

10/08/2025

💎 While our artists give the joy and dedication of their art practice to each of us all year long, this is the time of year where we humbly ask our supporters dig deep, give back, and put a financial amount on your gratitude.

As you well know, it takes substantial dollars to provide the professional art supplies, career support, accessibility accommodations and more that NIAD artists need and deserve.

It would bring all of us here at NIAD some real holiday joy if you would join us as a GEM (Give Every Month) today.

A small donation each month means a big difference in the life and practice of a NIAD artist.

Simply select your amount and mark the box for "Make it Monthly" and we'll send you a 20% off code good until the end of the year!

🔗 Follow the Donate link in our bio!

video description:
A peaceful moment in the fiber area of NIAD's studios. Two artists in profile: Donzell Lewis, facing left, works on a piece of fiber art with knitting needles. Heather Copus, facing right, stitches a work of fiber art using an embroidery hoop and bright pink fabric. Behind them is a background of sewing notions, drying racks, and storage lockers festooned with art. The soundtrack is a busy shared studio buzz.











10/05/2025

"I do believe that our art is the most important thing." 
- Robin Rakoczy, NIAD Artist

So many stunning works were featured in the Win Win 12 showcase, and now we're bringing a few back for an encore performance! 👏👏

Each piece in this collection distills the celebratory energy from our annual fundraiser, the love and gratitude we have for our community, and our hopes for the future.

And you can contribute to that future -- when you buy art, you empower the extraordinary talents at NIAD Art Center.

So let's share in another hearty round of applause, hand out the bouquets, and finish those sardines and sweet peas we bought during intermission...

We thank you for supporting our artists, facilitators, volunteers, and community members!

Julio Del Rio
Untitled (D1336)
graphite on two pieces of paper taped together
34 x 14"

Full video description in alt text.

Second Saturday Workshops Part Two!🐩 You can call it a Pom Pom, a Pom Pon, a pompon, a pompom - Felicia Griffin calls it...
09/30/2025

Second Saturday Workshops Part Two!

🐩 You can call it a Pom Pom, a Pom Pon, a pompon, a pompom - Felicia Griffin calls it "the circle within".

In this workshop led by Felicia and NIAD facilitator Leticia Javier, participants will learn how to create Felicia’s iconic Pom Poms. Using a variety of colorful yarns and cardboard tubes, participants will explore the world of possibilities in mixing hues, materials, and textures.

🧶 Make a Pom Pom with Felicia Griffin
Saturday October 11
1:30-3:30pm
NIAD Art Center
For ages 9 and up
https://niadart.org/blogs/events/second-saturday-workshops

✂️ Also on Saturday: Mixed Media Collage Workshop with Hector Muñoz-Guzmán!

ABOUT FELICIA GRIFFIN

Felicia Griffin (b. 1963) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans printmaking, ceramics, painting, and fiber art. A recurring theme in Griffin’s work is the circle–a shape that connects her sense of self with the outside world. She is well known for her pom-poms, which she enjoys gifting to her loved ones. Several of these soft sculptures were included in “Don’t mind if I do,” a trailblazing and accessible installation curated by artist Finnegan Shannon.

Griffin has worked at NIAD Art Center since 1985 and is among the longest tenured artists still practicing today. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Oakland Museum of California Art, and Christie’s Auction House, San Francisco. Griffin’s artworks are housed in the permanent collections of the Graphic Arts Collection at UC Berkeley and at the Mission Bay Campus at UCSF.

EVENT ACCESSIBILITY

There are no stairs to enter the NIAD building.

The building is one level and does not have automatic doors.

The sidewalk has curb cut-outs and is wide enough for a wheelchair. Our restrooms are accessible to people using mobility devices.

We have a gender neutral restroom and an adult changing station.

Mask-wearing is strongly encouraged.

Public transportation and affordable on-demand ride services are available.

Contact gallery@niadart.org with access needs and requests.

Pink Pom Pom design by

Image:
A flyer: a black and white image of Felicia Griffin - a woman with dark brown skin and braids swooped into an updo, wearing thick glasses and holding a massive ball of thick white yarn. Behind her and to the right is a pink design that reads "POM POM" in two vertical columns, with a puffy round design in place of each "O".

✂️ Second Saturday Workshops!NIAD is opening its doors on October11th for two remarkable workshops.One will be led by H...
09/30/2025

✂️ Second Saturday Workshops!

NIAD is opening its doors on October11th for two remarkable workshops.

One will be led by Hector Muñoz-Guzmán, facilitator and "Somewhere In Time" artist!

Participants will explore collage as a starting point for creating dynamic compositions. Using magazines or other found images, you’ll learn how to paste together an initial framework, then expand it through painting, drawing, and mark-making. By layering imagination onto collage, you’ll discover how to build a unique visual narrative that moves beyond the source material. Ultimately, it is through painting and drawing that each composition will be developed, refined, and brought to completion.

Mixed Media Collage: Painting, Drawing, and Composition
With Hector Muñoz-Guzmán
Saturday October 11
1:30-3:30pm
NIAD Art Center
For ages 12 and up

🧶 Also at NIAD on Saturday: Make a Pom Pom with Felicia Griffin!

ABOUT HECTOR

Héctor Muñoz-Guzmán is a Chicano painter from South Berkeley whose work layers family history, collage, and Chicano traditions into vivid compositions. He published the artist book Brown Eyes from Russell Street (archived at SFMOMA), held his first solo show Tocando Tierra in LA, and was nominated for the SFMOMA SECA Award. He is currently pursuing his MFA at UC Berkeley. His work on view at NIAD through October 31.

In addition to his own artistic practice, Muñoz-Guzmán has been working at Creative Growth for the past three years. He frequently works with CG's celebrated painter William Scott, and assisted Scott with the ex*****on of his Bay Area Walls mural Praise Frisco: Peace and Love in the City at SFMOMA in 2024.

IMAGES

1.
Portrait of the artist

2.
The City of South Tepaberkeley & Its People
Collage, acrylic and watercolor on paper
23 x 27"

3.
Tiempo Para Pelarnos 3
Acrylic on linen
60 x 48"
2025

Alt text in comments.

EVENT ACCESSIBILITY

There are no stairs to enter the NIAD building.

The building is one level and does not have automatic doors.

The sidewalk has curb cut-outs and is wide enough for a wheelchair. Our restrooms are accessible to people using mobility devices.

We have a gender neutral restroom and an adult changing station.

Mask-wearing is strongly encouraged.

Public transportation and affordable on-demand ride services are available.

Contact gallery@niadart.org with access needs and requests.

09/28/2025

Shawn Sanders has been on a rollll in the studio lately.

We were thrilled to be able to catch this milestone moment: Shawn’s first jump into printmaking.

“How do you feel, Shawn?”

“I’m into it! Just as much as I was into pottery!”

No surprise, he approaches this new medium with the same confidence and appreciation for process that he has when he’s working in ceramics or painting.

NIAD’s print studio is set up for exactly the kind of experimentation and exploration that Shawn gravitates towards. Keep an eye out for more prints from Shawn!

Video description:

NIAD artist Shawn Sanders, an African American man wearing a gray hoodie, stands behind a press in the NIAD printmaking studio with NIAD facilitator Bill Zindel, a Caucasian man wearing a baseball cap. Shawn rolls the press and he and Bill pull out a rectangular, abstract purple print. Bill holds it up for Shawn’s approval and places it on the drying rack.


👁️ Excited to spotlight NIAD guest curator !When we her say that she's interested in "unstable bodies, illness & impairm...
09/27/2025

👁️ Excited to spotlight NIAD guest curator !

When we her say that she's interested in "unstable bodies, illness & impairment, psychological integration, color & eroticism & sublimation," we knew she would create a fantastic Virtual Exhibition for NIAD.

"Eeeeeee" is featured for the next few days on NIAD's homepage. Take a look and try to contain yourself!
https://niadart.org/collections/eeeeeee-organized-by-sarah-faux

Thanks Sarah!
Read on to learn more about Sarah and her practice.

IMAGES

1.
Sarah Faux in her studio. (photo Lea Black)

2.
Autofriction
2024
oil on canvas
800 x 100"
diptych

3.
Bright lights and black spots
2024
oil on canvas
800 x 100"
diptych

4.
Solitary Hunter
2022
oil on canvas
80 x 100"
diptych

Sarah Faux was born in Boston, MA. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Faux has held solo exhibitions at Hales Gallery (NYC), M+B (Los Angeles, CA), Capsule Shanghai (Shanghai), and Stems Gallery (Brussels), among others. She has shown in numerous group exhibitions including at Eric Firestone (NYC), Sim Smith (London) and Loyal Gallery (Stockholm). Faux’s paintings have been written up in BOMB Magazine, Artsy, Cultured Magazine, Modern Painters, i-D Vice, and more. Faux has been the recipient of many residencies and grants, including an Institute Residential Fellowship at the Clyfford Still Museum (2024), a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2023), and artist residencies at Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY (2017, 2012). Faux holds an MFA in Painting from Yale University and a joint BA/BFA from Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design.

Full image descriptions in alt text.

Dear NIAD Lovers,NIAD Art Center's studios and galleries will be closed this week due to a recent uptick in COVID cases....
09/22/2025

Dear NIAD Lovers,

NIAD Art Center's studios and galleries will be closed this week due to a recent uptick in COVID cases.

We will close from Monday September 22 to Friday September 26, reopening on Monday September 29.

If you're looking to view NIAD artwork in person, you can! Here's what's up this week:

- "PULLEY" at Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley
- "Instrumentals" at Personal Space, Vallejo
- "Radical Resilience: Holding the Line" at Ruth's Table, SF
- "Everyday Breath" at GGLA, Los Angeles
- "Looks Like a Home to Me" at the LA Public Library, Los Angeles
- "Don't mind if I do" at Gallery 400, Chicago (opens Thursday!)

You can visit our Virtual Gallery anytime: niadart.org/exhibitions.

NIAD will resume programming on site Monday September 29, with regular gallery hours for "Somewhere in Time" and "Giving Gifts", 10am to 4pm daily.

alt text:
Rami's Fountain in NIAD's courtyard: against a cinderblock wall painted cornflower blue, in a basin of corten steel, a magnificently elaborate collaborative ceramic sculpture fountain, with monkeys spouting water, fairytale castles, flowers, fish, human figures, smiling suns, animals of all stripes. the centerpiece is a cat pieta: a mother cat crying fountain tears, holding her son cat, wearing sunglasses and a halo, in her arms, at the top of a giant jungle plant ringed by giant petals and faces of wild cats.

🪄 Some exhibitions name themselves.Now presenting, "Eeeeeee!" curated for NIAD Art Center's virtual gallery by Sarah Fau...
09/19/2025

🪄 Some exhibitions name themselves.

Now presenting, "Eeeeeee!" curated for NIAD Art Center's virtual gallery by Sarah Faux!

"On its own, 'e' is a simple sound. But repeated, as in Serena Scott's E, this letter can turn into an excited squeal, a feeling of too-much-ness that can't be contained. 'Eeeeeee!' is a close neighbor of the word 'weeeeee!' but a little harder to define.

This collection of 20 works by NIAD artists celebrates the fact that a simple letter can transform into a feeling, repeated numbers can morph into mesh, a group of body parts can become a code language.

The art works here linger on the tip of your tongue, somewhere between image, language, and the unspeakably joyful shape of an open mouth exclaiming 'eeeeeee!'"

🙏 Everyone loves a good onomatopoeeeeeeeia. 👁️‍🗨️

NIAD Art Center is a progressive art studio and gallery in Richmond, California for artists with disabilities.

🔗 View the full exhibition:
https://niadart.org/collections/eeeeeee-organized-by-sarah-faux

1.
Serena Scott
E
India ink on paper
13 x 19"

2.
Jeremy Burleson
Untitled
Mixed media on paper
12 x 18"

3.
Maria Radilla
Untitled
Mixed media on paper
12 x 18"

4.
Donald Walker
Untitled
Oil stick on found paper
12 x 18"

5.
Jonathan Velazquez
Untitled
Marker on mylar
11 x 14"

full descriptions in alt text.

A huge and hearty welcome to Camila de Andrade Bianchi , NIAD's new Gallery Programs & Sales Manager!Camila began connec...
09/18/2025

A huge and hearty welcome to Camila de Andrade Bianchi , NIAD's new Gallery Programs & Sales Manager!

Camila began connecting with studio artists from day one: "As soon as I arrived at NIAD, I was quickly captivated by Karen May's work. Her maximalist style and layered soft sculptures show me how wildly different patterns and colors can beautifully complement one another. Seeing her works brings me so much joy!"

Camila de Andrade Bianchi is a Brazilian interdisciplinary artist, researcher and educator. She recently concluded her MFA at Arizona State University and graduated with a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2022.

Camila is passionate about nurturing creativity and supporting artistic communities, and is thrilled to join NIAD. In her free time she loves to contribute to local community gardens and to take care of her compost. She also enjoys going on long walks and spending time cooking and sharing meals with loved ones.

Please join us in making Camila feel at home at NIAD!

alt text.
A woman with light brown skin and brown hair tied back into a top knot, wearing a blue polo shirt with a green embroidered logo, sits on a stool against a white wall, hands on crossed knees, looking directly at the camera with a subtle smile.

Address

551 23rd Street
Richmond, CA
94804

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 1pm - 4pm

Telephone

(510) 620-0290

Website

http://linktr.ee/niadartcenter

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Our Story

Each NIAD artwork is an original piece of contemporary art that tells an individual story from the perspective of an artist with disabilities. Frequently remarkable, surprising, and engaging, NIAD artwork has become a highlight of the Richmond art scene and has received recognition from the national artistic community.