If you’re walking around Richmond this weekend, there’s a good chance you’ll come across an art exhibit.
A community-wide display of paintings and other art will be on display at 21 venues throughout the city as part of the Richmond Open Studios event.
In all, 48 artists will be showing their work. Some will exhibit at their own studios. Others will be hosted by places such as the Richmond Art Center, the NIAD art studio and the Ar-ti-fact Gallery.
The event is officially open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Most venues will be open on Saturday only. Others will be available only on Sunday. A few will be open both days.
Open Studios was organized by the Visual Artists of Richmond, an all-volunteer organization that has been around for less than two years. Its goal is to provide all levels of support for the city’s wide array of artists.
It’s the second year Visual Artists has put together the event. However, the 2023 exhibits were considered a “beta test” with only eight artists in seven studios.
The 2024 event is the first full-blown Richmond Open Studios event, and it has been more successful than organizers had hoped.
This has exceeded our expectations,” said Brian Conery, a local artist who is deeply involved with Visual Artists. “We didn’t expect it to grow so quickly this year.”
Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez, an artist and director of Visual Artists, said Richmond Open Studios has two basic principles: To provide artists with a venue to display and sell their work and to provide an opportunity for the public to view the work of Richmond’s growing art community.
“The public can get acquainted with all sorts of artists,” she told Richmondside.
“We are hoping this puts us on the map,” Conery said. “Any positive focus on artists is a good thing. It’s community-building.”
The Richmond Art Center will be hosting nine artists in its courtyard on Saturday, including Garcia-Gonzalez.
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“The whole idea is to encourage artists of all kinds. It creates a community.”
— Richmond artist Tatyana Ryevzina
Jose Rivera, the executive director of RAC, said Open Studios provides a bridge between artists and the public.
“It is a connection to the heart and soul of the community,” he told Richmondside.
Another six artists will be hosted by NIAD art studio, a facility that provides support and space for 80 local artists with disabilities as well as another 150 artists from throughout the region.
Amanda Eicher, the executive director of Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development (NIAD), said the open studios event is a beautiful blend of cooperation between Visual Artists, local galleries and artists.
“We are at our best when we are partnering,” she said.
Eicher noted that Richmond has had a thriving art community for decades, although until recently it may have gone unnoticed. She said the city as well as community organizations help support local artists, who are attracted by the city’s creative culture and more affordable cost of living, at least by Bay Area standards.
“Artists here have so much to draw from,” Eicher said.
One of those artists is Tatyana Ryevzina, who likes to paint in water-based mediums when she’s not at her administrative job at Alameda County’s health department.
Her works will be on display this weekend at NIAD.
The Russian immigrant said she’s “always been drawn” to painting, a passion that has been slowly building the past 15 years and was sparked further by the isolation of the COVID pandemic.
“Painting is like meditation because you get so absorbed in the process,” she explained.
Ryevzina said that the Visual Artists organization and the Richmond Open Studios event are big boosts for local artists.
“The whole idea is to encourage artists of all kinds,” she said. “It creates a community.”
Ryevzina added that the public also benefits from such programs.
“Art can provide an opportunity for joy,” she said. “It can uplift people.”
