By Kathy Chouteau
A new collaborative exhibition went up at NIAD Art Center’s gallery this past weekend and it vibrantly evokes the participating artists’ memories of Richmond and its surrounding environs.
The Collective Memory: NIAD exhibition is a project between the center’s artists and Oakland-based artist Hannah Perrine Mode. It is Mode’s first organized exhibition at the center.
NIAD will host an opening reception for the exhibition Sat., Feb. 9, from 1-4 p.m. at its location at 551 23rd St. Two other NIAD exhibitions, Yore Future: Sam Carr-Prindle and Fresh Starts—organized by The Walt Disney Family Museum—will also celebrate openings that day.
According to Julio Rodriguez, assistant gallery director, Mode visited NIAD in advance of the exhibition and hosted an onsite workshop with the center’s artists. Per an online NIAD statement, Mode asked them to “consider memories about place, the city of Richmond, and the surrounding environment” during the workshop.
“Each NIAD artist shared a memory, created a corresponding color swatch to represent that experience and used that color to create a new artwork for the exhibition. Alongside the artists’ pieces, Mode then used these colors to create unique paintings made by melting ice live in the gallery,” the statement continued. In some instances, Mode selected an artist’s recent work referencing the artist’s color swatch.
Mode visited local Richmond waterways to source the water used to make the colorful ice, which in turn, was used to create several “automatic paintings,” hanging in the gallery. Collective Works: NIAD also features a video and a map, highlighting the Richmond spots where Mode drew water for the ice.
The Rich Life visited NIAD this past weekend for a preview and found the exhibition refreshing in its uniqueness and creative use of vibrant color and ice. NIAD artists whose works are featured in the exhibition include: Mireya Betances, Deatra Colbert, Evelyn Davis, Julio Del Rio, Karen May, Ann Meade, Jason Powell-Smith, Shantae Robinson, Joseph Rux and Nakeisha White.
Collective Memory: NIAD is one facet of Mode’s more expansive Collective Memory series, engaging with humanity and climate change in the Bay Area and various international polar communities, according to NIAD.
NIAD is a nonprofit art center that helps artists with disabilities create art and launch careers in the contemporary art world. Learn more about its work and upcoming exhibitions here.
