NIAD Art Center (Nurturing Independence through Artistic Development) is a nonprofit

501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

for artists with developmental and physical disabilities, founded in 1982 and based in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Contra Costa County Contra Costa County (; ''Contra Costa'', Spanish language, Spanish for 'Opposite Coast') is a U.S. county, county located in the U.S. state of California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The organization provides studios, supplies, and gallery space.

Organization

NIAD stands for Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development. NIAD Art Center has a 4,000 sq. ft.

art studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

in Richmond, California. The organization works with 70 artists every week; COVID protocols limit the number of artists working on-site to 20, but there is no capacity limit to the number of artists served in NIAD's Virtual Studios. Both studios are open five days per week. Some of the artists have physical disabilities; while others have

developmental disabilities Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...

, and others have both. The artists enrolled at NIAD work with facilitators, who instruct them in multiple mediums:

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

fiber Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often inco ...

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

, sculpture,

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...

, performance, sound recording, and digital media. In addition to the studio space for artists, NIAD Art Center has an exhibition space where they present programming featuring the artists attending the center. NIAD Art Center has a budget of around $600,000, as of 2012, a third of which is raised through donations and sales.

Artists associated

Exhibitions

* ''The Genre Leaps'' (2018) – organized by Margaret Tedesco * ''Virgins Virgining'' (2017) – organized by Micah Wood * ''Avatar'' (2012) – curated by

Justine Frischmann Justine Elinor Frischmann (born 16 September 1969) is an English artist and retired musician. After forming Suede, she co-founded the Britpop band Elastica before retiring from the music industry and pursuing a career as an artist. Early years ...

References

External links

NIAD Art Center Website
{{Authority control 501(c)(3) organizations Arts organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area Non-profit organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area Outsider art Autism in the arts Deafness arts organizations Deafness organizations in the United States Deaf education Disability mass media Disability organizations based in the United States Charities for disabled people Intellectual disability organizations Art schools in California Social welfare charities based in the United States Richmond, California