Richmond Art Center
The Richmond Art Center is the largest visual arts center in the East Bay, delivering exciting arts experiences to people of all ages who reflect the diverse richness of our community. We do this through onsite Studio classes and Exhibitions, and offsite Art in the Community programs.
Every year, we serve thousands of students through classes and programs taught by professional artists, both onsite at the Art Center and at sites throughout Richmond. Our four galleries allow us to mount rotating exhibitions that display the works of emerging and established Bay Area artists.
The Richmond Art Center originated in 1936, when local artist Hazel Salmi, who worked for
I started getting the Richmond Art Center newsletter and their classes look great! You might try asking one of the textile instructors about these specific techniques. I am interested in a meet up like that about creativity too! But for me it's going to have to wait until 2024. https://richmondartcenter.org/class-catalog/adults/
I think the Richmond Art Center is a go-to spot for textile arts and classes. Fall classes starting soon!
Try Richmond Art Center (RAC). They have kid classes and summer camps. Very good and affordable. The adult classes are really good too!
I highly recommend the summer art camps at Richmond Art Center. If you do both the morning and afternoon sessions with lunch in between, and extended care then there is full day coverage. Very small class sizes (think 8-10 kids). My daughter has attended a couple of summers as well as classes during the school year (as a bonus, you could sign up for a spring Saturday class or workshop to help your daughter get used to the center and see what she thought before committing to summer camp). My daughter is a more outgoing introvert, but she is very sensitive to noise. Richmond art center is the only place where I’ve seen an instructor tell the parents of a more rambunctious kid that he needs to tone it down because there are a lot of kids in class who don’t like the noise when they are concentrating on their art work (without being asked by the quiet kids parent). The instructors are true teaching artists, serious about their craft. It’s a great place for kids to really focus on creating visual art in multiple mediums. I’ve found that not that many kids do the full day for the full summer, but kids do come back for multiple sessions. My daughter will be there for the whole time except week 1. She’s 11 so is older and probably wouldn’t be in the same age track with a rising 2nd grader. But, the full day kids have lunch together in a charming and quiet interior courtyard. So there would be one constant friend throughout the summer. RAC is open on Saturdays, if you’re interested my daughter and I would be happy to meet you down there and check out the galleries so your daughter could get a sense of whether this might be a good fit. Also, I don’t know whether they do summer, but Hello Stitch in Berkeley has camps. My daughter is there this week for spring break and it’s very small, meets her need for things to be quieter and she’s learning to sew! A good camp fit makes such a difference!
Richmond Art Center has AM and PM summer camps for age 5-7, info here: http://richmondartcenter.org/camp/
Archived Q&A and Reviews
Oct 2011
Re: Art classes on the weekend for 8 year old
The Richmond Art Center has Saturday art classes for children. I have friends whose children have taken the preschool art class and loved it. I took some great classes there as a child. Your question reminded me to check out their schedule! They seem to have a nice program of classes for kids and adults. http://www.therac.org/schedule/html/classes.html Art loving mom
The hidden gem in the Bay Area is the Richmond Art Center located at 2540 Barrett Avenue in Richmond near the new city center offices. Check out their website at www.therac.org and their phone number is 510-620-6772. They have a variety of classes available and the teachers are all wonderful, with very good training and experience themselves. I have found the teachers to be very understanding of children's abilities in art and very encouraging of helping them to develop their gifts in art. My child has taken classes at the RAC for four years, since age four, and we couldn't be more pleased. Prices for classes are very reasonable. The RAC is a goldmine with wonderful classes for all ages. Please check them out!! A RAC supporter spreading the word!
Feb 2008
Re: Full day art camp for elementary aged child
I don't know what dates they are running but my kids really enjoyed Richmond Art Center's camp last year. They are actually just 3 hour sessions but some kids did am and pm sessions making it into a more full day. only downside there would be different kids in am and pm with a handful doing both and probably not so many of their friends to eat lunch with. But the teachers are really great, they are in spacious real art studios with excellent materials, and each 3 hour session is split between visual arts projects/ teacher and ceramics studio/ teacher. anon
May 2007
Re: Adult jewelry-making classes
The Richmond Art Center has a very large selection of beginning through advanced jewelry classes for adults. You can learn all the basics like sawing, soldering, forming & finishing and more. You can also take classes that focus on more specific techniques like metalsmithing, stone setting & lapidary, casting and enamelling. This spring session has already started, so you will have to wait until this summer or fall to sign up for classes. There are a couple of workshops this month that may still have space: ''Knitted Wired Jewelry'' and '' A Primer on Enameling: 3-D forms''.
The Richmond Art Center is a great place that deserves more attention and support. I've taken drawing and painting classes there. They also offer classes in ceramics, textiles and screen printing. And they have lots of classes for kids too. There is a 6,000 sq foot gallery space with on-going art exhibitions featuring emerging and mid-career Bay Area artists. http://www.therichmondartcenter.org/ It's a great place! I highly recommend checking it out! Laurey
Oct 2006
Re: Art classes for 9-year-old
Definitely worth checking out the offerings at the Richmond Art Center. http://www.therac.org (then click on education) They offer quarterly classes aimed at different ages . We've loved them and given it is a fine art community-based center with a gallery, it feels very ''alive.'' I think you'll like it Berkeley Mom
June 2006
Re: Art classes for a 3 year old
I would like to highly recommend the classes offered at The Richmond Art Center. My son has been taking the ''I Love Art'' class with Lisa Di Prima, a teacher he adores, since he was three and asks to sign up at every new session. We took a break and tried dance, soccer and t-ball, but it's the art classes he always comes back to. I think it's because of Lisa as much as the activity of making art. She's very engaging for the little ones. And, in fact, offers classes FOR ALL AGES.
It's not a long drive if you live in Oakland, Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito (or Richmond, of course) and so worth it. http://www.therichmondartcenter.org (Click on education). Classes are quarterly Happy Art Kid's Mama
June 2003
Re: Collage class for an adult
I would like to highly recommend the much over-looked Richmond Art Center. Not only do they have a wonderful variety of classes for adults (I have seen mixed media classes offered before), but they also have a bunch of art classes for kids. I have never seen this place mentioned or advertised through UC Parents Network. They also have a very nice art gallery that focuses on local Bay Area artists. It is a wonderful resource and it shouldn't be ignored. Sadly some of the kids classes and adult classes have often been cancelled due to low enrollment. Please help prevent this by supporting this wonderful program and enroll in their classes. You can also support them by becomming a member (discount on classes). You can check out their website at http:www.therichmondartcenter.org/ or call them at (510) 620-6772 Laurey
Feb 1998
The Richmond Arts Center (at the Richmond Civic Center between Barrett and McDonald Avenue--around 27th street, I think) offers a wide variety of well-known, well-respected classes. My daughter has taken art classes there. The son of a friend of mine took singing classes and then performed in a musical production.
The orientation is definitely beyond arts and crafts, but I obviously don't know if it's serious enough for your daughter. The instructors appear to be serious artists themselves, using teaching to supplement income. You might check them out. Norma
Parent Reviews
Parents, please Sign in to post a review on this page.