Collection: NIAD Gallery Exhibition // Superbloom, organized by Erin McCluskey Wheeler

About the exhibition

It’s not a superbloom year. It’s not one of those years where the rain fall gives us an explosion of colorful flowers in the desert. But it is spring. There are still median strips full of poppies and untended lots full of lupines and purple vetch. There are bright yellow dandelions growing despite everything. There are the plum trees blossoming then letting loose their purple leaves and then the cherry trees blooming and letting loose their green leaves.

These moments of color, of unexpected brightness, bring me so much happiness and ground me to the earth. I think about color a lot in my own work and in the world around us. I think about what gives us a sense of belonging and a sense of connection.

The artists in this show put lines together beautifully, build forms that didn’t exist before, and put colors next to each other in ways that bring delight and joy.

About the organizer

Erin McCluskey Wheeler is a painter, collagist, writer, curator, and teacher based in Richmond. Erin has a BA in studio art and art history from Beloit College, and an MFA from California College of the Arts. Erin is a faculty member with the 92nd Y School of the Arts in New York City and teaches collage and mixed media classes throughout the Bay Area. Erin is the 2022 World Collage Day Poster and Cover Artist for Kolaj Magazine and her work is licensed and sold through Minted, West Elm, Samsung, and Target. She has been an Artist in Residence with the City of El Cerrito, the City of Walnut Creek, and Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Erin is a long time supporter of NIAD and a substitute studio facilitator at NIAD; this is her fourth curated exhibition at NIAD.

Participating Artists

Lisa Blevens
Heather Copus
Evelyn Davis
Arista "Mia Mya" Dawson
Anthony Grant

Taylor Neaman-Goudey
Fernanda Martinez Gutierrez
Heather Hamann
Peter Harris
Jenifer Lake
Julie MacDonald
Sara Malpass
Erika Martinez

Erin McCluskey Wheeler
Mati Rose McDonough
Michelle Nonnarath
Shantae Robinson
Ruth Le Roux
Carlota Rodriguez
Kaci Smith
Christian Vassell
Kiesha White
Alice Wiese

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