Talk & Opening Reception – Personal to Political Exhibition

Celebrate the opening of Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press at the Turner! Join us for a conversation with Paulson Fontaine Press owners Rhea Fontaine and Pam Paulson at 5:30 pm in the Chico State Recital Hall (ARTS 150), followed by an opening reception at the Turner.

Personal to Political highlights the pioneering work of Paulson Fontaine Press in Berkeley, known for championing Black and African American artists. This traveling exhibition features prints by seventeen significant contemporary artists, including Edgar Arceneaux, McArthur Binion, Kerry James Marshall, Martin Puryear, and three generations of women from the Gee’s Bend Quilters.

Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press was organized by Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA.

Pam Paulson, Founder and Master Printer

Pam Paulson came to California to study art, focusing on Bay Area figurative painting. Paulson became a Master Printer at Crown Point Press, where she printed from 1987-1993, and led projects with John Cage and Richard Diebenkorn. She founded Paulson Press in 1996. Paulson received her MFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1982 where she worked as a teaching assistant for Robert Colescott.

Rhea Fontaine, Partner and Gallery Director

Rhea Fontaine is one of the first African-American women to publish fine art prints by contemporary artists. Dedicated to contributing to the image archive of artists of the African Diaspora, Fontaine served as a past curatorial board member at Southern Exposure, and Vice-President of the board at NIAD. Fontaine currently serves on the board of Chez Panisse. She received a BA in Fine Art from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1998, and a post-baccalaureate diploma in Museum Studies from Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy, in 2000.