Join artist Dorian Reid for an afternoon of art making, collective action, and Black Cat Power presented in conjunction with her Emerging Artist Program exhibition, Calling All Cats.

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Reid’s work draws connections between Black history, civil rights, animal welfare, and the enduring superstitions surrounding black cats. She notes that when thinking about the history of racism and segregation in this country she is reminded, “of the way people have always treated black cats with fear and prejudice. They won't adopt them or even let them come into their homes. They won't take care of them. The superstitions have been carrying on for so long, and it's time to stop the superstitions right now.” Through her ongoing work to build a Black Cat Revolution with her Black Cat Power Club, Reid calls for an end to those superstitions while celebrating freedom, justice, liberation, belonging, and care for people and animals alike.

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The afternoon will begin with an all-ages art-making activity inspired by Reid’s hand-painted protest signs. Create your own sign in support of the Black Cat Revolution, then carry it with you as Reid leads a joyous march around the MoAD neighborhood. Along the way, she’ll invite participants to join her in protest songs and chants that remix the language and traditions of movements that have shaped her life with her own irrepressible humor, sincerity, and love of cats.

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Come make a sign, raise your voice, and join the revolution. Black Cat Appreciation! Black Cat Revolution! Black Cat Revolution Right Meow!

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About the Artist

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Dorian Reid has built a world which draws parallels between her familial connection to The Black Panthers and her current fight for civil rights and animal welfare.

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It is filled with family, musicians, activists, neighbors, historical figures, beloved animals, and cats of every color. Across ceramics, paintings, prints, textiles, furniture, protest signs, and community gatherings, they live together inside a visual culture full of humor, memory, care, and the particular spirit of the East Bay.

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Reid was born and raised in Berkeley. She is the daughter of Betty Reid Soskin, whose work as a historian and public servant has changed how generations understand California’s past. Her family also owned Reid’s Records, the beloved Berkeley record store where music, conversation, and community shared the same address. That inheritance is present throughout Reid’s work. Family history becomes folklore. Portraiture records kinship. Art enters public life.

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