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Dorian Reid (b. 1957) is a multidisciplinary artist who joined NIAD Art Center in 2003. Her practice spans sculpture, printmaking, painting, textiles, fashion, and performance. In each medium, Reid engages issues of social justice, civil rights, and animal welfare. She explains, "I'm thinking about the future, and I'm thinking about right now. All the power to the people; all the power to the animals! The politics have been handed down to me, generation to generation. People say, 'Don't keep all your emotions in!' But you can't fall apart either. So I'm trying to express my feelings as animals and shapes. I'm creating my own Black history with objects and cats and horses." To this end, Reid has led fundraising initiatives for local animal shelters and curated several exhibitions with NIAD Art Center, including: This Is My Dream in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and Hurricane Dorian reflecting on the loss of community during pandemic era lockdown.

In 2020, Dorian Reid mounted a solo exhibition with Kapp Kapp Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, entitled: Never Look Down on Anybody Unless You're Helping Him Up. Her ceramic sculptures were showcased in a solo booth with the gallery at NADA New York in 2024. Reid collaborated with gallery and project space In Concert to present Dorian Reid b/w Reid's Records (2023). The exhibition included paintings, ceramics, tapestries, live performances, and a recreation of her family's famed Berkeley record shop and cultural center.

Reid has participated in group exhibitions at numerous Bay Area galleries, including Rebecca Camacho Presents, Fourth Wall Gallery, Chico Art Center, Et al., Richmond Art Center, Minnesota Street Project, MarinMOCA, and the Oakland Museum of California. Her work is in the permanent collection of the OMCA, the SFMOMA Library, and the Ohana Center at Montage Health in Monterey, CA. Reid has received the Wynn Newhouse Award and The East Bay Fund for Artists Fellowship.

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About the Exhibition

Dorian Reid will create an installation of ceramic sculptures, printed ephemera, protest signs, flags, and a performance. Reid's work draws parallels between her familial connection to The Black Panthers and her current fight for civil rights and animal welfare. This collection of objects will tell the story of the "Black Cat Revolution," a movement and club Reid founded in 2024 to dismantle prejudices and raise funds for cats and community members. She explains, "I'm creating my own Black History with cats. The club is for all who love cats, freedom, justice, liberation, and stand against superstition." The gallery will set the stage for community building: Reid plans to lead attendees in a march around the space, guiding them in remixed protest chants, songs, and calls to action.

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Tickets to visit MoAD and view the exhibitions:

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