Featured  Solo Exhibition:

William Rhodes
Saints and Heroes

June 12 – July 26, 2025
​​

Opening Reception
Saturday, June 14th from 3-5 pm

Artist's Talk
Saturday, June 28th starting at 4 pm
​

Read the Square Cylinder Review by Barbara Morris

William Rhodes, Damballa, carved wood, photo on fabric, paint, needle and thread, 24in x 18in x 5in

"Rhodes’ work reveals one individual’s experience of the world’s wonders and its sadness. From this experience the artist develops a resilient, determined body of work that celebrates creativity while simultaneously supporting his community. Free of pretention, Rhodes’ work is accessible yet sophisticated. Immersed in human connection and the value of strong family ties, it proposes that, the challenging circumstances of our time notwithstanding, there just may be some hope for humanity after all."

​Barbara Morris, William Rhodes "Saints and Heroes" for Square Cylinder, July 17th, 2025

---

William Rhodes' work in Saints and Heroes touches on the complex legacy of Black service in and for the military, among other themes. Along that line, Rhodes has recently been focusing on a major project detailing the lives and histories of the Black workforce at the Hunter’s Point Shipyards during World War II. One of his quilts honoring that service, United We Win!, will be on view at the Berkley Art Museum (BAMPFA) in Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California, the first group show drawn from a transformative bequest of African American quilts that the museum received in 2019.

Drawn from family stories, entwined with the historic Black experience of injustice, immiseration and generational economic struggles, Rhodes' work reflects on perseverance, resilience, community, and the entrenched effects of enforced migration to America. In Saints and Heroes, Transmission will be showing recent examples of Rhodes' signature, assemblage with wood carving and neon pieces along with a recent quilt from the ShipYard series, as well as a quilt from his Black Times Series. 
 
Originally trained in furniture design, with a Masters from the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, Rhodes has gained international attention over the last few years with recent invitations to show work in London and Havana, and previous projects in Italy and China. His work was included in XV Havana Biennial (2024-2025), and is included in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Casa de Africa Museum in Havana, Cuba, as well as the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. 

Along with creating his own artworks, Rhodes can often be found facilitating massive community quilt projects, incorporating each of the squares created by the many people who come out to participate. Rather than bemoan the difficulties of what separates and divides us, Rhodes simply steps up to connect people across generations, economies and culture. These quilts quite literally build community, tying people together where they are, each quilt a symbol of embrace, warmth, connection and belonging. 

Somehow it seemed fitting that the Opening Reception was held June 14th, 2025,  which was also No Kings Day in Oakland, and indeed, all across the Nation, with events taking place throughout the Bay Area. 

More about William Rhodes

Past Transmission Gallery exhibitions and projects:
2025   William Rhodes: Throughlines, curated by TaVee Lee, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
​​2024     William Rhodes: Tribute; Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA
​                 Threads of Change, curated by Ruth Santee and TaVee Lee, San Joaquin Delta Collage, Stockton, CA
2023     Threads of Consciousness; Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA

EDUCATION
1994    University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
MFA, Furniture Design
 
1989    University of the Arts – Philadelphia, PA
BA, Furniture Design
 
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Smithsonian Institute National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC
Eric Collins and Michael Prokopow Collection, London, England
Temi Stalling Design Collection, Cape Town, South Africa
Apperson Art Collective, Baltimore, MD
The McCoy Collection, Chicago, IL
Meredith Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Bosco Dei Cervi Collection, Bologna, Italy.
Melvin Holmes Collection, San Francisco, CA
New Bedford Museum of Art, New Bedford, MA
Pehl Collection, Eldersburg, MD
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, Baltimore, MD
Nathan Wolfe and Lauren Gunderson Collection, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Arts Commission Civic Art Collection and Public Art
Bayview Senior services, San Francisco, CA
Southeast Health Center, San Francisco, CA
Studios at Key West, Key West, FL
Casa de Africa Museum, Havana, Cuba
 
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025     Throughlines, looking back, reaching forward; Sanchez Art Center Pacifica, CA, 1 Month
2024     William Rhodes: Tribute; Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA, 2 Months
2024     Modernism; Greg Roberts Gallery-Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, CA.
2023     Threads of Consciousness; Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA, 2 Months
2022     Where Generations Come Home; the Art of William Rhodes, Studios of Key West, Key West, FL,, 2 Months
2021     Making Visible the Connections, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA, 3 Months
2019     Threaded Memories, African American Art and Culture Complex, San Francisco, CA, 3 Months
2018     Scenes of Italy, Bosco Dei Cervi, Bologna, Italy.
2018     Past, Present and Future San Francisco Open Studio, San Francisco, CA
2017     Out Migration Artspan, San Francisco, CA
2015    The Nelson Mandela International Quilt Cape Town, South Africa, 2 months
2013     Souls of Water San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA, 1 month
2012     What is your Spiritual Evolution? African American Art and Culture Complex, San Francisco, CA,  3 months
2011     Recycled Art Outside Lands, San Francisco, CA, 3 days
                 Life in Circles Kohler Jones Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 1 month
2010     Feng Shui Open Studio, San Francisco, CA, 1 month
2009     William Rhodes Women of Vision Foundation (Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz), San Francisco, CA, 1 day
2008     Presenting William Rhodes Provident Bank, Baltimore, MD, 1 month
                 Reflections of the Spirit Gallery at 6 East, Baltimore, MD, 1 month
2007     Unexpected Beauty in Baltimore An Die Musik, Baltimore, MD, 2 months
                 Jazz Series International World Trade Center, Baltimore, MD, 1 month
2005     Presenting William Rhodes The Pentagon, Washington, DC, 1 month
 
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024    Threads of Change, San Joaquin Delta Collage, Stockton, CA, 2 months
                15th Havana Biennial, Casa de Africa Museum, Havana, CU
                History and Genealogy of African Americans in San Francisco, Art, Action, Change: YBCA Creative Corps Initiative Event with William Rhodes and                                       Tarika Lewis, Yerba Buena Art Center for the Arts,  San Francisco, CA
                Vitality Art Exhibition, The de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
                Island Traditions, David Berg and William Rhodes, Sanger Gallery,  Key West, FL
                Threaded Identities, Artists Residencies group show, Hunters Point Shipyard Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023    Now Ain’t Some Day Yet, Root Division Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2022    Black Artist on Art, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
                We Are Bruce Lee, Chinese Historical Society of America Museum, San Francisco, CA
2021    Black Breastfeeding, University of California, San Francisco Medical School, San Francisco, CA, 3 months.
                Identity and Response, Lauren Rodgers Museum of Art, Laurel, Miss, 6 months
2020    The de Young Open, The de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
                Unnatural Causes, The Carroll Mansion, Baltimore, MD
2018    Silence Out Loud, The Museum of Northern California Art, Chico, CA, 3 months
                The Circuity of Joyce J. Scott, Craft in America Center, Los Angeles, CA, 2 months
2017    Birdland and the Anthropocene, Peal Museum, Baltimore, MD, 1 month
                Divine Revolution: Night Light, SOMArts, San Francisco, CA, 3 days
2016    Dear Summer, ZuCot Gallery, Atlanta, GA, 3 months
                Take this Hammer, Yeba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, 1 month
                The Raw and Cooked, Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans, LA, 1 month
2015    Power, Protest & Resistance, Skylight Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 1 month
                A Kind of Confession, The Metal Museum, Memphis, TN, 2 months
                Hiraeth, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 1 month       
2013    3.9 Collective, ArtPad, San Francisco, CA
                Ashe to Amen, Museum of Biblical Art, New York, NY; Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN
                 Innovation Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL
2012    Masquerade, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
                Bombay Sapphire Award Exhibition 5, Claude Lane Gallery, San Francisco, CA    
2011    Sacred Reflections, David Driskell Center Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park
                3 Point 9 Sirron, Norris Gallery, San Francisco, CA
                Urban Green, San Francisco Environment’s EcoCenter Gallery, San Francisco, CA
                Unmentionables, City Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010    Gazing at the Red Sun, Bayview Opera House, San Francisco, CA
                The Art of Jazz and Music, 57th Street Fine Art Gallery, Oakland, CA
                Transformative Visions, Studio One Art Center, Oakland, CA
2009    re/Purpose, The African American Art and Culture Complex, San Francisco, CA
                NuVoodoo, Westnorth Studio Gallery, Baltimore, MD
               Bayview Opera House San Francisco, CA
                San Francisco Open Studio,s San Francisco, CA
2008    Avant Yard: Ancient Futures: The DNA of Cultures and Civilizations, Museum of Contemporary   
                African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn, NY
                Jazz Works, Gallery at 6 East, Baltimore, MD
                The Funk Aesthetic, H & F Fine Arts Gallery, Mount Rainier, MD
                Found Objects: New Beginnings, Baltimore Public Works Museum, Baltimore, MD
2007     Body and Soul IV, Baltimore, MD
                Celebrating Forty Years, Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore, MD
                3Dc2: Discover, Define and Discuss Craft, Danny Simmons Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006    Body and Soul III, Baltimore, MD
                Altscape, North West Galleries, Baltimore, MD
2005    Sub Basement Art Studio, Baltimore, MD
2004     Sub Basement Art Studio, Baltimore, MD
2003     Body and Soul II, Baltimore, MD
2002     Presenting Rhodes and Ortiz, The Watergate, Washington, DC
2000     Power, Politics, and People, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
1999     Contemporary Furniture Artists, New Bedford Museum of Art, New Bedford, MA
                 Stop Asking, American Crafts Museum, New York, NY
1998     Stop Asking, Society of Arts and Crafts, Pittsburg, PA
1997     Contemporary Furniture Artists, Meredith Gallery, Baltimore, MD
1995     Mixed Media Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA
1994     International Mens’ Art Exhibit, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
                International Contemporary Furniture Show, Jacob Javitts Convention Center, New York, NY
 
PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS
2023    49 South Van Ness, San Francisco, CA.
2023    Booker T. Washington Community Service Center, San Francisco, CA.
2022    Southeast Community Center, San Francisco, CA.
2022    Lucky Bayview Supermarket, San Francisco, CA.
2022    We Are Bruce Lee, Chinese Historical Society of America Museum, San Francisco, CA.
2021    San Francisco Arts Commission, South East Health Center, San Francisco, CA
2020    Bayview Senior services, San Francisco, CA
 
SELECTED AWARDS AND GRANTS
2024    Living Cultures Award, Alliance for California Traditional Arts, San Francisco, CA
2023    Creative Corps Initiative Award, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2023    Organizational Support Grant, California Arts Council, San Francisco, CA
2021    Public Art Commission - South East Health Center, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA
2021     Individual Artist Grant, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA
2021     Individual Artist Grant, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA
2020     Individual Grant, Awesome Foundation, San Francisco, CA
2020     Equity Grant, ArtSpan, San Francisco, CA
2020     Artist in Community Grant, California Arts Council, Sacramento, CA
2019     Individual Artist Grant, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA
2019     Artist in Community Grant, California Arts Council, Sacramento, CA
2018     Artist in Community Grant, California Arts Council, Sacramento, CA
2015     Alternative Exposure Grant, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
2013     Creative Capacity Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, San Francisco, CA
2011    Fine Craft Award, Artspan, San Francisco, CA
 
SELECTED RESIDENCIES
2023     Bayview Shipyard Artist and Residence, San Francisco, CA
1994     University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA
 
SELECTED LECTURES
2023     Community Knotted Quilt, The Booker T. Washington Community Service Center,
             San Francisco, CA
2022     Where Generations Come Home; the Art of William Rhodes, Studios of Key West, Key West, FL
2021     Making Visible the Connections, Mills College, Oakland, CA.
2021     Finding Self-worth in a World of Suppression and Injustice, University of California, Berkeley,
             Berkley, CA.
2021     Black Breastfeeding, University of California, San Francisco Medical School, San Francisco, CA.
2019     Threaded Memories, African American Art and Culture Complex, San Francisco, CA.
2019     San Francisco Arts Commission, Indivisible Artist Grant, San Francisco, CA
2019     California Arts Council, Artist in Community Grant, Sacramento, CA
2018     Mission on Tenth California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA
2015     Portraits and Other Likenesses San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
            The Association of African American Museum Conference Metal Museum, Memphis, TN
             Portraits of the Creative Class, OakStop Gallery, Oakland, CA
2014     Souls of Water San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA
2013     What is Your Spiritual Evolution? African American Art and Cultural Complex, San Francisco, CA
            Astrology African American Art and Cultural Complex, San Francisco, CA
2007     3Dc2: Discover, Define and Discuss Craft Danny Simmons Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1999     Stop Asking American Crafts Museum, New York, NY
1994     International Mens’ Art Exhibit Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
 
SELECTED VIDEO DOCUMENTATION
2016    I am San Francisco, Black Past and Presence City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
2016    Woodworker by Trade, Artist by Choice, Baltimore Sun Newspaper, Baltimore, MD
2015    The Nelson Mandela International Quilt Project, Michael Cotton, San Francisco, CA
2014    Cross Burning by William Rhode,s Melonie Green, San Francisco, CA
               Quilt Project Teaches About Nelson Mandela, CCTV News, San Francisco, CA
2012    What is your Spiritual Evolution? William Rhodes Art Michael Cotton, San Francisco, CA
2011    New Orleans Revisited, Art Reflects, San Francisco, CA
2008    Avant Yard: Ancient Futures: The DNA of Cultures and Civilizations, Museum of     
                Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn, NY
2007    Unexpected Beauty in Baltimore, An Die Musik, Baltimore, MD
                3Dc2: Discover, Define and Discuss Craft, Danny Simmons Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1999    Contemporary Furniture Artists, Newbedford Museum of Art, Newbedford, MA
1993    Art Furniture, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA
 
SELECTED BOOKS
Yale University Press, Joyce J. Scott, Walk a Mile in My Dreams, New Haven and London, CT, 2024, pp.242-243, 270.
Colossus Press, Colossus Freedom: An Anthology of Voices Across The Carceral Wasteland, Oakland, CA, 2022, pp.42-43.
Lopez Publishing, Ben F. Jones and William Rhodes, Greenvale, NY, 2021.
Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, Black Exodus, San Francisco, CA, 2019, pp. 23, 72, 93, 94, 109, 112, 118.
California Institute of Integral Studies, The Best of Mission at Tenth (2009 - 2019), California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA, 2020, pp. 57.
California Institute of Integral Studies, Mission At Tenth, Volume 7, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA, 2018, pp. 6-7.
Call For Beauty, Curated by 3.9 Art Collective, Root Division, San Francisco, CA, 2017.
Crawford-Levis, Lyla, StoryCorps Comics: From the Bayview Opera House, Justin Hall Comics, San Francisco, CA, 2013.
King-Hammond, Leslie (Ed.), Ashe to Amen: African Americans and Biblical Imagery, Museum of Biblical Art, New York, NY, 2013, pp. 41-42.
Sankofa, Kinara, Humanity: Deep Between the Lines of Spoken Word, San Francisco, CA, 2015, cover.
Scott, Joyce J. and The Society for Contemporary Crafts, Stop Asking We Exist: 25 African-American Craft Artists, The Society for Contemporary Crafts, Pittsburgh, PA, 2000, pp. 49-50.
Yap-Wong, Christine, 100 Stories of Belonging in the S.F. Bay Area, Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 2019, pp. 28-29.
 
SELECTED ARTICLES AND REVIEWS
Provenzano, Jim, “Going Out, April 25- May 3, 2024”, The Bay Area Reporter, April 25, 2024.
Blue, Max, “Black Magic at San Francisco Arts Commission”, The Potrero View, April, 2022.
Gugala, Jon, “Celebrating 200 Years, Key West’s Arts Community Is Just Getting Started”, Art in America, January, 2022, p. 24, 25.
Cheney Anlan, “Never mind the statistics: “Black people want to breastfeed”,” Mission Local, September 3, 2021
O’ Hare Timothy, “Community Quilt,” The Key West Citizen, October 27, 2021, p 1, 8C.
Rose, Steve, “Dennis Billups: he Helped lead a long, fiery sit in,” The Guardian News & Media September16, 2021, G2 p. 25.
Owens, Donna, “Woodworker by Trade, Artist by Choice,” The Baltimore Sun, December 4, 2016, p. 1,4.
“Museum News,” Journeys: Newsletter of Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Winter 2008, p. 3.
“Nomad Stories Jazz with William Rhodes,” The New York Times, October 5, 2007, p. B21.
D’Addario, John, “Queen Selma at Scott Edwards: The Raw and the Cooked (New Carnivalesque Visionary
Art) at Barrister’s,” The New Orleans Advocate, January 24, 2016.
Fisher, Harold, “Tooting Baltimore’s Horn,” The Baltimore Sun – Unisun, October 10, 2007, p. 22-3T.
Harris, Joanne, “Stop Asking,” American Visions, April/May 1999, p. 13.
Herring, Nakia, “William Rhodes Shows the ‘Unexpected Beauty in Baltimore’,” The Baltimore Times, October 19-25,2007, p. 15.
Hunt, Stephen, “Unexpected Beauty in Baltimore,” Calgary Herald, December 17, 2007.
Johnson-Sterrett, J.D., “Art and Furniture Combine at Tobechi,” Metropolitan Business News, December 15, 1997, p. 6.
Large, Elizabeth, “Artful Furniture,” The Baltimore Sun, September 29, 1996, p. B3.
McNatt, Glen, “An Artistic Renovation,” The Baltimore Sun – Unisun, April 3, 2005, p. 8T.
McNatt, Glen, “Art Draws on Flavor of Past,” The Baltimore Sun – Unisun, December 25, 2001, p. 1F, 10F.
McQuillan Weeks, Joanna, “Art Week,” The Standard Times, May 29, 1997, p. B1, B3.
Moore, Kate, “William Rhodes,” Armatora Catena, December 10, 2011.
Owens, Donna, “Woodworker by Trade, Artist by Choice,” The Baltimore Sun, December 4, 2016, p. 1, 4.
Patrell, Dan, “Postcard,” Maryland Life, November/December 2007, p. 10, 21.
Reader, Ruth, “Unexpected Beauty in Baltimore,” City Paper, October 24-31, 2007, p. 35.
White, Patreka L., “Making a Path in the World of Photography,” The Baltimore Times, April 12-18, 2002, p. 10, 20.
 
SELECTED PODCAST, RADIO AND TELEVISION INTERVIEWS
Whettstone David, “We Are Bruce Lee,” WPFW, May 25, 2022
Turner Walter, “Art of Ben F. Jones and William Rhodes,” KPFA, November 22, 2021
Nelson Sophia, “Making Visible the Connections,” Visit Black History, December 13, 2021
Hunt Jeff, “William Rhodes on Being a Black Artist in San Francisco,” Storied: San Francisco, June 9, 2020
Green, Melorra and Melonie, “Ibeji Lounge”, KPOO 89.5 FM, September 18, 2018
Mallicoat, Frank, “Bay Sunday”, KPIX, March 16, 2013
“Deep Roots 08: William Rhodes”, San Francisco Community Arts and Education, October 5, 2012
Hughes, Angela, “Fresh Perspective”, KPOO 89.5 FM, April 21, 2010
Smith, Nick, “How to pick art work for your home”, The View from the Bay, October 6, 2009
Gibala, Sharon, “Eyewitness News Weekend Morning,” Ch. 13 WJZ-TV, July 20, 2008
Harris, Patrice, “Fox 45 Morning News,” Fox Ch. 45 WBFF Baltimore, April 8, 2008
Ramos, Russell, “People Make the World Go Round,” blogtalkradio.com, April 7, 2008
Manning, George, “In the Tradition,” WEAA 88.9 FM, October 1 and 29, 2007
Mallory, Sandi, “Morning Wake-up,” WEAA 88.9 FM, October 5, 2007
 
SELECTED COMMUNITY SERVICE
2011     Co-founder of 3.9 Art Collective, San Francisco, CA
 
​