Draft:Rhiannon MacFadyen

Rhiannon Evans MacFadyen (she/they) is a visual artist and curator based in the Bay Area, California.

Early Life and Career
Rhiannon MacFadyen was born in San Francisco, California. She started out as a performer and creative consultant for a great deal of “folkloric performance companies” in the Bay Area, and also worked with multiple kindergartens, putting on art workshops in Palo Alto, California.

She then went on to work at The Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco for 11 years. Now, she is as a marketing director, a designer and brand consultant for artists and small businesses. Additionally, MacFadyen is an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco. As a curator, “Rhiannon’s curatorial focus is on projects that push boundaries of scale, scope, medium, venue, and dialogue.” MacFadyen also a part of the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District, an organization located in downtown San Francisco that houses 24 galleries and museums.

Exhibits
In 2013, she founded, and is the director of Black and White Projects. Black and White Projects, which was formerly known as ASC Projects, or A Simple Collective , is an exhibition program that houses both individual as well as group exhibits. Located in the Mission District, San Francisco, it frequently hosts exhibitions are open to the public.

An example of an exhibition MacFadyen curated was the Hiraeth: 3.9 Collective Searches for Home, at University of San Francisco's Thacher Gallery in 2015. This exhibit included MacFadyen’s own series (Don’t) Touch My Hair, which is a collection of wearable objects made of leather and human hair. The collection touches on the topic of hair and the subjugation of the Black female body. Drawing from her knowledge of historically African pieces, and her own cultural identity as a mixed race woman, she identifies (Don't) Touch My Hair as a piece that can be seen from two different viewpoints. The first point of view being “the wearer”, which would recognize the art display as a shield. The second point of view being “the viewer”, which would recognize the art display as a “fetish like character”.

In 2018, MacFadyen curated an exhibition called Great Worry, or Great Freedom at the Headlands Center for the Arts. This exhibition focused on themes of politics and the state of our environment, while honoring the indigenous land that communities are built on. Additionally in 2018, MacFadyen curated an exhibit titled What Nasty Women Wear , which focused on clothing and art, as well as featuring her own work (Don't) Touch My Hair.

More recent exhibitions she has curated include Bodies on the Line, at the Berkeley Art Center (2019). This exhibit focused on what it is like to be a woman of color in the 21st century. It included live performances as well as documentation of past performances including videos, photos, and objects.

In 2023, when MacFadyen returned to USF as an adjunct professor they countiued to curating at Thacher Gallery. They co-curated a show entitled "Offerings Somatic, the body as a substance of ritual," the exhibit featured Chris Evans, Evelyn Leder, Tossie Long, and Midori.

Awards
MacFadyen has received numerous awards and grants throughout her career. Notably, she has received the Emerging Arts Professionals Fellowship in 2014, Alternative Exposure Grant in 2016 , and CALI Catalyst in 2021 , presented by the Center for Cultural Innovation.