Pinole Artisans Presents our next Art Salon featuring Rena Tom - September 11, 2026
Rena's Bio:
Rena Tom is an artist, writer, and independent curator based in Berkeley, CA who works across photography, prints, textiles, zines, and installation. She is interested in issues around visibility, privacy, and identity that arise within public spaces. This is spurred by feelings of discomfort on multiple levels: as Chinese American and a ‘perpetual foreigner’, and as an unwilling participant in surveillance culture.
The conceptual nature of Rena's research is anchored by the intimate, embodied aspects of craft. She often turns to found imagery or manufactured goods for inspiration, transforming them through weaving, folding, or layering to create work that questions perception and reframes everyday experience. Beyond the studio, she runs the micro-publishing project Not Great, Not Terrible, volunteers with radical publishing Risograph shop Reprographixxx, and produces large-scale participatory art installations plus the occasional pirate radio broadcast. She holds an MA in Critical Craft Studies from Warren Wilson College and degrees in English and Mechanical Engineering from UC Santa Barbara.
To see more of her work, please see https://renatom.net/ or her Instagram!
About our Monthly Art Salons
Join us at El Sobrante United Methodist Church in the Keisler Room at 7:00 PM. You can find this at the address: 5151 Argyle Road, El Sobrante. After parking, proceed up the ramp to the left. Our monthly Art Salons are free and open to the public, everyone is welcome! We're eager to see your artwork, so feel free to bring any type of art, regardless of your experience or skill level. Creativity in all its forms is celebrated here. Sharing your work is encouraged but not mandatory. Enjoy refreshments and an engaging program with us!
