Cassandra Richardson

With an unyielding sunny disposition and standards of superlative customer service, Cassandra has spent the better part of the last two decades as a gallery director in San Francisco and as an art adviser on private yachts and luxury cruise ships worldwide. She has produced regional, national, and international exhibitions from progressive West Coast contemporary artists to the Great Masters: Picasso, Dali, Rembrandt, Goya, Erte, and the like. With a background in non-profit art-centric fundraising, she has curated exhibitions for Tipi Hedren, Bill Clinton, and George Lucas at Skywalker Ranch. In tandem with her first mentor, David Ferguson of the Institute For Unpopular Culture, Cassandra is known for her representation of Jean Michel Basquiat’s ’The Off’s First Record’, which premiered at Art Basel Miami in 2007.

Originally from Charlotte, Cassandra was a Country Day ‘lifer’ and graduated suma cum laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a triplicate degree in Art History, Fine Arts, and English Literature, later completing Sotheby’s Institute of Art curriculum, “Writing for the Contemporary Art World.“ Upon her return to the Queen City, she served as the Art Galleries Program Director at Central Piedmont Community College, during which time CPCC’s lauded Ross and Pease galleries won Charlotte Magazine’s 2015 “Best Art Galleries” award. Cassandra’s bold vision brought the mighty talent of Charles Williams, MyLoan Dinh & The Moving Poets, and Lee Baumgarten to headline CPCC’s Sensoria Festival of the Arts during her tenure at the college.

In 2018, Cassandra won an Arts & Science Council Cultural Vision Grant in tandem with beloved artist Monique Luck for their project, Evocation. The Evocation project explores the complexity of the human response to loss in its many forms. Over the course of 18 months and collaborative workshops involving hundreds of participants, Evocation began a dialogue to bring about healing through personal connection, and to shine tender light upon the shadows in which grief exists. A portion of proceeds of sales from the Evocation exhibition was donated to The Allegro Foundation, and the keynote original artwork was donated to the International House of Charlotte.

Born with a heart to serve and an ineffable passion for art, Cassandra is particularly inspired by the philanthropic mission of ANFA gallery. She is honored to be a part of the indelible mark on the community Anne Neilson makes by donating a portion of sales each month to a different local non-profit organization, making our community brighter for those less fortunate. Come visit and meet our new ray of sunshine, Cassandra—she looks forward to warmly welcoming you!