Nate Mahoney is an artist, curator, and dedicated advocate for the arts community.
As the founder of Nate Mahoney Studio, a San Francisco-based interdisciplinary practice, he specializes in creating art events that foster artist community building and support local artists.
His initiatives, including pop-up exhibitions, artists’ dinners, gallery tours, and art retreats are built on the belief that art is a collaborative experience best shared with others.
An accomplished visual artist working primarily in photography and painting, Nate also brings a background in design research to his creative process.
He frequently partners with venues, curators, and non-profits to produce experiences ranging from curated retail spaces to large-scale art shows. Nate is committed to designing art events to further celebrate and support contemporary art.
“My approach to organizing art events is collaborative. I partner with non-profits, curators, local galleries, musicians, venues, and organizations like The Urbanist and to create experiences that span from art openings to curated retail spaces.” — Nate
Join us at my art events, bring a friend, and let’s come together to celebrate the art of our time.
More about my journey.
I grew up the son of a working class family where art was taken seriously. My mother, a first generation college graduate and art teacher, found The Evergreen State College for me when I was in high school. She saw something in me the conventional world was not yet ready to name. Evergreen changed everything for me.
After Evergreen, I was interested in experimental filmmaking and received a MFA in Cinema and Photography from Southern Illinois University.
I came to the Bay Area in 2003 and San Francisco in 2006 for graduate school at California College of the Arts. My MFA thesis was a video installation projected on the window of Harvey Milk’s former camera store on Castro Street. Gus Van Sant was filming MILK on that same block. I was surrounded by important community history and did not yet fully know what I was building toward.
I took design research jobs because I needed to survive in a place I loved and I was good at the work. The Bay Area absorbed design research into tech and I reluctantly went with it. For years I worked on projects that did not satisfy my artistic needs.
I went back to what I have always been.
Nate Mahoney Studio is what that looks like. An artist and curator building intimate experiences where art, community, and culture come alive.
First, I came out as gay in San Francisco, then I came out as an artist in this city. Neither was easy. Neither was optional.
I’m finally finding my way back to the arts by bringing people together.
San Francisco, California 2026.