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 by bringing people together around art.
San Francisco, California 2026.