Opening Reception: Thursday, December 3, 2009
For over three decades, Creative Growth Art Center has played an important role in raising awareness of artists with developmental, physical, mental and emotional disabilities and promoting their work in the contemporary art world. Recently celebrating its 35th year, Creative Growth provides a professional art atmosphere to over 140 adult artists in a variety of media including fiber art, painting, ceramics, printmaking, drawing, and video animation. The Rena Bransten Gallery salutes Creative Growth and celebrates their artists in its exhibit, Chromatic: 35 Colorful Years of Creative Growth, using the theme of color to span the impressive history of the center.
Since its inception in 1974, Creative Growth has been the first and largest independent visual art center for adults with disabilities and has developed careers of an impressive number of artists within its walls. Included in this exhibition are 16 artists representing both the old guard and the next generation. Unique bodies of work include Daniel Miller’s obsessive renditions of script; Charles Nagle’s colorfully infused coiled pots; Aurie Ramirez’s watercolors of luscious scenery straight out of dreams, and Merrit Wallace’s narrative maps of other worlds. Works by artist Ray Vickers add another dynamic to the exhibition with his black and white drypoint etchings, accented with red ink marks; renowned artist Judith Scott’s handle on color is displayed with her soft, three-dimensional textile sculptural works. Other featured artists include Luis Aguilera, Olga Bielma, Terry Bowden, Gina Damerell, Dan Hamilton, Cedric Johnson, Dwight Mackintosh, Nelson Tygart, Ron Veasey, and Angela Villalobos.
Creative Growth Art Center presents eight exhibitions annually in its Oakland, CA space and additional shows at Galerie Impaire, its new space in Paris, France. Creative Growth studio artists have collaborated with Marc Jacobs New York and hundreds of contemporary artists; their works have been included in international exhibitions and appear in museum collections such as MoMA, New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This is the center’s second exhibition at the Rena Bransten Gallery.
Gallery hours are 10:30am to 5:30pm Tuesday through Friday and Saturdays 11:00am to 5:00pm. For more information, visit our website at www.renabranstengallery.com.
