Press

2006 San Francisco Notables

Benefit Event

Celebrities, community leaders and colorful characters from the City by the Bay strike a pose to benefit Creativity Explored

SAN FRANCISCO…Creativity Explored’s celebrity portrait auction and fundraiser returns for a second year with a whole new cast of San Francisco Notables! The place to be on March 30, 2006 from 7:00 to 10:00 pm will be the 111 Minna Gallery where San Francisco’s finest will all be hanging out…on the walls, that is. The inimitable artists of Creativity Explored have created one-of-a-kind portraits of more than 40 notable San Franciscans which will be sold through a silent auction that night to benefit this extraordinary visual arts center for adults with developmental disabilities. Tickets are $50.

Creativity Explored’s Wall of Fame includes many of the celebrities, community leaders and colorful characters that give San Francisco and the Bay Area its unique reputation for tolerance, innovation and eccentricity. Participating luminaries include politicos Mark Leno, Kamala Harris and Mayor Gavin Newsom; Star Wars’ own George Lucas; renowned singer/songwriter Neil Young; writers Amy Tan and Joyce Maynard; KQED radio host Michael Krasny; choreographers Michael Smuin and Robert Moses; painter Wayne Thiebaud; Glide Memorial’s Rev. Cecil Williams and wife and Poet Laureate Janice Mirikitani; Warriors legend Nate Thurmond; the Chronicle’s own Leah Garchik; Bad Reporter Don Asmussen; activist sex workers Scarlot Harlot and Margo St. James; comics Will Durst and Marga Gomez; Burning Man founder Larry Harvey; local diva Paula West; the San Francisco Foundation’s Sandra Hernandez; movie critic Jan Wahl; musicians Henry Kaiser, John Vanderslice and Matmos; gallery owner Paule Anglim; CCA dean and curator Lawrence Rinder; racehorse Lost in the Fog and owner Harry Aleo; reigning queens of drag Putanesca, Marlena and Heklina and many, many more.

As part of the evening’s entertainment, a very special surprise guest will make an appearance on the stage.

Director Amy Taub is looking forward to this second annual event. “This was really a fun evening last year,” she says. “And what was particularly wonderful were the lovely interactions between the many notables that came out to see and bid on their portraits and the artists from our studio that did the work. The really enjoyed meeting each other, and I think everyone left feeling really jazzed about the incrediblely diverse and unique personalities in our city.”

Several of the city’s hip restaurants will provide the food for this one-of-a-kind event including 2223 Restaurant, Blowfish Sushi to Die For, Universal Café, Platanos Café y Cocina Rustica, Tangerine, Soluna, Joseph Schmidt Confections, Asqew Grill and Columbus Salami. Wine is being donated by several area wineries.

Creativity Explored is a nonprofit visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit, and sell art.

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Press Contacts

Nina Sazevich: (415) 752-2483
Amy Taub: (415) 863-2108

# Posted on January 27, 2006