Press

Sacred Places

Gallery Exhibition

Artists with developmental disabilities from San Francisco’s Creativity Explored
investigate sacred places in a new exhibition

May 4 – June 15, 2006
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 4 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm

SAN FRANCISCO…From the Australian desert to the Baptist Church, artists with developmental disabilities from San Francisco’s Creativity Explored investigate sacred places in a new exhibition of paintings, drawings, handcrafted shrines, and sculpture. The exhibition runs May 4th through June 15th and opens with a reception on May 4th from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The gallery is regularly open Monday through Friday 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, and Saturday from 1:00 to 6:00 pm. All artwork is available for purchase through the gallery.

The idea for the show seemed like a natural for the artists. “Belief and faith are an important element of many of these artists’ lives,” says instructor Paul Moshhamer. “Several of them got very fired up about the theme.” As a result of this enthusiasm, the artists are curating the exhibition – a first for the gallery. Vincent Jackson is taking the task very much to heart. “I don’t want people to walk in here and see any old thing,” he says. “So I’m thinking about nice places to put things. It’s going to be the talk of the town.”

Jackson, a practicing Baptist, contributes several boldly outlined paintings of churches to the exhibit. Artist Larry Cather spends every Sunday at his local church, playing the guitar during the service and enjoying coffee and bagels in the community hall afterwards. His painting pays homage to this Sunday ritual – the little, delicately drawn church almost dwarfed by an enormous coffee cup on the roof of the building next door.

And while the show is replete with stained glass and virgins, some artists in the studio used this as an opportunity to explore new territory. Artist Kelly Clark crafted a glittering seated Buddha and a large shadowbox Buddhist shrine full of niches and dangling abstract shapes. “It’s Buddha on a space trip,” she says of her elaborate creation. “I wanted to make the story interesting – a little different from history.” Artist Ricardo Estella also went this route with a ceramic sculpture of a very voluptuous, blue Hindu goddess with four faces.

For artist Walter Kresnik, ‘sacred’ is in the landscape. In a lovely watercolor of the Australian desert, Walter penned a thought into the sky. “As it was done in dreams so it must be done today.”

Other items include a dresser painstakingly covered with paintings of miniature churches by artist Paul Gee, Abel Pineda’s poetic renderings of village churches in Mexico, and portraits by numerous artists of everyone from Ganesha to Jesus.

The exhibition opens with a reception on May 4. Jackson promises it will be a regular revival. “We’re gonna have some footstompin’,” he says. “We’ll get some tambourines and shake them and drive the demons out of here. It’s gonna be a hoot.”

Calendar

Sacred Places

GROUP ART EXHIBITION AND OPENING: From the Australian desert to the Baptist Church, artists with developmental disabilities from San Francisco’s Creativity Explored investigate sacred places in a new exhibition of paintings, drawings, handcrafted shrines and sculpture. Pieces include a dresser painstakingly covered with paintings of miniature churches by artist Paul Gee, Abel Pineda’s poetic renderings of village churches in Mexico, and portraits by numerous artists of everyone from Ganesha to Jesus. Artist Kelly Clark contributes a large shadowbox Buddhist shrine that, in the words of the artist, depicts “Buddha on a space trip.” And Ricardo Estella also looks to the East with a ceramic sculpture of a very voluptuous, blue Hindu goddess with four faces.

What

Sacred Places – A group exhibition of paintings, drawings, handcrafted shrines and sculpture by artists with developmental disabilities at San Francisco’s Creativity Explored

When

• Opening Reception: Thursday, May 4, 2006 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm
• Exhibit Dates and Times: May 4 – June 15, 2006, Monday through Friday 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, Saturday 1:00 to 6:00 pm

Where

Creativity Explored Gallery
3245 Sixteenth St. at Guerrero, San Francisco

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

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# Posted on April 10, 2006