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Seeing Memory

Gallery Exhibition

Studio artists explore the images and mechanisms of memory

March 8 - April 26, 2007
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 8 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm

SAN FRANCISCO…From the echoing halls of Napa State Hospital to the serene rice paddies of the Philippines, Creativity Explored’s artists give creative expression to the places, people and moments they remember most in a new group show called “Seeing Memory.” The exhibition runs March 8th through April 26th and opens with a reception on March 8th 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.

“Seeing Memory” is the brainchild of guest curator Lawrence Rinder, Dean of the College, California College of the Arts. Rinder is well-known in the art world, having served as the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Curator of Contemporary Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art where he was chief curator of the 2002 Whitney Biennial. This is his first curatorial collaboration with Creativity Explored, but Rinder has been a fan for years and owns work by many of its artists. “I’m interested in good art,” he says. “And the artists here make good art consistently. They are clearly a very talented pool of people.”

The theme of memory was something that Rinder felt would evoke a range of responses amongst the artists. “I am interested in how artists interpret memory because I think memory is so much of the part of the way we see the world. Where we come from, who we have known, the experiences we have had color our experiences in the present,” he says. “I was intrigued to see how the artists of Creativity Explored might represent memory and felt sure they would bring some fresh insight into its images and mechanisms.”

Some of the most enduring memories for artist Camille Holvoet are of the time she spent at Napa State Hospital. Holvoet’s computer drawings of empty rooms in the hospital will be on display in the exhibit. Jeannette Rideau contributes a piece entitled “Dog Heaven,” that features drawings of Crickette, Twiggy, Henry, and Mr. T – her beloved pet dogs that have died. Peter Cordova remembers his childhood in the Philippines with intricate, stylized depictions of the countryside there. John Patrick McKenzie provides a blast from the past of American pop culture. In his distinctive handwriting, he has covered the hood of a 1967 VW bug with hundreds of names of old TV shows.

Some pieces in the exhibit deal with memory in more abstract terms. James Montgomery’s richly painted landscape of clock faces points to the relationship between time and memory. Gordon Chin sums it up with a simple watercolor that states “I forgot to remember.” Artists also participated in a series of workshops to practice drawing objects from memory, and many of these works will be included in the exhibit.

Calendar Listing

Seeing Memory

GROUP ART EXHIBITION AND OPENING: Creativity Explored studio artists explore the images and mechanisms of memory in a new exhibition guest curated by Lawrence Rinder, Dean of the College, California College of the Arts. Rinder is well-known in the art world, having served as the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Curator of Contemporary Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art where he was chief curator of the 2002 Whitney Biennial. Selected works in the show include Camille Holvoet’s computer drawing of an empty room inside Napa State Hospital, James Montgomery’s landscape of clock faces and the hood of a 1967 VW bug on which artist John Patrick McKenzie has written the names of hundreds of old TV shows. Gordon Chin sums it up with a simple watercolor that states “I forgot to remember.”

What

Seeing Memory – A group exhibition of paintings and drawings at San Francisco’s Creativity Explored guest curated by Lawrence Rinder, Dean of the College, California College of the Arts

When

• Opening Reception: Thursday, March 8, 2007 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm
• Exhibit Dates and Times: March 8 - April 26, 2007, 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 March 10, 2007