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Creativity Explored Celebrates the Art of Community Partnerships

Community Partners

This Month AvalonBay Communities, Recchiuti Confections, and CB2 Launch Partnership Projects with Creativity Explored

San Francisco, July 22, 2009—Creativity Explored has forged strong bonds with diverse businesses through strategic partnerships that enable it to reach new audiences for the art produced in its studios and to generate income for its artists and the organization. This month Creativity Explored celebrates with its community partners—Recchiuti Confections, CB2 (a Crate and Barrel enterprise), and AvalonBay Communities—the launch of products that feature images by Creativity Explored artists, and the installation of 15 works of art commissioned for a new apartment residence in Mission Bay, respectively. Creativity Explored is a nonprofit art center and gallery where artists with developmental disabilities create art for exhibition and for sale.

Says Amy Taub, Executive Director, “these partnerships are mutually beneficial in that while we gain broader exposure for our artists’ work and create revenue streams, our partners are able to extend their reach into the community by making socially conscious decisions when selecting art to enhance their products or premises. Through a nice synchronicity, all three of our partners are launching their new endeavors at about the same time.”

AvalonBay Communities
AvalonBay Communities, a leading Real Estate Investment Trust with multi-family apartment communities in high barrier-to-entry markets in the United States, commissioned 15 works of art for the public spaces in its new building, Avalon at Mission Bay III. The commission is the second collaboration between AvalonBay Communities and Creativity Explored and follows the purchase in 2006 of 95 works of art for its building Avalon at Mission Bay II. “We are pleased to team up again with AvalonBay and appreciate their continued support,” says Taub. The art acquisitions are part of the company’s effort to reach out to the community and support local causes while also enhancing its premises with lively, engaging original art. A number of the works of art at Avalon at Mission Bay III are centered on the theme of sustainable transportation, an important aspect of sustainable development and one of the company’s key objectives in the planning of its San Francisco residences. Others works were commissioned to highlight the talent, diversity of styles, and creative achievements of the artists, and some pieces were selected to complement the building’s unique architecture and interiors. The 260-unit building on King Street opened at the end of June.

Recchiuti Confections
Recchiuti Confections, a community partner with Creativity Explored since 2008, is launching its third line of Creativity Explored Artisan Chocolates in July. A boxed set of eight pieces of Recchiuti’s signature Burnt Caramel Chocolate features four bold and colorful abstractions by Creativity Explored artist Vincent Jackson. Says Jackson, “I call the designs elegant abstractions because anything can look elegant on a piece of Recchiuti chocolate.” Previous lines of Recchiuti Confections chocolates that were decorated with Creativity Explored images include a fanciful series of birds and botanical images, and a series of arresting and expressive portraits.

Describing how the partnership came about, chocolatier Michael Recchiuti, who has been dubbed the “Picasso” of the chocolate community by Gourmet Magazine, says, “for a long time we’d been interested in what goes on at Creativity Explored, and we liked the idea of being able to support the organization and combine our love of art with what we do in the chocolate business.” Known as a master chocolatier who creates confections with a unique flavor profile and an artistic flair, Recchiuti’s chocolates are as beautiful to look at as they are wonderful to taste. In turn, the colorful and distinctive designs by the Creativity Explored artists lend themselves to the aesthetics of the Recchiuti productions. In addition to creating exposure for Creativity Explored through the sale of the Artisan line of Chocolates at the Recchiuti Confections retail store in the Ferry Building Market (www.recchiuti.com), the company also makes a philanthropic donation of $2 to Creativity Explored from the sale of every box of chocolates in the line.

CB2
CB2 is also launching its Creativity Explored licensing product—its first, a tote bag in July. The tote features a whimsical design of colorful houses by artist Antonio Benjamin and will be available nationally in CB2 stores as well as in its catalogue and in its online store. Says Amy Taub, “this licensing agreement is a perfect pairing of a whimsical, animated work of art by a Creativity Explored artist and the sleek and modern product design of CB2. The national exposure is wonderful for us, and the product placement with a store of the scale of CB2 will produce a nice source of revenue for the artist.”

The licensing agreement developed from community outreach on the part of CB2 in the form of an invitation to Creativity Explored to host a benefit shopping evening in December 2008 in CB2’s new San Francisco store near Union Square. Another example of a mutually beneficial partnership, the association with Creativity Explored enabled CB2, a newcomer to the Bay Area, to extend its reach into the community while supporting a worthy arts organization. For the benefit shopping evening, Creativity Explored artists decorated and painted six of CB2’s classic white window chairs to create one-of-a-kind functional art objects. The chairs, which were auctioned during the evening, were a demonstration of the compatibility between Creativity Explored art and CB2’s product line and led to the subsequent licensing arrangement for the tote bag.

About Creativity Explored
Creativity Explored is committed to supporting people with developmental disabilities in becoming working artists, and to promoting their work as an emerging and increasingly important contribution to the professional art world. Creativity Explored provides work-space and materials in ongoing studio sessions facilitated by a team of professional artists who provide support and assistance to studio artists. Creativity Explored also operates a professional exhibitions program that promotes its studio artists’ work to a wide array of local, regional, national, and international exhibition venues including commercial galleries and corporate and public spaces.

Creativity Explored studio artists come from diverse backgrounds and bring with them a wide variety and range of experience, ability, and sensibilities. Some of the artists are twenty years old, while others are in their eighties. Some have lived lives of previous isolation or institutionalization, while others have lived their entire lives with their families in a supportive and accepting environment. Many of the studio artists speak different languages, or do not speak, and are unable to communicate with each other using spoken language. At Creativity Explored, visual art is a language everyone can use to share culture, experience, and feelings; uncensored self-expression is both encouraged and celebrated, and the result is art that is fresh, exciting, and innovative. Creativity Explored is located in the vibrant cultural and dining corridor that traverses San Francisco’s Noe Valley/Mission district.

Address

Creativity Explored Gallery, 3245 16th Street at Guerrero Street, San Francisco CA 94103 (Map)

Gallery Hours

• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 am to 3 pm;
  Thursday from 10 am to 7 pm; and Saturday from 1 pm to 6 pm.

Information

• (415) 863-2108
• www.creativityexplored.org

Admisison

*Free

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

Press Images

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Press Contacts

Barbara Traisman: publicity@creativityexplored.org
Amy Auerbach: (415) 863-2108 · gallery@creativityexplored.org
Amy Taub: (415) 863-2108 · director@creativityexplored.org

# Posted on July 23, 2009