Creativity Explored in San Francisco's Mission District will exhibit contemporary interpretations of El Dia De Los Muertos.

Opening October 10, Creativity Explored in San Francisco's Mission District will exhibit contemporary interpretations of El Dia De Los Muertos.

San Francisco’s Calacas: Day of the Dead, Creativity Explored’s sixth and final exhibit of its 30th anniversary year, focuses on the artwork of more than 20 Creativity Explored studio artists and their contemporary connection to the globally-celebrated holiday of El Dia De Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead).

While El Dia De Los Muertos traditionally is a time to pay tribute to deceased relatives and friends, Calacas (a Mexican colloquialism for “skeletons” or “bones”) reinterprets the holiday, as seen through the eyes of Creativity Explored artists in their Mission District neighborhood.

Co-curated by renowned Salvadoran-born artist and Visual Arts Instructor Victor Cartagena and studio volunteer Samantha Hovey, this exhibition focuses on how the community of San Francisco has transformed the holiday into something unique and of ongoing cultural significance to the life of the city.

Each Creativity Explored artist has worked diligently in creating artwork that represents his/her own interpretation and understanding of El Dia de los Muertos, revealing individual, personal and spiritual perspectives. Be sure to experience this intriguing seasonal exhibit, the latest addition to San Francisco’s many Day of the Dead festivities.

Curated by Victor Cartagena with Samantha Hovey.
Creativity Explored. 3245 16th Street (at Guerrero Street)
Opening Reception

Thursday, October 10, 2013

7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Music by Fogo Na Roupa plus roving accordian performances by Heidi Hubrich Seretan.
Donor Preview*

6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m
.
*To become a donor, click here.

Creativity Explored’s 30th Anniversary exhibitions are supported by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. Creativity Explored advances the value and diversity of artistic expression. They provide artists with developmental disabilities the means to create, exhibit, and sell their art in the studios and gallery, and around the world.

'Introductions' at Creativity Explored, 'West of Center' at Mills College Art Center

 Marcus McClure, Watermarks. 

"Introductions" at Creativity Explored presents recent work by four young studio artists who represent a range of artistic styles, perspectives and subject matter in its new summer exhibition.

Kate Thompson, 24, expresses her vision in exquisitely detailed scenes using pen and ink on paper, one of which is licensed to the contemporary home furnishings store CB2 for an upcoming pillow design.

Marcus McClure, 29, creates exuberant layered abstracts in mixed media using predominantly circular and other geometric forms; CB2 also selected two of McClure’s works as the basis for past rug designs. 

Steven Liu. Cyclists.

With black marker on canvas, Steven Liu, 24, fluidly renders intricate scenes with people– all elaborately detailed and in a state of motion, reflecting his own active physical nature.

Keenan Dietiker, 23, specializes in abstract landscapes using mixed media on paper.

The four artists have all attended Creativity Explored for at least one year, and are still evolving in their practice.  “Each of these young artists incorporates a unique vision, approach and technique,” says Gallery Manager Amy Auerbach, co-curator of the exhibit. “We felt their combined pieces offer an intriguing spectrum of work, from very abstract to intricately rendered,” adds Gallery Assistant and co-curator, Janessa Post.

Since its inception 30 years ago, Creativity Explored’s innovative and respected programs, structure, and culture have served as an organizational model worldwide in the field of art and disability. Creativity Explored provides artists with developmental disabilities the means to create, exhibit, and sell their art in their studios and gallery, and around the world.

Through August 7.  3245 Sixteenth Street (at Guerrero), San Francisco, CA 94103, http://www.creativityexplored.org/

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, artists living in the American West produced an incredible amount of beautiful, innovative, and far-out artwork. Now, Oakland’s Mills College Art Museum is hosting a retrospective of art from that place and era. Dubbed "West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965-1977, " the exhibition features drawings, videos, and photographs from that time period’s counter cultural movement, with artists like the Ant Farm Collective, Anna Halprin, and Single Wing Turquoise Bird.

"West of Center" illuminates the unique works of these individuals through videos, photographs, drawings, ephemera, and other original and re-created objects and environments.

through September 1, 5000 MacArthur Boulevard. http://mcam.mills.edu/

http://www.examiner.com/list/introductions-at-creativity-explored-west-of-center-at-mills

Parallel Visions at Creativity Explored

 You Are Unemptiable by Louis DeMarco © 2010 Project Onward

Parallel Visions, the latest exhibition at Creativity Explored Gallery, shows work by artists from five different arts and disability organizations in conversation with work made by selected artists at Creativity Explored. The resonance felt between these artists, working in disparate studios across the globe, is uncanny and inspiring.

This show assembles a group of artists who emphasize drawing processes and repetitive mark making to create their work. A range of artwork is on view, though three distinct themes emerge: abstract works; figurative ink drawings; and, work comprised of poetic text and number systems.

More at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/parallel-visions-at-creativity-explored?CID=examiner_alerts_article