SaveArtSpace has partnered with NIAD Art Center, Creative Growth, and Creativity Explored to bring more public art to the San Francisco Bay Area! These three organizations provide professional studio environments and representation for artists with disabilities in the Bay Area. Public art exhibition curated by Julie Swartout / Creative Growth, Joseph “JD” Green / Creativity Explored, and Dorian “Dorrie” Reid / NIAD Art Center. Selected artists are Mae Charles, Felipe Colina, Casey Byrnes, Julie Swartout, Scott MacLeod, Deirdre Weinberg, Joseph "JD" Green, Gerald Wiggins, Michael Elowson, Shannon White, Julio Del Rio, and Felicia Griffin.

During the week of July 20th, SaveArtSpace will launch public art installations for each selected artist artwork on billboard ad spaces throughout the Bay Area. These locations will be on view for at least one month.

Participating Organizations

Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a progressive message of social change. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.

Creative Growth Art Center is a non-profit based in Oakland, California that serves artists with disabilities by providing a professional studio environment for artistic development, gallery exhibition, and representation.

Founded in 1974, Creative Growth is a leader in the field of arts and disabilities, establishing a model for a creative community guided by the principle that art is fundamental to human expression and that all people are entitled to its tools of communication.

From the first day Creative Growth started in the East Bay home of Elias Katz and Florence Ludins-Katz, the vision was clear. Art would be the path forward for people with disabilities to express themselves and a professional gallery would exhibit their work.

The Creative Growth Studio is home to over 150 artists who work in a variety of media. Facilitated by professional artists, the studio provides artistic support, high-quality materials, and space for painting, drawing, ceramics, wood working, fiber arts, printmaking, and digital media. The studio is an open space, converted 12,000 square foot former auto repair shop.

Creativity Explored is San Francisco’s premier nonprofit art studio and gallery for artists with developmental disabilities.

Over 36 years, CE has facilitated the careers of hundreds of artists with developmental disabilities by offering space, support, and representation. The organization establishes these artists’ work as an emerging and increasingly important contribution to the contemporary art world. CE artists have seen their work exhibited in museums and galleries in 14 countries, and have earned nearly $2 million from their art. Each year, over 10,000 people visit its studios in the Mission District, which are often described as energizing, magical, and joyful.

Today, CE artists serve on the organization’s staff, create alongside artists of all abilities in local art studios, and teach the public. In 2018, CE was recognized as a San Francisco Legacy Business. In 2019, CE was included on the 5th Annual YBCA 100 list and voted Best Nonprofit for the SF Bay Guardian’s Best of the Bay Awards.

NIAD Art Center was founded in 1982 by Florence Ludins-Katz and Dr. Elias Katz who strongly believed that creative expression is inherent in all people, even those with disabilities. Because of their experience in teaching and directing, they advocated for the current model of combined studio and galleries through several publications, Art & Disabilities and Freedom to Create as well as organizing national traveling exhibitions of the artists’ work from the centers. Through conferences, publications and advocacy, they promoted the combination studio/gallery model and working within the community to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.

As our artists paint, build sculpture, mold clay, or work with textiles, their skills of observation and project management improve. As they explore and express their creativity, exhibit work in contemporary galleries, participate in the community, and earn money from selling art, their feelings of independence and self-esteem increase. Each piece of NIAD art is an original work of contemporary art that tells an individual story from the perspective of an artist with disabilities.

Selected Artists

Location: 23rd St & Barrett Ave, Richmond

Scott MacLeod has been living and making work in the Bay Area since 1976. He’s always wondered just who the spaceships would talk to if they do ever get here.

You can connect with Scott on Instagram at @seriousprojects.

Location: Masonic Ave & Fulton St, San Francisco

Deirdre Weinberg is a painter and printmaker with long ties to the San Francisco Bay Area. I have spent much of my artistic life in the public realm, painting murals with Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center and independently, in other areas of the country as well as overseas. I have also painted and engaged in printmaking and have had numerous shows in the Bay Area and find that political subjects, ideas and conflicts are present in much of my work. I am always striving to create community with my works, whether it is in an active way, at the generation and execution of an idea or as a viewer of the work. I want to make a connection with the viewer, to bring another point of view, to add challenge or question to consider, to start a conversation.

In my more than twenty-five years of organizing, designing and painting public art works, my major interest has been to involve local people from all walks of life in every aspect of each project. I believe that each person in their life and their community has something to contribute to the way we all see and understand the world. The public art projects I have organized include murals on public buildings, in playgrounds, in elementary and high schools and on senior centers. My belief is that all participants in these projects, sometimes a few, sometimes dozens, of amateur artists, children and adults, emerge with a feeling of pride and accomplishment, and increased connection to their community. I know that these artworks enrich each community with color, imagination, history and a sense of being a special place. I believe that public art reflects the soul of a place. It provides a critical outlet for its unheard or silenced rhythms, vibes and voices. I strive to make my artwork, public and private, a reflecting pool, a table of nourishment for thought, action, and truth, and a progressive force in recognizing and conveying a truth. This is my passion, reasoning and philosophical approach to art - it is the highest form of communication I aspire to.

You can connect with Deirdre on Instagram at @dwei100.

Location: Telegraph Av & 30th St, Oakland, CA

Mae Charles work explores the spectrum of the conscious and unconscious, where sensory-emotive and symbolic material resides. The journey is one where the intersection of the personal and the quotidian collective in conjunction with the environment are communicated. I combine my personal experience and observations with the use of acrylic, oil, wax, and other mediums to process, layer, erode, and discover expressions of what it is to be human in a complex world. I desire to evoke in viewers emotion and sensation, aspiring to promote a sense of connection to self, others, and the environment.

Original works are for sale.

You can connect with Mae on Instagram at @maecharlesart.

Location: 7th Ave & Franklin St, Oakland

Felipe Colina artist statement is to bring a bit of beauty to the world by understanding and depicting modern life as it reflects our past and unfolds our future. To understand the gestures of modernity, the garments, the way cities are shaped, the mysterious play of the metaphysical forces that create our ideas that eventually become plans, investments and realities. Art is the product of the human spirit and I seek to produce that and evolve from the painting of canvases to the structuring of societies.   

No more irony.

No supreme intellectual brain.

I want a feeling.

Feeling driven by emotion.

Not chaos, not confusion.

But passion. Pure human feeling

Love at its extreme, passion, fear.

Gestures. Nothing contrived.

Like a great dance. Nothing contrived.

I can feel it. My intuition tells me

that the Zeitgeist that comes

is one of intuition.

The spirit of the age will be passion, cooperation, emotion.

At first perhaps muted.

But alas, comes rushing like when water breaks the dam.

Pitter patter quickly down

Rush, rush, rush into the pause of your pause

Watch Video of the Painting being Made at Coit Tower

You can connect with Felipe on Instagram at @felipegcolina.

Location: Broadway & 14th St, Oakland

Casey Byrnes is a skilled multi-media artist, creating fantastical pieces that draw on myriad techniques, from textiles to wood sculpture. When he first began at Creative Growth, Casey dabbled in painting and drawing, displaying impressive range in both spare compositions and more nature-inspired watercolors. Since then, his affinity for wilderness and its inhabitants has manifested in large-scale objets d’art, like wooden bears and a triumphant stuffed deer (which he affectionately calls, “a pillow of fawn”). Working independently, Casey continues to engage with the new and tactile and his latest work carries forth this sense of bold experimentation and reinvention. For instance, a hand-woven weaving ends with an unexpected flourish of peacock feathers and strips of recycled denim that intertwined to form a complex array of knots.

You can connect with Casey on Instagram at @creativegrowth.

Location: 16th St & Valencia St, San Francisco

When Gerald Wiggins (b. 1968) makes art, he is "not necessarily trying to say something to people. I'm just trying to make them happy, because there is not enough happiness." Wiggins’ depictions of human figures, animal life, and fantastical creatures are stunningly accomplished. Working with colored pencil, marker, graphite, and watercolor, as well as with digital printmaking software, Wiggins' drawings are uncluttered and precise and use a spare, controlled line and careful coloring to convey detail. Wiggins also creates ceramic sculptures, from frightening vampiric characters to a rotating cast of life-like city dwellers he calls "the crew." 

Occasionally, key portions of a figure or natural element are left unfinished, or isolated parts are collected together in a single piece; these techniques add visual playfulness to his style. “I like the feeling of making something in your head that doesn’t exist," Wiggins says, "to make it real.” 

Wiggins joined the Creativity Explored studio in 2008. He co-curated Shoerageous in 2014, an exhibition featuring shoes in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Learn more about Wiggins in this video, which debuted at Art Changes Lives 2017. 

You can connect with Gerald on Instagram at @creativityexplored.

Location: Telegraph Av & W MacArthur Blvd, Oakland

Michael Elowson is a self-taught digital artist based in Oakland, CA. Years of photography, a vivid imagination, and just the right amount of boredom led to a strong desire to do and see more with his images. In 2013 he began honing his craft, mixing and mashing his photos to draw out deeper meaning and new symbolism.

Creating under the pseudonym False Idols, his work is a mix of psychedelia, surrealism, and pop art, with his photography typically serving as source material. His images range from the completely abstract to distorted or dreamlike takes on everyday life, often integrating shadowy imagery with vivid colors. They often purvey a sense of imbalance or a lack of control, enforcing the tenuous grip we all have on reality."

You can connect with Michael on Instagram at @false.idols.art.

Location: San Pablo Ave & Garvin Ave, Richmond

Shannon White journey into art came to me rather late in life. In the year of 2017 I was Forever Changed. I lost my mother and that loss was and is still so strong. Grief is fluid and takes on multiple shapes and layers as does art.

Art began as a means to cope. It has since grown and flourished into a passion. I have tried many new artistic avenues but I most enjoy fluid abstract art. Each layer and motif is unpredictable and is always new and invigorating.

You can connect with Shannon on Instagram at @foreverchangedart.

Location: San Pablo Ave & Garvin Ave, Richmond

Julio Del Rio assembled a small militia of powerful and strange, sometimes humanoid, ceramics figures (frequently seen on paper or canvas as well). Some are based on modern and post-modern sculptures by the likes of Jeff Koons or Georg Condo. Many of the figures sport a skin etched with text or symbols, creating a connection back in time with the terracotta warriors of ancient China. But, unlike the uniform drabness of the funerary sculptures, Del Rio’s pieces are glazed in burst of colors.

You can connect with Julio on Instagram at @niadartcenter.

Location: Blume Dr & Klose Way, Richmond

Felicia Griffin began creating at NIAD at age 22 in 1985. Proficient and prolific in numerous art mediums — from printmaking to painting to sculpture — her work uses an economy of materials, while featuring a rhythm and vibrancy all her own.

You can connect with Felicia on Instagram at @niadartcenter.

Curators

Location: Grand Ave & Harrison St, Oakland, CA

Julie Swartout / Creative Growth

What Julie had to say about here selection:

"The two I am thinking of so far are about the first time I visited one of my favorite cities. They remind me of soothing emotions/thoughts/ feelings/ realizations I felt in my inner-self. I had these thoughts and realizations while settling in the first couple of days/nights, while vacationing in Copenhagen, Denmark. These realizations about being in a new country and city were really soothing. The city and country seemed great, like nothing could hurt me, and I just felt so safe, comfortable. I enjoyed experiencing a new country and city.   One reason I think I felt safe was, they are so Eco-Friendly over in Copenhagen, Denmark. Riding bicycles are so popular. I haven’t ridden a bike in Copenhagen, Denmark, yet. I hope to one day. These are like an abstract version of my inner-self emotions, about vacationing in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the first time."

Location: Mission St & 14th St, San Francisco

Joseph “JD” Green Creativity Explored

(b. 1993, San Francisco) work demonstrates an eye for detail combined with a penchant for quick handwork. His process involves creating preliminary sketches from source imagery found online or in his imagination, sometimes combining these into a new composition, before creating a final version. His chosen disciplines are printmaking, drawing, painting, and ceramics. For Green, art-making is an opportunity to relax, to explore his own imagination, and to engage others in conversation about what he is creating. 

After joining the Creativity Explored studio in 2012, Green co-curated Shoerageous in 2014, an exhibition featuring shoes in all colors, shapes, and sizes. CB2 selected Green's artwork to adorn a pillow in 2015. Learn more about Green in this video, which debuted at Art Changes Lives 2017. 

Dorian “Dorrie” Reid NIAD Art Center

Born 1957 Richmond, California. Dorrie first started making at NIAD in 2003. Growing up in the Bay Area, Dorrie Reid was first introduced to art-making early on in school, primarily through drawing. Reid currently attends NIAD’s studio three days a week, where she has worked across a wide range of media over the past two decades. Recurring themes for Reid are significant seasons and times of year, as well as numerous iterations of the Black Panther slogan “All Power to the People,” realized as text-based prints, drawings, and elaborate quilts.

Drawing inspiration from diverse interests – including animals and the environment, identity, family history, and civil rights activism, Dorrie Reid’s disarming works reflect a joyful approach to art-making. Endlessly imaginative, her artistic practice becomes a natural extension of memory and personal experience.