Creative Growth is thrilled to announce Creative! Growth!, an exhibition curated by Matthew Higgs and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center addressing nearly fifty years of the organization’s history and legacy through the lens of the present.
Creative! Growth!
May 21, 2022–May 19, 2023
Exhibition Celebration: May 21, 7–9pm
John Michael Kohler Arts Center
608 New York Ave, Sheboygan, WI
Visit jmkac.org for more information.
From John Michael Kohler Arts Center:
Creative! Growth! will be the first exhibition to consider the history of Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California.
Founded in 1974 by artist Florence Ludins-Katz (1912–1990) and her psychologist husband Elias Katz (1913–2008), Creative Growth emerged from the larger social, cultural, and political narratives associated with the Bay Area in the late 1960s and early 1970s—including the women’s, gay, and civil rights movements. The arts and disabilities movement, which championed the civil rights of disabled persons and fought against their marginalization in arts and culture, flourished during this era. The Katzes were among that movement’s most farsighted and committed advocates.
Creative! Growth! Is curated by Matthew Higgs and will consider the organization’s history and legacy through the lens of the present. Now approaching its fiftieth anniversary, Creative Growth is the preeminent center for artists with disabilities in the United States, and has, in turn, become a model for similar centers nationally and internationally. At Creative Growth, the Katzes established a unique and fiercely independent environment where disabled individuals are empowered to explore their creativity at their own pace.
The staff at Creative Growth, almost exclusively practicing artists, are not teachers in any conventional sense, as no formal instruction takes place. Rather, the staff members work alongside the artists with disabilities, introducing them to new materials and processes, offering practical and technical assistance where necessary, and supporting their idiosyncratic approaches to self-expression.
Creative! Growth! will consider the organization’s history and legacy through the lens of the present. There are a number of discrete solo presentations by key artists who were—or remain—affiliated with Creative Growth, including Judith Scott (1943–2005), Dwight Mackintosh (1906–1999), William Scott, Dan Miller, Monica Valentine, Tony Pedemonte, Nicole Storm, and John Martin. Photographer and documentary filmmaker Cheryl Dunn will present a selection from her twenty-plus-year archives documenting the artists at Creative Growth.
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