If “Creative Growth: The House That Art Built” isn’t already in a “Top-10 must-see SF art exhibitions of 2024” list, it certainly will be.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exhibition on view through Oct. 6 features work by 11 veteran Bay Area contemporary artists from Creative Growth, a five decades-strong art center for developmentally disabled individuals.
“We are both honored and humbled to partner with Creative Growth Art Center in this historic moment and present an exhibition that displays the staggering breadth of skill, vibrancy and imagination emerging from Creative Growth artists,” said Christopher Bedford, Helen and Charles Schwab Director of SFMOMA.
Corresponding with Creative Growth’s 50th anniversary, “The House That Art Built” showcases the depth of CG artists working in a variety of media.
“Art is an opportunity for people to see the richness of the culture of disability that people can bring to the world,” says Creative Growth Director Emeritus Tom di Maria.
Di Maria, the nonprofit’s executive director for about 25 years, has seen progress in how the public views neurodivergences and developmental differences.
“If you’re raising children with [a] disability 25, 30, 40 years ago, it’s gone from ‘The child has to be institutionalized’ to ‘This child can have their work in a contemporary art museum.’ And I think that’s been a phenomenal shift,” says di Maria.
“I would hope, and like to think, that the work that Creative Growth has done has really advanced the acceptance of people with autism and people with developmental disabilities into society,” he adds.
Bedford and an executive team visited Creative Growth shortly after his appointment as SFMOMA director in 2022, touring the art center’s 12,000-square foot studio and gallery space.
Says di Maria, “When Chris was leaving with his team, he said, ‘Well, if we did a significant partnership with you, what would it look like?’ And I was a little taken aback—in a good way.”
Di Maria’s chat with Bedford resulted in the museum’s acquisition of over 100 works by Creative Growth artists for the permanent collection and a plan for a three-year event series including two exhibitions, a disability-focused symposium and a gala and fashion show featuring original designs by Creative Growth artists.
“This effort closely aligns with SFMOMA’s vision to engage a more diverse range of artists and audiences, and our ongoing work to make the museum more accessible. There is much work ahead and we could not be more grateful for Creative Growth for taking this monumental step with us,” said Bedford.
SFMOMA’s curatorial team visited Creative Grown eight times to choose the works in “The House That Art Built.”
The final selection encompasses a range of Creative Growth artists and work, nodding to the history of the art and disability movement in the Bay Area and of Creative Growth, which was founded in 1974 by Elias Katz and Florence Ludins-Katz.
“The House That Art Built” includes pieces from John Martin, known for ceramics, drawings and woodwork; Susan Janow, whose self-reflective multimedia work includes short films; and William Scott, whose paintings feature self-portraits, Black creatives and changemakers, and equity-inspired depictions of San Francisco. Martin, Janow and Scott have practiced their art at Creative Growth since 1987, 2003 and 1992, respectively.
Says di Maria, “It’s important to us for people to understand that the Creative Growth artists work here for their lives. It’s a profession, and they work in a way that’s deep—they’re not people who make one artwork and go home and that’s it.”
Today, more than 140 Creative Growth artists produce works that appear on wine labels, apparel and skateboards, and in galleries and centers in the U.S. and abroad.
Scott has been featured in exhibitions in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and Sweden. Janow’s work is in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum and the Centre Pompidou. In 2014, Facebook invited Martin to create an installation at its Palo Alto campus.
Dan Miller, a CG artist and the first autistic individual to have his work purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, is also featured in the SFMOMA exhibition.
“To think that that had never happened before. Now you go to art fairs or museums, and you can find again and again that there’s a greater interest in work by artists with autism or developmental disabilities,” says di Maria.
Creative Growth artists are providing examples of what’s possible.
“Families come here with children or young adult children on the spectrum, and they get to see Dan and other artists here as role models. [They say], ‘My child knows this artist’s work’ or ‘He’s someone that we aspire to,’ or they comment, ‘There’s hope’ and ‘This is an opportunity.’”
Adds di Maria, “I’d like to think that art is a great equalizer, and it forms a common language between us all.”
“Creative Growth: The House That Art Built” runs through Oct. 6 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 Third St., San Francisco. Admission is $23-$30; free for ages 18 and under. Visit sfmoma.org.