PULLMAN, Wash. – A nationally traveling exhibition of works by artists with developmental disabilities will be presented free to the public Jan. 23-April 5 at the Museum of Art/WSU. Hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday; open until 7 p.m. Thursday.
A free, public reception for “CREATE: Art by Artists Outside the Mainstream,” will be 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, in the museum gallery.
The exhibit is a selection of the most important works created over the past 20 years by artists involved with three pioneering nonprofit organizations: Creativity Explored, Creative Growth Art Center and the National Institute for Art and Disabilities Art Center.
“The artists featured in this exhibition – all of whom have some form of developmental disability – possess the talent, independence and depth of feeling that make the most powerful art possible,” said curator Lawrence Rinder, University of California Berkeley Art Museum.
The show has sparked critical dialogue about contemporary categories, especially the notion of “outsider art,” and has challenged audiences to rethink the limitations of such categories. Works by the artists can be found in the permanent collections of prominent institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Among the artists included are:
Judith Scott, whose visceral sculpture uses found materials wrapped in knotted yarn or string;
William Scott, whose humorous paintings incorporate sardonic urban motifs;
John Patrick McKenzie, whose lyrical work employs the repetition of text drawn from pop culture, current events and his immediate surroundings;
Evelyn Reyes, whose pastel drawings feature bold, minimalistic shapes;
and Dan Miller, whose intricate work includes drawings and paintings incorporating layered text.
Multiple threads come together in this exhibition: the experience of more than 100 exceptional works of art, the lives of 20 remarkable artists, the story of three pioneering art centers and the history of the disability movement itself.
Create is a traveling exhibition curated by Lawrence Rinder, with Matthew Higgs, and organized by the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and ICI (Independent Curators International), New York. The exhibition and the accompanying catalog were made possible, in part, by Dr. James B. Pick and Dr. Rosalyn M. Laudati, and the continued support of the BAM/PFA Trustees. Additional support for the tour is made possible in part by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and the ICI Board of Trustees.
Find more about the Museum of Art/WSU at http://museum.wsu.edu.
Contacts:
Debby Stinson, Museum of Art/WSU, 509-335-6282, debby_stinson@wsu.edu
Anna-Maria Shannon, Museum of Art/WSU, 509-335-6140, annamshannon@wsu.edu
