Creative Growth is a beautiful thing. It is an art studio for intellectually disabled adults in Oakland operating since 1974.
It had, for a time, a sibling, Project Grow created by Natasha Wheat in Portland. That project lost its groove and the best people left. Creative Growth came on my radar by a story in ANP Quarterly. Creative Growth continues to thrive.
Self-taught artists in Portland galleries began with William Jamison and Jeffrey Thomas, continuing with Mark Woolley, Portland Museum of Modern Art and others. International online outlets are Juxtapoz and Raw Vision.
In the US, self-taught artists in galleries and museums was an art world response to the stock market-fueled art market in New York of the early 1980s. Art became an investment vehicle, rather than an individual emotional narrative viewer touchpoint. Collectors angered at the situation took control and brought self-taught artists like Howard Finster into the gallery world, and even the Venice Biennale.
Europe has a longer term interest expressed by museums like Collection de l'Art Brut, Art Brut Center Gugging and more.
Sometimes artists see things and express them in a way which never occurred to us. That is why we love them!
Ampersand hosts the art of Cedric Johnson tonight in a show Franklin, A Word Nobody Ever Seems to Say. He is a Creative Growth artist.
We are proud of Ampersand for doing.
At Ampersand Vintage Printed Material www.ampersandvintage.com 2916 NE Alberta, Ste B. Map 6PM-8 Free
