Cantor Art Gallery to Showcase 'Create'; 135 Works by Artists with Disabilities

The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross will exhibit artwork produced over the last 20 years at the leading centers for artists with disabilities in the U.S. The exhibition, titled “Create,” honors the history of three pioneering arts programs in California and celebrates the talent of the remarkable individuals whose work is featured. The exhibit will be presented in two installments: Aug. 29 – Oct. 6 and Oct. 22 – Dec. 8, 2012.

San Francisco’s Creativity Explored, Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center, and Richmond’s National Institute for Art and Disabilities Art Center (NIAD) were founded by Florence Ludins-Katz, an artist and educator, and Elias Katz, a psychiatrist, who developed each of these programs beginning in the 1970s. Their methodology, progressive in its approach, combined access to group studio practice and professional work practices, and gave the artists an avenue to be included in the broader arts community. Today, individuals who are involved with these programs continue to produce artwork for exhibition and sale, visit galleries and museums regularly, and have access to artist mentors who assist them with developing methods and technical skills.

Work created by individuals engaged in these communities defies the stereotype of what art created by people with disabilities should look like. Lawrence Rinder, co-curator of the exhibition and director of the Berkeley Museum of Art and Pacific Film Archive (BMA/PFA)at the University of California has stated, “The artists featured in this exhibition—all of whom have some form of developmental disability—possess the talent, independence, and depth of feeling that makes the most powerful art possible.”

Matthew Higgs, director of White Columns, the oldest alternative art space in New York, is also co-curator of the exhibition.

Due to its scope—more than 135 works by 20 artists will be shown—the exhibition will take place in two installments over the course of the fall semester at Holy Cross. Organized by Independent Curators International (ICI), this is the first stop on a national tour, and the first time the exhibit has traveled to the Northeast. “I know the importance of this work because of my experience curating a show with many of these same artists more than 20 years ago when I was working at UC Davis,” says Roger Hankins, director of the Cantor Art Gallery. “Bringing this work to campus was something I was committed to doing.”

ICI, an organization based in New York, was established in 1975 and is dedicated to acting as a conduit for emerging ideas and collaborations in the contemporary art world. In that same spirit, the Cantor Art Gallery will work with local agencies that serve individuals with challenges, including the Seven Hills Foundation, to provide inclusive programming. Curators Lawrence Rinder and Matthew Higgs will speak at the Hogan Campus Center on Wednesday, Oct. 3.

“We’re hoping to engage as many visitors as possible—people with and without disabilities, contemporary art experts and enthusiasts, those interested in the disability movement, as well as individuals who simply want to experience the ability of art to empower, enlighten, and engage us all,” says Hankins.

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.

About the Curators

Lawrence Rinder is the director of the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, having previously held the positions of dean of the California College of the Arts and contemporary art curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He is also a writer of art criticism, poetry, drama and fiction.

Matthew Higgs is the director/chief curator of White Columns, New York. From 2001-04 he was curator at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco. Prior to his position at the Wattis Institute, he was an associate director of exhibitions at the ICA, in London. Since 1992, Higgs has organized more than 200 exhibitions and projects with artists. He has contributed essays and interviews to more than 50 publications and art magazines including Artforum, Frieze, Art Monthly and Afterall.

Artists in Exhibition

Mary Belknap, Jeremy Burleson, Attilio Crescenti, Daniel Green, Willie Harris, Carl Hendrickson, Michael Bernard Loggins, Dwight Mackintosh, John Patrick McKenzie, James Miles, Dan Miller, James Montgomery, Marlon Mullen, Bertha Otoya, Aurie Ramirez, Evelyn Reyes, Lance Rivers, Judith Scott, William Scott, and William Tyler.

Catalog

A fully illustrated 176-page catalog (ISBN: 9780971939790, paperback; 180 pgs; color-illustrated) published by University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive will accompany the exhibition. The publication features images of the art, an essay by Lawrence Rinder, and biographies of each of the artists by poet, author, and playwright Kevin Killian. “This publication serves as an impressive record of the exhibition and offers thoughtful insights about the significance and compelling history of these organizations, which deserve to be shared with audiences around the world,” says Hankins. 

Please note: A complete schedule of events and extended hours associated with the “Create” exhibition will be available in August.

Gallery Information

Founded in 1983 through the generosity of Iris & B. Gerald Cantor, the Cantor Art Gallery serves both as a venue for a changing series of historical and contemporary public exhibitions, as well as a vital resource for Holy Cross faculty and students, linking exhibitions to the broader liberal arts curriculum. 

The hours for the Cantor Art Gallery are Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturdays, 2 – 5 p.m. Located in O’Kane Hall, 1st Floor, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College Street, Worcester, Mass., 01610.  Admission to the gallery is free. 

For additional information please call 508-793-3356 or visit the Gallery’s website. 

Independent Curators International (ICI) (curatorsintl.org) connects emerging and established curators, artists, and institutions to forge international networks and generate new forms of collaboration through the production of exhibitions, events, publications, and curatorial training. Headquartered in New York, the organization provides public access to the people and practices that are key to current developments in curating and exhibition-making around the world, inspiring fresh ways of seeing and contextualizing contemporary art. Since it was established in 1975, ICI has worked with over 1,000 curators and 3,700 artists from 47 countries worldwide.