Artists' Reception & Gift Sale:
Saturday, January 28th from 2 to 5 pm
Music by Tito Gonzalez

Panel Discussion Featuring:
Michael L. Conniff-Director of Global Studies at San Jose State University.
Anne Fountain, PhD-Assoc. Professor of Spanish and Coordinator of Latin American Studies at SJSU.
Bob Freimark-Professor Emeritus at SJSU and 1st Artist in Residence at Museo Regla in Cuba.
Delvis Fernandez Levy, PhD-Founder and President of the Cuban American Alliance Education Fund, Inc. (CAAEF).

Lost and Found

Wearable Art by the Visual Design Students of Piedmont High & the Artists of NAID

DATES: March 13 - April 21, 2006

Artists' Reception-Thursday, March 16th, 5:30-8pm with LIVE! Entertainment

The NIAD Art Center and the Visual Design Students of Piedmont High are at it again! Two years ago they collaborated on the show "High Touch, Low Tech," which was a local success. The students in Pat Kemeny Macias' design class at Piedmont have been working earnestly in preparation for the show which is sure to delight visitors to NIAD. The exhibition will feature art that is wearable or relates to the body and is made from found or recycled materials. One student at Piedmont High is rumored to have made a kimono out of hamburger wrappers from McDonald's! It will be a postmodern look at our postconsumer world.

XTOWN2NE [cross-town-toon]: Comic Book Art & Cartoons from the NIAD Art Center, Creativity Explored, and Creative Growth

DATES: June 19 - July 28, 2006

Artists' Reception-Thursday, June 22, 5:30-8pm with DEEJAY Gerone Spruill.

ALSO FEATURING: Work by local artists Matt Furie, John Hersey, Sean Horchy, Greg Vose and internationally known PAPER RAD!!!

CURATED BY: Jack Fischer of the Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco.

Thanks to the pioneering work of Dr. Elias Katz, centers for artists with disabilties are not unusual in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over the span of his career he has been instrumental in the formation of Creative Growth as well as Creativity Explored, in addition to founding the National Institute of Art and Disabilities (NIAD) with his late wife Florence Ludins-Katz. Join NIAD, as we team uo with Creative Growth and Creativity Explored for an exhibition of comic book art and cartoons curated by Jack Fischer, Owner and Director of the Jack Fischer Gallery (San Francisco).

EXHIBIT: "Beyond Explanation:Automatic Abstraction "

CURATED BY: Anuradha Vikram

GUEST ARTISTS: Kato Jaworski, Laura Paulini, Sofie Siegmann, Tiffany Schmierer

FEATURING COLLABORATIONS WITH: Willie Harris, Susan Wise, Tammy Harper, Peter Harris, Tony Pedemonta, Phyllis Carr, Demitri Petropolous, Sylvia Fragoso, Felicia Griffin

40% OFF SALE:
Saturday, September 16th, 2-5pm
With Portuguese Songstress Ramana Vieira

DATES: June 19 - July 28, 2006

ABOUT THE OPENING: Every item in the giftshop will be available for 40% off. It will be our biggest sale of the year. The afternoon's activities will feature live music by Ramana Vieira, who performs fado, a traditional Portuguese music that is reminiscent of the American Blues with an emotive, Portuguese flair. Ramana Performed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy. She will be accompanied by Jeffrey Luiz on classical guitar and Robert Koch on piano. We will be serving delicious wine from K+L Wine Merchants with tasty snacks.

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT:Abstract art is often presumed to be a direct line into the artist’s psyche, unfettered by the ego or the social identity of the individual. Historically, this definition has proved undoubtedly problematic, yet many artists find that repetitive processes do lull them into a state of mind free of personal interest or traditional definitions of meaning. Automatic composition and process-based abstraction are in many ways leveling processes. When the hand and the eye take over, intellect cedes its primacy to the looser priorities of emotion and action. This is an equalizing moment—transcending literacy, language, guile and rationalization.

For NIAD’s clients, the purpose art serves is no different. The visual affinities between NIAD artists and visiting artists lend themselves to the possibility of collaboration—a potential that is tangible in the juxtaposition of their works, whether or not it actually takes place. NIAD was founded with the mission to use creative expression as a means of “promot[ing]… independence, dignity, and community integration for people with developmental and other disabilities.” These desires for dignity, independent self-expression and the comfort of belonging to a community are universal, and artists often seek in their creative practices what the world is slow in providing to them otherwise. Here, artists can engage in a wordless dialogue with one another as well as with the audience, with no explanations necessary.

PORTRAITS: Portraits of NIAD Artists by renowned mixed-media
artist Hugh Shurley, alongside portraits by NIAD Artist

FEATURING OF AND BY: Kevin Randolph, Willie Harris, David Martin, Shirley How, "Bubba" Trieber, Rosie Pardo, Felicia Griffin, and Tammy Harper.

DATES: October 23rd-December 1st, 2006

ARTIST'S RECEPTION:
Thursday, October 26th, 5:30-7pm

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT:Portraiture is an timeless practice. Since the beginning of time, humans have yearned to capture the unique connection we feel for one another. In this exhibit NIAD presents portraits of our member artists by mixed-media artist Hugh Shurley. In this series, Shurley portrays NIAD artists with dignity and grace. Shurley has developed a unique yet classical approach to photography and collage. His photographs are printed on glass and are layered with objects of ephemera. The result is powerful work ranging in feel from nostalgic to confrontational.

Following suit, NIAD artists depict one another, their family members, celebrities, and politicians in their own work'. The work on display in this exhibition has been executed in a wide range of media, exemplary of the diverse techniques employed by member artists at NIAD.