Wonderful Blackiful People: Book Launch & Opening Celebration (SF)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Join us for an afternoon of food, music, and art to celebrate Blackiful’s newly published book and concurrent exhibition opening, Wonderful Blackiful People.

Wonderful Blackiful People: Bay Area Changemakers A to Z is a newly published book by Blackiful, a cohort of Black artists at Creativity Explored. The book highlights 26 Black changemakers who, through their remarkable lives and work, have each had a hand in shaping Bay Area history. Blackiful artists created portraits of each changemaker to accompany their biography, recounting the invaluable contributions of these notable Black figures.

The accompanying group exhibition, on view at CE’s second studio in Potrero Hill, features twelve portraits from the book self-selected by Blackiful artists. Portraits include civil rights activist William Byron Rumford; teaching artist and sculptor Horace Washington; educator and former Black Panther Ericka Huggins; queer, nonbinary multimedia artist Ayana “Yanni” Brumfield; pioneering Afro-futurist musician Idris Ackamoor; and beloved San Francisco poet Q. R. Hand, among others.

The exhibition is on view at Creativity Explored’s second studio in Potrero Hill through September, by appointment only Monday through Friday. Email appointments@creativityexplored.org to schedule an viewing.

ABOUT BLACKIFUL

In the summer of 2020, artists Joseph “JD” Green, Joseph Omolayole, Alissa Bledsoe, Gerald Wiggins, Charles Stanberry, Vincent Jackson, and visual artist and educator Danielle Wright met to discuss these questions. What began as a three-week roundtable series soon expanded into regular meetings, and eventually into a group exhibition inviting all CE artists who self-identify as Black to co-create Black aesthetic space. Blackiful artists agreed from the group’s inception to make the meetings exclusive, limiting participation to self-identified Black artists in part to experiment with the idea of “caucusing by race” (a concept borrowed from Gita Gulati-Partee and Maggie Potapchuck). As an ongoing project, Blackiful considers how individual and collective self-determination are inextricably linked, whether the space and time shared is physical or virtual. Blackiful continues to be a way for Black artists at CE to study, discuss, and support one another during the pandemic and in light of the ongoing movement for Black lives and racial justice.

ABOUT CREATIVITY EXPLORED

Creativity Explored is a studio-based collective in San Francisco that partners with people with developmental disabilities to celebrate and nurture the creative potential in all of us. Founded in 1983 by a psychologist and an artist, CE has facilitated the careers of hundreds of neurodiverse artists and serves as a model in the field of art and disability worldwide.

Creativity Explored now serves 130 artists with developmental disabilities offering art supplies, training, exhibition and sales opportunities in traditional and digital media. CE artists have seen their work exhibited in museums, galleries, and art fairs in over 14 countries and have earned over $2 million from their art. Our life-changing programs continue to open doors of inclusion to center the personhood and creative vision of people with developmental disabilities. Most importantly, Creativity Explored is a source of community, empowerment and dignity.

CreativityExplored.org

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.