Friday Night at the Art Center - The Art of Disability Culture
2021-09-17 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
Join us onsite or virtually for the opening celebration of “The Art of Disability Culture” exhibition .

Join us onsite or virtually for the opening celebration of “The Art of Disability Culture” exhibition .
Join us onsite or virtually for the opening celebration of “The Art of Disability Culture” exhibition .
Join us onsite or virtually for this unique hybrid and accessible celebration of The Art of Disability Culture featuring exhibition walkthroughs, a chance to hear from exhibiting artists, special performances, and more!
At the heart of this exhibition is a robust celebration of the diverse, personal, and infinitely varied “disability experience.” Every artist featured has one or more disabilities, whether visible or invisible, and the exhibition centers upon their creativity, vulnerability, and unique perspectives. The exhibition celebrates how disability culture can strengthen our communities through the practices of interdependence, accessibility, and inclusion.

The Art of Disability Culture-Members' Preview
2021-09-17 17:00 - 18:00 | CA
Join us onsite or virtually for the Members’ preview of “The Art of Disability Culture” exhibition .

Join us onsite or virtually for this unique hybrid and accessible celebration of The Art of Disability Culture featuring exhibition walkthroughs, a chance to hear from exhibiting artists, special performances, and more!
At the heart of this exhibition is a robust celebration of the diverse, personal, and infinitely varied “disability experience.” Every artist featured has one or more disabilities, whether visible or invisible, and the exhibition centers upon their creativity, vulnerability, and unique perspectives. The exhibition celebrates how disability culture can strengthen our communities through the practices of interdependence, accessibility, and inclusion.
Doors open at 5:00 pm with the program beginning at 5:15 pm.

Stay for Friday Night at the Art Center from 6-8 p.m. for special performances, art-making activities, a complimentary cocktail, cash bar, and more!

The Art of Disability Culture
2021-09-11 00:00 - 2021-12-11 00:00 | CA
The Palo Alto Art Center is pleased to present The Art of Disability Culture: Artists with Disabilities Dispelling Myths, Dissolving Barriers, and Disrupting Prejudice September 11-December 11, 2021. At the heart of this exhibition is a robust celebration of the diverse, personal, and infinitely varied “disability experience.”
Each of the 20 artists featured has one or more disabilities, whether visible or invisible, and the exhibition centers upon their creativity, vulnerability, and unique perspectives. The exhibition celebrates how disability culture can strengthen our communities through the practices of interdependence, accessibility, and inclusion.
Work in the exhibition ranges from mixed-media pieces by Katherine Sherwood, who had to re-imagine her painting practice after a stroke, to a series of tactile paintings created during the height of the pandemic by artist Catherine Lecce-Chong, who lost her vision suddenly in 2018. The exhibition also includes an audio comic by Chad Allen, ceramics from blind potter Don Katz, a site-specific environmental installation by Jennifer Justice, a healing labyrinth installation by blind artist Maia Scott, and a large-scale sculpture made from discarded materials by Palo Alto artist Matthaus Lam. Other artists in the show include: Bill Bruckner, Jeremy Burleson, Lawrence Choy, Sky CubaCub, Shana Harper, Camille Holvoet, Antoine Hunter, Cedric Johnson, Michaela Oteri, Otis Smith, Anthony Tusler, Rachel Ungerer, and Jennifer White-Johnson.
One in four Americans has a disability. And yet, more than 30 years after the Americans with Disability Act (ADA), people with disabilities still face discrimination, prejudice, ableism, and omission. The art in The Art of Disability Culture explores many of these challenges, and also the defiant, creative, and resilient responses of this incredible and diverse community.
Guest curator Fran Osborne shares, “Far from presenting a single monolithic point of view, the artists in the exhibition generously share their own experience and the complexity of their disability identity. Some of the works aim to soothe and heal, and some may provoke us into rethinking our priorities and reflect upon what we can all do to make our world more authentic, accessible, and inclusive?”
The Art of Disability Culture exhibition will feature numerous accessibility components to ensure that the broadest possible audience can experience the exhibition and related programs. Audio descriptions will be available for all works of art on view and will also be accessible on the website. Braille labels and audio descriptions will also be available for visitors. Public programs will include sign language interpretation and live captioning.
The exhibition will include artwork from Bay Area studio programs that have supported and mentored artists with a broad range of abilities, including NIAD, Creative Growth, Creativity Explored and Palo Alto’s Ability Path.
Funding has been provided by California Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Paula Kirkeby Press Hands-On Printmaking Activity
2021-08-28 14:00 - 15:30 | Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Rd, Palo Alto, CA, 94303, United States
This event will allow a limited group to participate in a unique hands-on monotype activity with Fanny Retsek. Space is limited.

Join us for two opportunities to experience the Paula Kirkeby Press—recently relocated from the Cubberley Community Center to the Art Center! This press was generously given to the Art Center by the Kirkeby family, in order to continue the legacy of printmaking in our community begun with Smith Andersen Editions. Both events will feature Art Center Studio Program Director Fanny Retsek, who maintains a printmaking artistic practice in her free time. Fanny was previously a printer for Crown Point Press in San Francisco and master printer for the ICA Print Center.
Wednesday, August 25, 5:30-6:30 p.m.Watch a demo of the Paula Kirkeby press in action with Fanny Retsek. Learn about classes, workshops, and drop-in press opportunities. Register here.
Saturday, August 28, 2-3:30 p.m. This event will allow a limited group to participate in a unique hands-on monotype activity with Fanny Retsek. Space is limited.

Paula Kirkeby Press Printmaking Demonstration
2021-08-25 17:30 - 18:30 | Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Rd, Palo Alto, CA, 94303, United States
Watch a demo of the Paula Kirkeby press in action with Fanny Retsek. Learn about classes, workshops, and drop-in press opportunities.

Join us for two opportunities to experience the Paula Kirkeby Press—recently relocated from the Cubberley Community Center to the Art Center! This press was generously given to the Art Center by the Kirkeby family, in order to continue the legacy of printmaking in our community begun with Smith Andersen Editions. Both events will feature Art Center Studio Program Director Fanny Retsek, who maintains a printmaking artistic practice in her free time. Fanny was previously a printer for Crown Point Press in San Francisco and master printer for the ICA Print Center.
Wednesday, August 25, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Watch a demo of the Paula Kirkeby press in action with Fanny Retsek. Learn about classes, workshops, and drop-in press opportunities.
Saturday, August 28, 2-3:30 p.m.
This event will allow a limited group to participate in a unique hands-on monotype activity with Fanny Retsek. Space is limited.

The Black Index Closing Reception
2021-08-14 17:00 - 18:00 | Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Rd, Palo Alto, CA, 94303, United States
Join us for an exclusive reception for PAACF Circle and Alliance Members after “The Black Index” Closing Celebration.

Join us for an exclusive reception for PAACF Circle and Alliance Members after “The Black Index” Closing Celebration.
Join the Palo Alto Art Center for a closing celebration of The Black Index exhibition. Hear from the exhibition curator Dr. Bridget R. Cooks, meet artists from the exhibition, purchase the exhibition catalogue, and see the exhibition one more time before the show travels to its next venues at the University of Texas at Austin and Hunter College.
Circle and Alliance members, stay for an exclusive reception to toast the exhibition’s close and to meet and mingle with Dr. Cooks and the artists.
3:30-5:00 pm – Public Closing Celebration
5:00-6:00 pm- Private Reception

The Black Index Closing Celebration
2021-08-14 15:30 - 17:00 | Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Rd, Palo Alto, CA, 94303, United States
A closing celebration of “The Black Index” exhibition!

Join the Palo Alto Art Center for a closing celebration of The Black Index exhibition. Hear from the exhibition curator Dr. Bridget R. Cooks, meet artists from the exhibition, purchase the exhibition catalogue, and see the exhibition one more time before the show travels to its next venues at the University of Texas at Austin and Hunter College.

Black American Art History: People, Places and Things
2021-08-13 17:00 - 18:00, 2021-07-09 17:00 - 18:00 | CA
Learn about Black American artists from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries.

In these Friday evening presentations, The Black Index exhibition curator Bridget R. Cooks will offer a thematic overview of art by Black American artists from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries. Discover new favorite artists, styles, and stories in these engaging sessions.
Pictured left to right: Xaviera Simmons, Velvet , 2018; Carrie Mae Weems, At the Precipice, 2003

Black Creativity and Mentorship
2021-07-16 12:00 - 13:00 | CA
Black Creativity and Mentorship: A Conversation Between Diana Pumpelly Bates and Titus Kaphar

Join acclaimed San Jose artist Diana Pumpelly Bates and internationally recognized artist Titus Kaphar for a conversation about Black creativity, artistic inspiration, and the importance of mentorship. This conversation will be moderated by The Black Index exhibition curator Bridget R. Cooks

The Black Index Exhibition
2021-06-15 - 2021-08-14 | Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Rd, Palo Alto, CA, 94303, United States
The Palo Alto Art Center is pleased to present The Black Index, a group exhibition featuring the work of Dennis Delgado, Alicia Henry, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Titus Kaphar, Whitfield Lovell, and Lava Thomas.
The artists featured in The Black Index build upon the tradition of Black self representation as an antidote to colonialist images. Using drawing, performance, printmaking, sculpture, and digital technology to transform the recorded image, these artists question our reliance on photography as a privileged source for documentary objectivity and understanding. Their works offer an alternative practice—a Black index—that still serves as a finding aid for information about Black subjects, but also challenges viewers’ desire for classification.
The works in The Black Index make viewers aware of their own expectations of Black figuration by interrupting traditional epistemologies of portraiture through unexpected and unconventional depictions. These works image the Black body through a conceptual lens that acknowledges the legacy of Black containment that is always present in viewing strategies. The approaches used by Delgado, Henry, Hinkle, Kaphar, Lovell, and Thomas suggest understandings of Blackness and the racial terms of our neo-liberal condition that counter legal and popular interpretations and, in turn, offer a paradigmatic shift within Black visual culture.
The Black Index is curated by Bridget R. Cooks, Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies and the Department of Art History, University of California, Irvine. Exhibition and tour organized by Sarah Watson, Chief Curator, Hunter College Art Galleries, New York in collaboration with the University Art Galleries at UC Irvine, Palo Alto Art Center, and Art Galleries at Black Studies, University of Texas at Austin.
Lead support for The Black Index is provided by The Ford Foundation with additional support by UCI Confronting Extremism Program, Getty Research Institute, Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte, Carol and Arthur Goldberg, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Leubsdorf Fund at Hunter College, Joan Lazarus Fellowship program at Hunter College, Pamela and David Hornik, Loren and Mike Gordon, University of California Office of the President Multi-campus Research Programs and Initiative Funding, University of California Humanities Research Institute, Applied Materials Foundation, Illuminations: The Chancellor’s Arts and Culture Initiative, UCI Humanities Center, Department of African American Studies, Department of Art History, The Reparations Project, and the UC Irvine Black Alumni Chapter. This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit calhum.org.
