Monica Valentine, 68, originally from San Mateo, Calif., whose creations have reached museums around the country, slides beads onto pins, then inserts the pins into Styrofoam blocks, careful to somehow keep color groups in specific design patterns. How does she do that; she has been blind since birth. “I feel their temperature,” she says of the beads.
John Martin, 60, born in Marks, Miss., who lives with a complex developmental disability, molds ceramic pieces into what appear to be colorful everyday objects like pliers, wrenches and keys, only some of them have faces.
Like Ms. Valentine and Mr. Martin, who both now live in Oakland, each artist creates according to a particular muse with no outside instruction. As many as 90 artists a day, five days a week, immerse themselves in media of their choice — painting, drawing, sculpting, weaving, sewing, woodwork, beadwork, ceramics, video. For most of them, it’s their job; some have been coming here for decades.
While many of the finished pieces get only as far as an exhibition in the center’s own gallery, some artists have achieved international acclaim, their works regarded as on par with those by artists without disabilities and with more formal training. Pieces by Creative Growth stars — Judith Scott, Dan Miller and William Scott (no relation to Judith), among them — are eagerly sought by private collectors and leading gallerists. Some of their pieces sell in upper five figures.
