Category: Education

Creativity Explored—Celebrates 40 years

Creativity Explored

Starting from humble origins in a Mission District garage in 1983, Creativity Explored celebrates 40 years of supporting artists with developmental disabilities in San Francisco.

Link to Creativity Explored, supporting artists with developmental disabilities in San Francisco.
Creativity Explored celebrates 40 Years.

Creativity Explored was founded by Florence and Elias Katz, an artist and a psychologist duo who believed that art is essential to life. Throughout our history, we’ve facilitated the art careers of hundreds of disabled artists — and changed the art world along the way. Our artists have seen their work exhibited in museums, galleries, and art fairs in over 14 countries and have earned over $2.2 million from their art. Our San Francisco studios are the center of a thriving creative community where all are welcome.

Vanity Searching—Discovered Creativity Explored

Years ago, I bought the rights to ArtChangesLives.com for my blog. That was about 18 years ago; I was still in grad school. As I began to post my entries, I did some vanity searching and found that Creativity Explored holds the number one rank for Art Changes Lives, and they were located in San Francisco.

The next time I visited San Francisco, I made a point of visiting their studios. It was abuzz with activity and artists working in all sorts of media. I visited with a few of the artists, and they shared their work with me—genuinely excellent and original work. So, I want to recognize this organization for its work. 

You can explore Creativity Explored shop and see the artists’ work for sale. Visit their shop at creativityexplored.org/shop.

Looking at a blank canvas.

I’m starting a new drawing that seems to resemble currency.

A drawing begins
0718 – 2023-dollarbill, Hendricks©2023
Looking at a Blank Canvas

Lately, thank goodness, that is not a problem at the moment. I am working between two, probably multiple. This one promises to be fun. Trust me, I have had those moments. What to do?
Do something else if you are stuck. Yes, it distracts you and lets your brain refresh. The new else might help the old else find a solution.
One of our students at MCTC(Minneapolis College) was in a class my mentor and friend, Felix Ampah, taught. I was told the student sat in front of a canvas, and Felix went over and asked if something was wrong. The student blurted out, “I don’t want to ruin it.”
Felix Ahpah asked to have her brush. He took it and made a swash on the canvas, probably not big. Gave his wonderful smile that beamed and said, “Now it is ruined.” Then smiled, and they laughed, and he moved on.“

An Echo, a Shadow, Nothingness…Whoa!

In order to experience a poem, we must understand it; in order to understand it; we must hear it, see it, contemplate it—convert it into an echo, a shadow, nothingness. Comprehension is a spiritual exercise.

Octavio Paz,
Alternating Current, p. 49

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Floating through Space and Time
Floating through Space and Time,  Mixed-media,  Hendricks@2023

I don’t think I am creating anything as profound as Paz describes, but as I said many times in this blog—I am on a path, which is not totally visible to me. I get glimpses, but never too sure what I see.
I do want to say that just because I post works of art, I do not think they are grand, that the technique is refined, or the lines sure and sharp. I know they are not. However, as I do and study my ideas, my voice and path will clarify.
There is one thing I want readers and friends to know, and that is that I believe in a power greater than ourselves, and there is a piece, a bit, of that power, that Light within each of us. I don’t know if I am a theist, non-theist, pantheist, or panentheist. Whatever I am, I seek to reach, connect, and engage with that Light that exists within me… and you. I am saying this partly because I have avoided saying it in the public eye of art critics and peers.
OH MY GOD! I just came out again.  😆

Every Work of Art

“Every work of art is a culturescape of you, your memories, the moments you spent working, your hopes, energies, and neuroses, the times you live in, and your ambitions. Of the things that are engaging, mysterious, meaningful, resistant over time.”
― Jerry Saltz, How to Be an Artist

Digitally enhanced photograph by Bill Hendricks
Digitally enhanced image, Hendrick©2022

Finally, I got a gallery set up. I have to explore more because I am still determining if the plug-in NextGen Gallery is worth it.

I am reading Jerry Saltz’s book—Art is Life. I like it. He is very entertaining. I am unsure if I like him, but he speaks his mind. He seems to have compassion too. So I guess I do. But he would be a challenge, I think.

Loved his story of himself laying down the idea of being an artist. He speaks of creating art… akin to meditation and communing with the unknown. His question about … Is There Great Art on Instagram? I appreciated that he seemed to honor all the artists working… discovering… exploring… and most of all, creating art as an unknown but still creating. 

Then this article/chapter—Iconoclasm Now: Charlie Hebdo and the Lethal Power of Art. That chapter was a show-stopper for me; as a Quaker and even as a young man, I believed that what I created on paper, sculpted, and images I made, I breathed life into the work. So whether it is seen or unseen, it has life cause it was/is a part of me. He didn’t go there exactly, but when he spoke about the image breakers that believed the images that “the thing itself and, as made not by God, they contain demonic spirits.” So I identified with that some people believe similarly about an image as I do—the demonic bit … not so much. But as a Quaker, there is the “Light of God” within the work. 

The short of it, I am learning a lot, and Mr. Saltz’s book is good. It is approachable and entertaining.  

Information about Bill Hendricks (Shadowmason)

About Me… William John Hendricks

I am what I amAnd what I am needs no excusesI deal my own deckSometimes the ace sometimes the deuces. 
~ Jerry Herman, Composer (Wikipedia)

Bill Hendricks, (Shadowmason)
Bill Hendricks, 2021, in my office at Minneapolis College.

I am a Minnesotan who has lived half my life in Los Angeles and New York City. I consider myself a digital artist. However, my work includes tactile work, such as printmaking, photography, drawing, and interactive installations. I have a print in the permanent collection of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, and several private collections throughout the United States. In addition, my work was included in a group show titled, The Intimate Gallery, which questioned and explored the existence of collective consciousness in Minneapolis at Gallery 148. 

My work was included in the New York City group show, Visual AIDS, Postcards From the Edge in New York City at The Robert Miller Gallery. 

I taught Graphic Design, Web Design, and fine art at Minneapolis College (MCTC) for 22 years. I also taught at Minneapolis College of Art and Design for a few years, where I earned my MFA.

After retirement, I am again pursuing a career as a fine artist. For the last three years, I have built a body of work that includes ink drawings, photography, and 3D modeling.

Currently, my work appears in Second Life in some galleries. Second Life Endowment for the Arts invited me to appear in a group show in January, where I exhibited digital prints and drawings. My work there appears using my pseudonym, Tap Quentin. You may view my work shown on Second Life Marketplace at Ephemeral Traces.

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