Arts Center hosts 'Claiming our Space' exhibit

Electrifying new show focuses on artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities|

“Every artist has a voice.”

So states a large placard near the entrance of Petaluma Arts Center, where the current exhibition – “Claiming Our Space: Contemporary Art and IDD” – is giving literal space to nearly 100 artists whose works often go unrecognized within the larger world of art galleries, museums and studio collectives. In focusing on artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), the inspiring and perhaps surprising collection on display defies common assumptions about what to expect from artists with autism, brain injuries, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and other conditions associated with IDD.

Described as a “collective contemporary exhibition,” drawing art from 10 Bay Area studios that support artists with IDD, the show opened on Sept. 19 and will run through Oct. 26. With works ranging from paintings and drawings to sculptures, weavings and architectural models, the show features works from artists associated with the North Bay’s Alchemia, Fort Bragg’s Art Explorers, Sonoma County’s Becoming Independent, Cedars of Marin, San Francisco’s Creativity Explored, Rohnert Park’s Fairway Place, Marin Ventures, Napa Valley Support Services, NIAD Arts Center in Richmond, and United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay.

The Petaluma exhibition was curated by Liz Jahren, Vicky Kumpfer and Lisa Lightman.

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