01/24/2026
We're not done highlighting our amazing studio partners at the Creativity Explored x Open Invitational art fair, open NOW as part of ! Today, check out our sister organization across the Bay, Creative Growth in Oakland, CA ()!
Creative Growth is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, California, that advances the inclusion of artists with developmental disabilities in contemporary art and strengthens community by providing a supportive studio environment and gallery representation.
Founded in 1974, Creative Growth has been a pioneering force in the arts and disabilities sector, establishing a model for creative communities where art is an essential form of communication accessible to all. Celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year, Creative Growth has partnered with SFMOMA to present a landmark exhibition showcasing half a century of artistic achievement and innovation.
From the first day Creative Growth started in the East Bay home of Elias Katz and Florence Ludins-Katz, the vision was clear. Art would be the path forward for people with disabilities to express themselves, and a professional gallery would exhibit their work.
The Creative Growth Studio is home to over 140 artists who work in a variety of media. Facilitated by professional artists, the studio provides artistic support, high-quality materials, and space for painting, drawing, ceramics, woodwork, fiber arts, printmaking, and digital media. The studio is an open space, converted 12,000 square foot former auto repair shop.
For CExOI, Creative Growth is showing work by artist Rickie Algarva — check out some of her work!
Rickie Algarva has an extraordinary ability to synthesize reality and fantasy, to which she credits the “computer in [her] mind.” Activated by color and enclosed in bold black outlines, her shapes slide and vibrate around the page. Like all true Surrealists, Algarva has a host of motifs to call upon: hamburgers, flowers with wings, clocks, toy boxes, and fish swimming out of faucets. Her figures, often seen from behind in Algarva’s “360-degree” perspective, give no indication that their surroundings are anything other than ordinary; they ride their bicycles with hamburger wheels and dance on clock-faces with serene expressions. “These kids just throw hamburgers in the ground and they grow,” she explains matter-of-factly on the origin of her extraordinary hamburger trees. “If they wanted to grow a sesame seed bun, all they’d have to do is put sesame seeds in the ground.”
Find out more about Creativity Explored x Open Invitational via the link in our bio, and come visit us at 215 Fremont Street through Sunday!
