San Francisco Art Fair is underway, and Elephant is looking across the water to the East Bay, where art is a crucial means of activism and revitalisation in the city.
In 2015, the city of Oakland announced a plan to tackle the gentrification and economic inequity that challenged the area. Officially titled the “Downtown Oakland Specific Plan,” the 342-page plan identified ways to steer the city towards a more affordable and accessible city for all. At its centre was a focus on art. Where San Francisco might be synonymous with tech and innovation, the East Bay has its roots in radical art organisations and activism. This year, the San Francisco Art Fair celebrates the East Bay and its storied history of community building through a series of talks, panel discussions, and curated exhibitions.
Speaking on one of these panels is Nadia Ghani, the art director at Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center, a non-profit initiative that has been a crucial community-building touchstone since its inception fifty-one years ago. Creative Growth straddles the line between self-taught art and what is traditionally called “outsider art,” and has produced major names including Dwight Macintosh, Judith Scott, and John Martin.
Founded in the East Bay home of Elias Katz and Florence Ludins-Katz, Creative Growth set a path for people with disabilities to not only express themselves, but also exhibit their work professionally. The organisation provides a light-filled studio which contains all of the necessary tools that people with disabilities might need for their practice, as well as offering them mentorship and support along the way. Creative Growth then champions their work, and has seen their artists submitted to a vast array of private and public collections, including MoMA, SFMOMA, The Smithsonian, The Studio Museum Of Harlem, Collection De L’Art Brut, American Folk Art Museum, and The Museum Of Everything.
“The East Bay has always been a place that artists flock to,” says Nadia Ghani, the gallery director of Creative Growth. “Historically, the East Bay is more affordable than San Francisco and, of course, artists tend to flee to wherever it’s more affordable. That has remained true of the Bay area, so lots of artists live here and there are tons of art organisations that are either doing political work or providing community-based spaces.” Nadia has lived in many different cities, but she loves Oakland in particular for this very reason.
“There are people here from all walks of life. You see that at Creative Growth, too, from the artists that we champion to the people who attend our openings, our events, and our workshops. It’s kind of a neutral territory in that aspect.” Creative Growth’s space is significant in itself; a studio dedicated entirely to accessibility and nurture. “Most people, when they first come to Creative Growth, are totally blown away by the magic and the beauty,” says Nadia. “The artists are our rock, they are our foundation, and everything we do is to serve them. I believe that’s what we bring to this part of Oakland: people come to be inspired. Not just to interact with the artists and to be with them in community, but also just experience their artwork.” Ultimately, it is this side of the East Bay – in all of its grassroots glory – that San Francisco Art Fair and Art Market Productions want to celebrate.
Joining Nadia in speaking about the rich cultural scene of the East Bay will be fellow Oakland native, pt.2 Gallery’s Brock Brake. Brock grew up in a small town in Ohio, where he had skateboard posters plastered all over his room. These posters were from Thrasher Magazine, a San Francisco-based publication. As a result, Brock was somewhat familiar with the city’s distinct vibe long before he moved there in 2012.
“I have always loved its character,” Brock tells me “both its expression and its discreteness. It’s grit, its creative aura, and its independence. You can’t go anywhere in Oakland without seeing or hearing some type of artistic expression, whether it’s the murals, the graffiti, a car playing music, someone singing out loud, or a cleverly designed small business storefront. I think it’s a great facilitator of growth. A place where you come to learn, discover, and play. A place that is unapologetically itself. It’s a city of character and confidence. Also, a place where you don’t leave your things in the car.”
When Brock first moved to Oakland in 2012, he lived in a Marijuana growing operation to save money; now, he lives in Vallejo and commutes in. “We are busy growing, and we don’t have much free time,” says Brock, “which means we have to trust our gut. But I feel like that’s where Oakland is in general, too. It’s growing really fast, and it’s learning from the difficult decisions that have been made in recent years. Oakland, more than ever, needs the people who live here to really pay attention and support when they can. The art world is hard, and Oakland is a hard place, but beautiful things grow from hard situations.”
Whilst Brock’s curated section includes the work of Alicia McCarthy, Magnolia Editions, Ryan Whelan, Yaxkin Fuentes, Liz Hernàndez, Isaac Vazquez Avila, Cinque Mubarak and other talented Oakland-based artists, Brock is keen for visitors to come and visit the East Bay itself. “There is so much more to Oakland than this presentation,” says Brock. “This is the smallest taste test of what you can experience by coming to the East Bay a little more often.”
Words by Emily Burke
