For additional information contact:
Tom di Maria, Creative Growth Art Center-
+1-510-836-2340 ext-13
email: tom@creativegrowth.org

Creative Growth Art Center Opens Paris Art Gallery

WHEN: Gallery opens June 11, 2008

WHERE:  Galerie Impaire, 47 rue de Lancry, Paris, France 75003

PUBLIC INFO: For more information call 510/836-2340 ext.15
creativegrowth.org

CONTACT: Tom diMaria, Director, 510/836.2340 ext. 13, tom@creativegrowth.org

PRESS PREVIEW: please call to arrange an appointment

Oakland, CA; Paris, France: May 16, 2008——

Creative Growth Art Center (CGAC) announces the opening of new, Paris art gallery, exhibiting the artwork of artists with disabilities, self-taught artists and contemporary artists from around the world.

CGAC, the world's oldest and largest art center serving artists with developmental, physical and mental disabilities, announces the opening of Galerie Impaire - a new art gallery in Paris, France.  Maintaining its leadership role in the international field of artists with disabilities, Creative Growth's Paris space will be the first independent international gallery, operated by an arts organization for people with disabilities that will serve artists worldwide.

The gallery’s name, Galerie Impaire, translates literally into English as "the odd gallery.”  ‘Impaire’, like the English word ‘odd’ reflects a sense of the creative intersection of artists with disabilities, self taught artists and academically trained artists.

Located near Place Republic, the gallery is at 47 rue de Lancry, near the Canal St Martin in Paris' 10th arrondisement, a neighborhood increasingly popular with artists and the emerging arts community. The 120 square meter space will contain two galleries, a store space, and a small apartment that will support a visiting artists program. It will be open to the public from Wednesdays to Sundays beginning in June, 2008.

Galerie Impaire will open June 11 and feature the work of Creative Growth artists including Dan Miller, Dwight Mackintosh, Kerry Damianakes and George Wilson.  Also on view are photographs of the artists from Creative Growth, by New York based artist Cheryl Dunn.
 
Subsequent exhibitions at the gallery are now in the planning stages and include work by artists using text and words, two exhibitions of artwork by artists with disabilities from Japan, an exhibition of work by outsider artists and artists with disabilities from New Zealand, and an outsider photography show.

“This gallery marks an important next step in the evolution of how artists with disabilities are being seen as part of the contemporary art world,” said CGAC Director, Tom di Maria. “By blending artists with disabilities world wide and contemporary and self taught artists, we hope to blur the lines between ‘who's who’ in the art world and really challenge the perception of who comprises the artists of our generation.”

For additional information contact:
Jennifer O'Neal, ext 15 or Tom di Maria, ext 13 Creative Growth Art Center- +1-510-836-2340
email: tom@creativegrowth.org