Lance Rivers, SFMOMA. Color pencil on wood. Courtesy of Creativity Explored and the Artist

Creativity Explored is a nonprofit visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit, and sell art. The center provides studio artists with opportunities to visit Bay Area museums, galleries, and local artists’ studios. Creativity Explored studio artists are accompanied by an art instructor to experience and participate in the Bay Area arts community. On October 14th, they went to the SFMOMA, a popular destination amongst the artists.

I accompanied Andrew Bixler, Whitman Donaldson, Vincent Jackson, Melody Lima, Bertha Otoya, Selene Perez, Lance Rivers, and instructor Paul Moshammer. With a recorder in hand I was led to the entrance of the museum by Lance Rivers. We discussed his admiration of the museum’s design and at the end of our visit he shared some insight into his process of drawing buildings, tunnels and trains. Upon entering the museum Whitman Donaldson shared his experience becoming a member of the SFMOMA. Later in our visit Whitman discovered art in lost bird posters (Rigo 23). While on the fifth floor, Andrew Bixler and Vincent Jackson had their own independent viewpoints on Tony Cragg’s Guglie.

Lance Rivers discusses the exterior of the museum

Lance Rivers discusses the interior of the atrium and the bridge above

Whitman Donaldson has a membership to the museum

Tony Cragg, Guglie, 1987; wood, rubber, concrete, metal, stone, and plastic; dimensions variable; The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; © Tony Cragg

Vincent Jackson and Andrew Bixler debate what they see in Tony Cragg’s; Guglie

Rigo 98, Twenty-Three Found “Lost Bird” Posters (detail), 1989-1998; mixed media on paper; 8 1/2 in. x 11 in. (21.59 cm x 27.94 cm) each; Collection SFMOMA, Ruth Nash Fund purchase; © Rigo 98

Whitman Donaldson discovers art in Lost Bird Posters

Paul Klee, Der Verliebte (Man in Love), 1923; print; color lithograph, 10 13/16 in. x 7 1/2 in. (27.46 cm x 19.05 cm); Collection SFMOMA, Gift of the Djerassi Art Trust; © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Vincent Jackson discusses beauty and Paul Klee

Lance Rivers describes his process as we exit the museum

Shortly after our visit, I spent a few moments asking Melody Lima several questions about her experiences visiting the museum…

Brion Nuda Rosch: Melody, what is the first thing you think of when you think of SFMOMA?

Melody Lima: The first thing – The Dome, I love to see that first. You see that on TV a lot you know, and I usually see that and think – WOW there goes the thing I always like to look at.

BNR: What do you find yourself paying attention to when you visit the museum?

ML: I always pay attention to the art, wait a second, what do I always say? I like the drawings. And how beautiful they are, and I am always wondering how they do it?

BNR: You seem to pay close attention to small details, like the preparators outside disassembling the sculpture while we were upstairs. What do you remember from that part of our day?

ML: I remember how big they were. How heavy they were and how long. I was wondering how they took them apart and how they we able to take them apart and hold and wrap them.

BNR: You also notice a lot of “non art” things, the bus ride, getting our tickets, the breaks for lunch, getting back to the center. On the way back to Creativity Explored you saw something you found very interesting and amusing; a piece of my museum ticket stub in my pocket, can you tell me about that?

ML: Yeah, that was funny, it was the one thing I remember most. I remember seeing it, I couldn’t believe it. I finally saw it at the end of our day, your ticket stub was in your back pocket and as you walked it kept going up and down, the number 14 (the date on the stub), going up and down, doink doink doink. You didn’t even know.