Creativity Explored, the premier San Francisco nonprofit visual art gallery and studio for artists with developmental disabilities, presents Mind Place, a new exhibition exploring the psychology of place. From depictions of Ferris wheels that evoke memories, African landscapes, to psychedelic abstractions of subjects that inhabit another space entirely, the exhibition leads the viewer on a journey to ethereal environments that are physical yet based in the mind. The exhibition includes selected works by Ian Adams, Jay Herndon, Camille Holvoet, Laron Bickerstaff, Kathy Wen, and Marilyn Wong. Curated by Visual Arts Instructor Leeza Doreian.

Evoking both physical and imaginary worlds, the multimedia artwork in this exhibition offer the viewer diverse perspectives into the production of a visual space that is both interior and exterior.

Emotional, provocative, and inviting narrative, the more than two dozen artworks included challenge traditional viewership by expanding visual depictions of a place or space into the subjective territory of a "mindscape."

Ian Adams, 27, was inspired to draw pictures of places he wants to visit. His work is imbued with the appreciation of these locations that give his subjects an air of the mythological. Adams is currently in the middle of a two and a half year project to make at least one work for each country in Africa. Using images he finds online, he renders his affection into his subjects with playful perspectives that capture the essence and awe of viewing an unknown world.

Jay Herndon, 60, usually starts a work by layering marks until a subject takes form. This process is further illustrated in his vibrant mobile sculpture that activates as viewers examine the shapes from multiple angles and perspectives. The work began with a series of individual landscapes on wood blocks. After creating the series, the pieces were wired together to create a multidimensional mobile sculpture. His other pictorial works included in the exhibition draw from reference materials, meticulously translating what he sees to paper, with almost microscopic intensity. The short, sketchy lines that Jay favors, endow his drawings with energy and staccato movement.

Camille Holvoet, 65, depicts deceptively sweet subjects with a practice tending to draw on remembrances of life’s anxieties and forbidden desires. Her Ferris wheels elicit a contradiction of emotions that sway between elation and unease. Holvoet expounds on her inspiration, “I draw Ferris wheels because it’s my symbol because I used to ride on them. The third time when I went to Chinatown at night, and it felt fun and funny feelings, and scary and a long drop. It was the longest drop. It was like riding a building down and around.” Holvoet’s Girl’s Dormitory When I First Went to the Hospital invites the viewer to relive an intimate memory, depicting an interior scene replete with an unsettling proximity of bright colors and ornate iron bars on windows. Her work often occupies a space between dream and memory, sewing the seeds of a narrative both real and imaginary.

Laron Bickerstaff, 47, creates stream-of-consciousness text-based artwork, exemplified in the animation Laron’s Home. Communicating in American Sign Language, his work often depicts observations of life with a deep awareness of the visual characteristics of language. His pictorial works in Mind Place utilize a process of layered repetitive mark making to produce an abstraction of the subject. These abstractions are blanketed in perspectives and architectural forms, enveloping the viewer in a maze of structures and colors.

Kathy Wen’s, 32, seascapes are energized with her concerns for environmental welfare. The flow and wash of vibrant watercolor contrast the meticulous patterning of highlight and shadow producing a faceted abstract quality. Wen’s bold yet detailed slices of color perforate traditional perspective and bring to mind striations in geological formations that unite the land, sea, and air.

Marilyn Wong, 68, has said of her work she is “painting her mind.” Medical textbook illustrations first inspired her unique style of abstraction. Wong takes an introspective approach to illustrating her subjects, often producing works that interplay light and form with grids of circles and shapes that render the subject within various planes of perspective. Wong’s Kundo Lion in the Zoo features her characteristic style of dissecting and reconstructing limbs and parts into an expansive layout of lines and shapes, reminiscent of aerial photography. While typically formal in subject matter, Wong’s cartographic elements and style of depiction merge the subject with an unseen and expansive environment that unfolds over time.