Making the unseen visible

Art Bias is a 32-year-old artist collective, showcasing painting, drawing, photography, calligraphy, book arts, film, jewelry and more. With studios for 56 creators it’s the largest art collective on the Peninsula. Their halls are decorated with resident artists’ work.

For months the caring artists of Art Bias have also been decorating the halls of the secret shelter run by CORA, Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse. The shelter housing abused women and children needs to be hidden from view, because it has to be a safe place abusers cannot find.

But tucked away from society, the residents are isolated from the world they knew. Talk about lonely.

Art Bias members truly care about more than just artwork. They care about their community. You can see it in the exciting San Carlos Centennial Mural they painted. They have classes for every level and many art forms, providing some of them at HIP Housing’s senior residences, Youth Mentorship in Sequoia High School, bilingual instruction at Casa Circulo Cultural’s summer camps, and hands-on workshops for developmentally disabled kids at One Step Beyond.

You can visit their studios and they’ll be happy to share the joy of creativity. Their monthly First Sunday demonstrations are open to all.

Shut behind the walls of the safe house, the family abuse victims cannot share in all that, so Art Bias brought the spirit to them where they live. They decked the walls with paintings, drawings and photographs. Some depict pain, some hope and some are simply cheerful. Yet all of them turn a drab unfamiliar place into home.

“Walking into a domestic violence agency, you kind of think of the heavy, but it is really about the hope as well,” Karen Ferguson, CORA executive director, said. “We may deal with abuse, but it is our job to see the beauty emanating out of those who are striving and surviving.”

Their wonderful efforts would normally be invisible to you, even as domestic abuse is often invisible to the rest of us.

Now to help our community understand, in solidarity with women and families experiencing domestic abuse, Art Bias artists are bringing some of their shelter artwork into the light. From Thanksgiving until January they will be on public display at Art Bias headquarters for all to see.

 You’ll see more hope than heartbreak in these pieces. Shea isn’t kidding titling her painting “Homage to Georgia,” because you can feel Georgia O’Keeffe’s strong female spirit in the flowers. Linda Roth’s “Crossing the Bridge” brings a symbolic shaft of light into a dark forest. Tina Velez’s “Grounded” is a joyous dance. Terra Fuller’s “The Pie Quilt” would have you smiling as you snuggle into it. And for fun “The Last Straw that Healed the Camel’s Back” by Marianna Kiraly turns the cliché of breakdown on its head, a Chagall vibe with a dromedary sailing through the sky.

I believe you will agree with Shea, “If it gives a little bit of solace, a bit of happiness to someone, then it’s all worth it.”

Just drop by and share the love.

You Can Create Too: Art Bias studios open to the community the first Sunday every month, hosting tours, talks and activities for all ages. Dec. 7 will be its Holiday Art Market extravaganza with exhibits by the Youth Mentorship Program, and hands-on art activities for the kids.

Art Bias, 1700 Industrial Road, San Carlos, artbias.org, (650) 593-3177.

Bart Charlow, author and consultant, has been sketching all his life and painting for over 45 years, had a professional photography business, and leads plein air painting groups. Come along as he shares his insights about the local art scene, and bring your sketchbook. His art and story is at: bartsart.weebly.com.