In recent years, the contemporary art world has begun to open its doors to established artists who over the course of their adulthood have become disabled. The two most obvious examples are Willem de Kooning (senility that was possibly Alzheimer’s) and Chuck Close (severely paralyzed). At the same time, however, the art world has been slow to embrace the work of adult artists who were born with mental and physical disabilities.

But tucked away in the often-unlit corners of the art world are studio projects – like Richmond California’s NIAD (National Institute of Art and Disabilities) – that work with these artists, to eye-opening effect. The breadth of vision offered by the work created at NIAD can only lead the viewer to realize it is our loss for not accepting this art into our pantheon sooner.

Located in one of the Bay Area’s most rugged urban enclaves, NIAD’s cadre of more that 50 disabled artists works with a talented pool of abled visual artists to create work that engages in the myriad conversations bubbling in contemporary art.

Spanning 25 years, “Come Tomorrow” offers a retrospective look at a dozen of NIAD’s most intriguing artists: Billy White, Tammy Harper, David Martin, David Martin, Michael Sutton, Jeremy Burleson, Luis Estrada, Sylvia Fragoso, Beverly Trieber, Harry Ingram, Willie Harris, Sara Malpass, Vincent Villanueva and Emmanuel Diaz.

Timothy Buckwalter is especially grateful to NIAD’s gallery director Brian Stechschulte for his valuable assistance in putting the show together.

Curator bio:
Originally from Pennsylvania, Timothy Buckwalter (born 1966) now lives in the Bay Area. Buckwalter’s paintings have been exhibited in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Portland. He has written about art for The East Bay Monthly, KQED FM, and San Francisco Chronicle. Nearly five years ago, he helped pioneer the curating of online exhibitions with his own yearlong weekly drawing shows. Most recently Buckwalter has put together the show “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate” for SFMOMA.