Our online gallery features just a few of the many paintings, sculpture and other art objects at the firm’s offices. Most of the art, often described as “outsider,” “visionary” or “self-taught” art,” was created by persons who have no formal art training or education. Some of these artists have never been inside a traditional art gallery or museum. They ingeniously use whatever materials are at hand—literally, as in the case of the late Alabama artist, Jimmie Sudduth, who died in 2007, at the age of 97. Sudduth painted with his fingers and made paint out of mud mixed with grasses and wild berries. Another of the featured artists, Charlie Lucas welds his metal sculptures from objects he finds along the side of the road. These artists and the art they create are testament to the creative force and inspiration of the individual human spirit. Just as their artistic vision empowers these artists, our firm’s goal is to empower our clients by helping them break down barriers to equal employment, fair treatment as employees, full and equal access for people with disabilities and enjoyment of a safe environment.
On March 4, 2022, national legal newsletter Law360 published an article highlighting GBDH’s art gallery, as follows:
Law360 (March 4, 2022, 4:49 PM EST) –Visitors to the offices of worker-side firm Goldstein Borgen Dardarian & Ho might stumble upon an unusual sight in one of the conference rooms: a seven-foot tall sculpture of a woman, made of discarded metal, wire, fishnet and a car part, with movable arms.
“Sassy Lady,” the sculpture by artist Charlie Lucas, is one of more than 20 works of art the firm has collected over the past two decades and displays in its San Francisco Bay Area offices. The firm also displays them in an “art gallery” on the firm’s website. Lucas completed “Sassy Lady,” which the firm commissioned, in 1996. Partner Linda Dardarian, who established the collection with retired partner Teresa Demchak, recalled that the artist said the women in the office inspired the sculpture. Dardarian is unaware of any other law firm with a gallery like theirs, and Law360 was unable to identify others with online galleries, though at least a few firms have had art collections displayed in their offices. “It adds so much joy and creativity to the law firm environment to have art like this,” Dardarian said. “I find it very inspiring and uplifting.”
The firm’s collection consists of folk and outsider art from local creative centers for people with disabilities and from artists in the South whom Dardarian and Demchak learned of through Demchak’s sister, who was the director of a folk art foundation. Some of the artists now have works in institutions such as the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The works appear in common areas and offices at the firm, which represents workers in wage and hour cases and other matters.
