Helpers Artisan Boutique

Helpers Artisan Boutique is a Voice for Artists.

Helpers Artisan Boutique Mission Statement

Helpers Artisan Boutique is an advocate, a “voice,” and a marketplace for artists with developmental disabilities.
This is done by:

Providing retail/revenue opportunities for artists
Collaborating with other organizations
Building awareness, accessibility, and exposure through events
Promoting inclusivity

Retail Location

We encourage all our friends and supporters to help us spread the word about our gift boutique at 1947 Union Street, San Francisco. This busy retail district offers lots of fun things to do. Grab a friend and make a morning or afternoon of it. Visit us soon, we have wonderful treasures to share!

Our store is unique, you will find handcrafted items created by talented individuals with developmental disabilities from throughout the greater Bay Area and beyond. All items featured at Helpers Artisan Boutique are either made by, designed by, or produced by organizations that serve them. When visiting the store, be sure to read the featured bios of these talented artists.

Our store employees are individuals with developmental disabilities and graduates of our retail job training. Union Street offers our trainees a more vibrant shopping spot to learn customer service and retail operations, including the use of Square to process point-of-sale transactions.

The boutique looks for opportunities to participate in pop-up shops located in the Bay Area to further strengthen awareness about our artists’ talents, providing opportunities for the expansion of their creativity, inclusion in the community, and the store’s sustainability.

In addition, Helpers Artisan Boutique offers an assortment of products on our shop online website. https://shop.helperssf.org/

Helpers Artisan Boutique

Open: Wed – Sat, 11:00 am-5:00 pm
Closed: Sun – Tue

Helpers Artisan Boutique will be closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Years Day.

1947 Union Street,
San Francisco, CA 94123

Helpers Artisan Boutique Tour

Shop Online

MEET THE ARTIST

Shane Tarkington

Shane Tarkington was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2. He worked hard, through years of therapy. With the help of his family, friends and art teacher, Shane began to thrive by creating art that touches many lives and has found a way to sustain himself into the future. By your purchase of his art, you are helping Shane to continue to be a contributing member of society and showing that he can make a difference in the world.

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MEET THE ARTIST

Matthaus, Ability Path

Matthaus began sculpting at 5 years old; by 9 he was making animals and imaginary creatures using paper, paper towels, plants, clay, and even food. He began to work in tin foil because his sculptures are durable, but flexible enough to “roam” around in his imaginary world.

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MEET THE ARTIST

Justin S.

Justin is a gifted and talented artist from One Step Beyond. His first love is ceramics where he works with clay. He is always experimenting with new techniques and his work has been featured at galleries like Wham Gallery, Art One Gallery, Surprise City Hall in Arizona.

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MEET THE ARTIST

Naoki, Hope Studios

NAOKism, the mom and son team are excited to introduce their own line of unique handmade beads accessories.

NAOKism was established in 2016 by Keiko and opened Etsy shop in September, 2020 as a place to showcase bead craft items made by their son, Naoki.

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MEET THE ARTIST

Harrison Walkowiak, The Pomeroy Center

Harrison is a friendly, engaging, highly skilled, and talented artist. He has attended the Pomeroy Center since the beginning of 2018. An accomplished musician who is a virtuoso on the tuba and the sousaphone, he started drawing as a young child, using colored pencils and markers.

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MEET THE ARTIST

Donna Osborn, Creativity Explored

Donna Osborn, an integral part of the Creativity Explored artist community, has been practicing art since she was 16 years old, after an art teacher in high school encouraged her to act on what comes naturally to her and create!

Donna is adept across artistic mediums including watercolor, finger painting, and collage, with her jigsaw collage pieces being her most identifiable work.

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MEET THE ARTIST

Tanya Noske, Cedars Arts & Textiles

Tanya says she just loves working with her hands. She is very accomplished as a weaver and creates beautiful, soft blanket fabrics of natural fibers. Tanya is also experimenting with Native meditative drumming as a way to calm and focus her mind.

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MEET THE ARTIST

Stephanie

Stephanie has always had a great love of the arts. However, it was when she joined the One Step Beyond Art Studio that she discovered her joy for ceramics.
Primarily a hand-builder, she enjoys making fun and functional pieces. “It’s easier to make what I imagine in my head out of clay than anything else I’ve tried.”

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