March 19, Outlook In, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
San Juan County Arts Council is presenting free workshops in March to explore the impact and potential of the arts on the local economy. The Arts Commission of Washington State (ArtsWA) recently awarded a grant to the San Juan County Arts Council as one of eight pilot projects across the state to support community collaborations that use a data collection system called the Creative Vitality Index (CVI) to better understand local creative economies.
Light refreshments will be served.
“We have plenty of data on a nationwide level to prove that the arts are a significant driver to economic vitality,” said Kris Tucker, Executive Director of ArtsWA. “This project helps us document at the local level just how important the arts are to community well-being.”
For more information about the CVI see: https://www.westaf.org/publications_and_research/cvi.
The “arts” are, most definitely, a driving force and an avenue of expression for the people on the islands; not just the young but also those of us who are retired and need an expression other than golf, gardening, or sports.
The music and theater venues are obviously the most supported, and for good reasons…they are an escape and entertainment from the everyday world and the mundane of island living, and they provide instant relief! Unfortunately, they are short lived and don’t provide residual gratification of contemplating the “event” after it happens (unless there is a CD involved.)
Let’s consider what it means to purchase a good visual artwork (painting). It is a life long purchase that changes daily. One day it means this, the next day it means that! It changes according to one’s daily habits and life experiences. It even changes according to what kind of breakfat one eats! Bad breakfast…bad take on the painting! Good breafast…good take on the painting!
So when we address the “arts”, we so often miss the worth of the seriousness of the paintings and the breath of emotion when they are produced. Sometimes (not often, but sometimes) island painters are putting their decades-old experiences out there for us, the viewing public, to witness and perhaps commiserate with.
Some of it is just plain silly (saccharine paintings that are nothing more than greeting cards!), but some of it is heart wrenching and to be appreciated for those that can’t sing, dance or act! It’s still art, and sometimes it’s dripping with sincerity and gut wrenching emotion, and filled with all the angst of what goes on behind the doors of “home”. (Viewers would be surprised how many “landscapes” are acutually comments on home life!).
Just like jazz, contemporary theater, and poetry… art is art, and it’s expressed in different ways and let’s not discount the different ways…whether it be by cello, choral singing, or acting!
A couple (two people) can go to a number of events at the Orcas Center, for one year, and pay far more than an investment in an afforadable painting from a local artist that will give gratification for decades and then be passed on to grandchildren.
Silly, inconsequential art that is not well thought out, does not merit consideration. Good, well done, contemplative art …does. And it’s being done here on Orcas, just take the time to look. And inquire if you don’t know what to look for. There is some incredible work being produced on the island that is worth investing in! I know….I’ve been looking at art my whole life and have witnessed the lives of my students and what they are trying to say. Sometimes it’s “symbiotically learning by observing”.
Terry Johnson, Prof. (ret.)
Orcas Island
“Some of it is just plain silly (saccharine paintings that are nothing more than greeting cards!)”
Who died and made you king of taste? If a painting brings pleasure to the buyer, if its purchase helps support someone’s artistic expressions (no matter how banal you think they are), then I say good for the purchaser! I couldn’t paint to save my life, but I honor those who express themselves that way—even if I don’t care for their work.
Agree with you, Mable. “Silly, inconsequential art that is not well thought out, does not merit consideration.” Fear of this kind of harshly judgmental criticism(from a professor, no less!) is enough to make a lot of people quit before they start. Let the nose-in-the-air critics from the New York Art World powder each others’ bums — but we don’t have to join them.
Well said, Mable Hastings and Thea Patten! Mr. Johnson’s comments come off as snobbish and didactic. Doing art with children is a privilege, and has furthered my view that art is all about enjoyment of the process, problem solving, and personal enrichment. If that’s all there, it’s obvious in the art, and it touches someone. I thought that teaching art was about encouraging each person’s individual joy in expression and enjoyment of the process through serious engagement and attention to the process. It is then that the person can find their own ‘voice.’ One person’s “silly and saccarine/not worth merit” art might just be another person’s sustenance; might be saving their life on levels apparently not obvious to Mr. Johnson. What is “art” is subjective. Labeling anybody’s art as “silly and saccharin” is merely personal taste; it doesn’t make anyone, professor or ditch digger, superior to another as an art ‘critic.’
I’ve done both–attended Orcas Center offerings and bought from local painters, and Mr. Johnson does have one point–our paintings are here year round. I’m not sure that there is enough organization among local artists to make them an economic force that will address the recession. Perhaps if there were more attention paid to off-island selling, like Etsy? An “island-grown” theme?
The Orcas tour of artist homes was very successful. Drawing outsiders to see the rich variety of art on Orcas is a great idea. But I think we should leave out powdering bums, unless, that is, someone wants to paint it. BTW in all the years I lived in NYC I never saw this actually done.