Art, Community, Sharing, Creating Meaning

As I write today, it is with the type of process that one might use to create any work of art or piece of music. Something strikes you - you either stumble upon it, see it, hear it etc. A little later you stumble upon something else which strikes you. You don’t see a connection except for their proximity to you. But being the creative sort who looks for connections or meaning - you string together or weave together what might be otherwise disparate events.

So with that said, as I searched for news stories related to something I might feel like writing about - I found several articles which each had something interesting in them.

The first article I saw had a great title "Open Your Art". It was about a new art center that was 30 years in the making and how the artists had no place to congregate or share and there was "no place for them to create art bigger than their individual dreams."  I love that line.

This idea of art being community oriented came up again in another article about a trio converting a warehouse space into art studios. What I enjoyed the most about this article, was how the group described wanting to have control over their own space while also wanting to share it; but more amusing was the photo where they all wore masks - wanting to be in control of their own images - but of course.

In another article - about being in control -  an artist/professor insists “I want students to begin to see themselves as artists; because, as I tell my students, the first person who needs to think you are an artist is you.”

The two other articles will be referenced below. One I found interesting because it was about creating art using what you have available - a theme I have been writing about. The second was a tale which though absurd pointed out the difference between the sum of the parts and the whole and is a fun story.

To sum up, if that is possible. Open your art to community, to sharing, to believing in yourself and what you have to offer. Don’t underestimate what you have available and don’t over analyze what you create.

And finally, don’t hesitate to put together the disparate pieces of your world in a way which is creative and perhaps meaningful. 

See Also

• News Target
  Tale of Doctors who Tried to Create Art
• Philadelphia Inquirer
  Rugs are her clay, her marble
• UMass Magazine Online
  If You Can Make It There
• The Courier-Journal
  Trio plan a new place to create art