A MEDLEY OF THOUGHTS

The last few weeks I have started and discarded a number of topics for this blog. My thoughts have been scattered in so many directions: the current status of the public arts, the classes I am teaching, the collages I have been working on, new artists discovered and old favorites revealed to new viewers. It’s been a matter of which topic to address and when? What will my readers find most interesting?

So, I have decided to feed you a smorgasbord of thoughts going into this week, accompanied by some images.

FIRST, THE LIFE OF THE IMAGINATION

Recently I showed a work of art that I particularly enjoy to my art history classes at Wright State. The Garden of Earthly Delights (1515) by the Dutch artist Hieronymous Bosch is a singularly unique piece of work for that time period. It’s not singular to Bosch’s personal style, but when one first sees this remarkable triptych (a triptych is a three-part hinged altarpiece) it’s easy to think that the artist who made it must surely have been a contemporary of Salvador Dali. It looks so surrealistic. 2016 was the 500^th year anniversary of Bosch’s death and celebrations and exhibits and special events took place in his hometown of den Bosch, Netherlands, and at the Prado Museum in Madrid, which is home to The Garden of Earthly Delights. 

My students were really intrigued by the strange imagery in the triptych, the interpretation of much of it, the unknown meaning of other parts, and the visual imagery of one’s journey from Adam and Eve’s paradise through a life lived without thought to moral character, and the hellish aftermath of living such a life. If you have never viewed The Garden of Earthly Delights, it’s worth your time. Check the following websites: https://www.bosch500.nl/en; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zC3UuGxitU; www.npr.org/.../hieronymus-bosch-died-500-years-ago-but-his-art-will-still-creep-you-...

SECONDLY, WHAT WE STAND TO LOSE

The very soul of our cultural lives is threatened these days. I try to concentrate on art in these posts, and stay non-political. However, these are puzzling and frightening times for the arts and I am worried. Worried. Worried. Worried. It’s not just the arts that concern me, however, it’s a plethora of quality of life issues that affect our country. The list is long, so let’s approach it in alphabetical order. From the Washington Post, the LA Times and others, here is the list as I know it currently:  

African Development Foundation

Appalachian Regional Commission

Chemical Safety Board

Corporation for National and Community Service

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Delta Regional Authority

Denali Commission

Institute of Museum and Library Services

Inter-American Foundation

U.S. Trade and Development Agency

Legal Services Corporation

National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Humanities

Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation

Northern Border Regional Commission

Overseas Private Investment Corporation

United States Institute of Peace

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Ironically, I visited the LBJ Library and Museum this weekend in Austin. Guess who spearheaded many of these agencies and signed them into life? That’s right, Lyndon B. Johnson. Below is a photo I took of a Johnson quote:

I would note that today the first sentence may also apply to the scientists. They are in danger of losing the penthouse. We all may be headed for the basement. I hope not.  

A NEW ARTIST DISCOVERED

Lastly, and on a more upbeat note, I discovered a new artist this week: Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (1928-2000), an Austrian born artist and architect who moved to New Zealand.  Take a look at his work!

Have a great week.

Necessary Essential Arts ...

First, a drawing a day for a year: I am sticking to the resolution. I continue to draw, every day. Like breathing, I draw. That’s as it should be.

Next: the NEA. National Endowment for the Arts. Necessary essential arts. Never enough art. Not eliminating arts (funding). All of that. Why am I writing about the NEA, again? It has to do with Wright State University and the re-installation of a great work of art, originally created in 1981, removed some years later, and now recreated, permanently, in the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries at Wright State.

That work is a piece by the conceptual artist Sol Lewitt, and it was originally funded by a grant from the NEA. Students helped with its creation in 1981, and now in 2017, students and patrons get to enjoy it again. Were it not for the NEA grant, we would not have this very important work available to us. That’s what those grants are for, to allow artists the means and the time and the space and the place to create work, and to allow the public the time, the space, the place, and the opportunity to experience the work.

I am worried about the future of the NEA. It’s funding is always tenuous; it has often been a target of federal budget cutters who want to appear cost conscious. However, the NEA is a tiny, tiny part of the federal budget, and eliminating its funding would have little to no impact on the budget. And it is necessary for our government to support the arts; they should be leading the way.

Have you ever studied life under totalitarian regimes? Those worlds are, almost literally, gray. People dress in subdued clothing, work in drab buildings, stand in line for low quality goods. Art adds color and shape and texture and breath to the world. We need that. We need the NEA. 

  Students working on the original Sol Lewitt wall drawing, 1981.

Support your local arts…

With all the uncertainty surrounding the futures of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), I have been thinking quite a bit about support for the arts. (It should be noted that the NEA and NEH combined are only about 0.003 percent of the federal budget; each received $148 million last year which is not very much.) In fact, according to news sources I consulted, it’s kind of like this: if you make $50, 000 a year, spending the equivalent of what our government spends on the NEA, the NEH, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting combined, it would be like spending less than $10. Holy cow, you say, our federal government spends that little on the arts? Yep.

So, that aside, let’s think locally. I have been thinking locally because I am involved with both the Dayton Visual Arts Center and the Dayton Society of Artists (as well as a few others …). I want both these organizations to be not only useful to artists and art lovers, but vibrant and growing. They serve different and very necessary purposes for the arts in our community.

Currently I have been working on growing sponsorships and memberships for Dayton Society of Artists. This art organization is entering its 79^th year and the last few years have seen new growth with an infusion of younger artists and consequently new ideas. However, it is a non-profit and non-profits can be a little financially tenuous. Thus, we are always seeking additional support.  

New members bring in new members and new ideas and new art and new life. So, those of you – including me of course – who are already DSA members need to seek out other artists who could benefit from our great programs and opportunities to exhibit, in addition to the creative comradery.

For those of you who love the arts and understand how a vibrant bevy of creatives contributes to lively communities, think about becoming a Friend of the Gallery or sponsoring an exhibition award. I am including in this post the information you need if you wish to befriend our gallery at 48 High Street in the St. Anne Historic district. Isn’t it beautiful?