Wednesday, February 4, 2009

update from the last meeting.

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. Winter hibernation has finally set in. haha
Thanks to everyone who submitted Art for the LAA gallery showing. The reception for the co-op is Feb. 18th at 7:00 p.m. Make sure to come out and support not only your local arts but your family and friends as well! There will be refreshments from what i hear. From what i could see people sneaking in to the cafe to get wrapped up the artwork looks amazing.
The theme night was great to at the last meeting. The theme was "dog" and everyone did a great job. The next theme is "Decay" and we will be showing them in March.
Come out to the art gallery or the next meeting and hang out with all of us!

Here is this months question: During WWII the WPA (Works Progress Administration) was started to help form jobs and to come up with new forms of jobs for the American people. Part of what came out of this was America hiring foreign artists to travel to America and teach how to paint and other forms of art. Diego Rivera and Jose Orosco were brought to America as Mexican muralists to teach painting and working on a large scale. Artists were encouraged to take these workshops and were given a monthly amount of money to do their work. Jackson Pollock happened to be one of these artists that learned to work on a larger effecting his artwork later on. So the question i pose is do you think in tough economic times (similar to WWII) would a program like this work for the current situation America is in? Do you think that artists working together in the community bring about jobs and maybe raise the moral of the community?

1 comment:

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

I had the best post written, hit something on this keyboard, and POOF. It's gone.
So here is the shortened version: yes, I think any community, especially in the times we are in now, could benefit by a federally funded arts program similiar to the WPA. The funding for the IAC has been cut by HALF this year by the governor, yet the Indiana Artisan Program is supposed to be a primary focus??? Art is the first thing cut when school budgets are smaller, as athletics continue to be funded. In fact, as this has happened for about a generation now, the importance of art as a learning/appreciation tool has disappeared. It is not just the fact that some people make art, or survive being an artist, it is the general public that has not been educated to find VALUE in it. (or to PAY fairly for it) Overall, I feel this has helped to *dumb down* our country and art certainly is not elitist UNLESS IT IS MADE SO.
Putting art into a community is putting life into it. Art has been used as a form of therapy for years with proven clinical results. Therefore, wouldn't the benefit be the same for both learning artist and receiving community?
Looking at this strictly from the cold facts of revenue, if you have people working be it as artists or in other jobs, you have a stronger tax base which, again, benefits the community.
So that was a very long-winded YES!!!! :)