As President of the Salem Arts Association, I was asked to give a speech to the inductees of the Salem High School National Arts Honor Society. Here's what I had to say to them...Willa Cather, the American writer who penned My Antonia and Oh, Pioneer, is quoted as saying “there is no God, but one God, and art is his revealer”.
When I first heard this quote I stopped in my tracks for it was the definition of art that I had been waiting for. It succinctly brought into one statement all the bits and pieces of a definition of art that I had been gathering over the years.
“There is no God, but one God, and art is his (or her) revealer.”
I believe that all living creatures are tiny little pieces of a larger whole, and the arts are what help us to define - to reveal to ourselves - exactly who we are.
And as we are all different, and we all contain different parts of that larger whole, we respond individually and very differently to works of artistic creation. So don’t get discouraged. Your work will eventually reveal itself to those who need it.
I once walked into a gallery and stood in the middle of five paintings and wept. The artist, Bo Bartlett, had so completely helped me to define a part of myself that I was overcome with emotion.
I saw a play called “A Madhouse in
Martin Sherman and Bo Bartlett will never know the effect they had on me. And what’s even more fascinating, is that Martin Sherman and Bo Bartlett may not have intended for me to have the experience I had.
They created as they were called to do and then gave it up for me to decide what it would do for me. If anything.
That is what is so darn cool about art.
Artists are important. Artists are important because as Ms. Cather’s quote suggests to me, we are part minister, part counselor, part healer, part philosopher, and part teacher.
So I, for one, thank you for wanting to minister, counsel, heal, philosophize and teach.
And I congratulate you on this milestone in your young career.
And I asked some of my association members what they thought would be important to tell you on this occasion, and here is what some of them said….
Stay alert. Inspiration comes from the darndest places. From tire tracks left in the snow, from the clacking of a radiator, in a plastic grocery bag caught in a whirlwind, in the texture of a dog’s fur. Note it, record it, respond to it.
If you are not involved in a collaborative art like theatre, occasionally work on a collaborative project with other artists.
Have fun. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Don’t under-price your work.
Don’t overprice your work.
And finally, GET INVOLVED with your local community of artists. Support them in their endeavors, take the opportunity to learn from those both more and less experienced than yourself, and put yourself in the middle of a an opportunity to reveal to your local community who they are collectively.
Thank you, and again - congratulations!
Now GO MAKE SOME ART
