art beat / By Katherine Almy

An Arts Collective on ‘Art’

Several of the Seven +ers brought up the fact that people who don’t think they are artistic are using too narrow a definition of the word. Lorraine Miller-Wolf says, “I believe that the creative spirit can manifest itself in every aspect of life; thus, a person may not be able to paint or draw, but creates a fabulous garden, or raises talented, accomplished children or is a fabulous cook or writes lovely letters to friends/family. The possibilities for creativity are endless within each of us, it’s a matter of broadening the definition of creativity, as well as having opportunities to explore our creative energies.”

Kathleen Zeppegno writes about her experience using art therapy with kids. “The children were able to express themselves through art making, sharing many feelings through their imagery, and often the story of their lives would unfold through art. Art is powerful in all forms.”

But sadly usually only a handful of kids find their way into programs that teach them how to understand and express themselves in the language of art. It should be the standard, and not the odd after-school program, that teaches art. Nancy writes, “We are faltering in refusing to honor what is a big part of our being human.”

While I believe with all of my heart that art is (or ought to be) a critical part of every person’s experience, it is often hard to explain why. It can’t be calculated in the terms that we usually use for measuring worth. There is a tendency in our society to concentrate only on the economic value of a thing and ignore worth based on the quality of life it brings. But economic value is only an incidental, in my book. What is much more valuable is art’s ability to help us in our struggle to make meaning out of our existence.

That struggle has no simple answer - the value of art is its capacity to incorporate the paradoxes of life. While I hesitate to pin myself down to any one definition of art, I quite like the way Amy Uyeki captured its ambiguity: “It’s not the answer, but it’s a question asked to answer a question.”

Questions like those will be addressed in a presentation I’m giving at the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (24 Fellowship Way, off Jacoby Creek Road in Bayside) on May 13, at 9:00 and at 11:00 am. I encourage anyone who is interested to attend. My plan is to offer a collection of the wisdom and ideas I get from some of the amazing people I talk with when I’m working on this column. E-mail me or check out the HUUF website www.huuf.org for more details.

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