So you may have been wondering why we didn't cover the Public Art Panel hosted by Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN) at Bucketworks on Monday night, especially since we'd covered nearly every plausible and implausible angle of the Janet Zweig project kerfuffle. "Why, oh why, Cricky?" I hear you plaintively cry.
Fair and insightful question, dear reader, and my answer is simply that the decision was not based on disinterest or apathy stemming from a victory won but rather on a lack of time to blog it up and the knowledge that both Mary Louise Schumacher at Art City and the MARNsters had a handle on it.
That being said, after reading Mary Louise's post--to whom, by the way, I'd like to say, "Buck up, kid," in the most soothing way possible--and watching the video of the meeting through the great courtesy of Bucketworks, I am filled with mixed emotions and somewhat conflicted thoughts and, quite frankly, I couldn't be happier! I know you're thinkin' I’m screwdelled in the noodle for sayin' that, but I can no more deny my true reaction than deny my geeky love for the zany tunes of the brilliant Tom Lehrer--link provided for the sadly uninitiated.
Here's the two-part reasoning for my giddiness:
1. While it's clear that nothing truly practical arose from it, this meeting served the purpose of facilitating dialog and discussion at a level seen only in spurts recently, and that is a good thing in and of itself. Questions were asked, some had no answers--at least not yet--ideas were exchanged, project updates were shared, and some very good learnin' was had by all.
2. The push and pull that is inherent to the artistic life--the beauty of process and the questioning of intent, the quest for freedom and the desire for form, the investigation of the intangible and its transformation into the tangible, the careful balance of the idealistic and the pragmatic--all of these things were clearly apparent at this meeting and that means progress.
To wit, I'd like to point out a couple of extremely strong moments during the discussion. For those unaware of primary purpose of the panel meeting, it was to address several questions regarding public art, which are, and I quote the MARN listserv message:
"* What is Milwaukee's Public Art Process?
* Who has the voice?
* How does the public effect change in this process?
* As an artist how do you "get in on the action"?
* How to make sure things don't go haywire?
* What to do when things DO go wrong"
Okay, I'll begin with Murph Burke, Chair of the Milwaukee County Public Art Committee. She, good people, was golden, and I mean golden, with statements like this:
"You've gotta keep communicating. You've gotta to keep educating and reeducating. Just saying things over and over, and you're going to get more people interested because it's going to hit them at different points. You're not gonna turn them around into your biggest advocate, ya know, and supporter, but they're gonna be aware of things and the more people are aware of things the more they have a tendency to buy-in and understand... It's constantly ongoing. We can do this tonight and maybe have three more of these meetings, and you still should do it again in six months. Because unless you keep it going it dies."
Now, doesn't that sorta talk send shivers of the Right On! kind down your spine? Indeedy do! Learning is a lifelong process--we do it everyday in all sorts of ways and sometimes we're not even aware of it when it's happening. In light of that fact, it behooves all of us to speak about art and what's going on in the arts with non-artsy folks as frequently as we can. In conjunction with that, we must be willing to respectfully listen and discuss art with those not regularly engaged with it so that we may learn from them as well. Respect is a two-way street, kids, and there's just no way around it.
In that same vein, someone in the audience very firmly and persuasively argued:
"I think that artists in general, and I am one and I work in the nonprofit sector and I'm a university student and so I'm all deep in the bureaucracy... I think that there's kind of this assumption that people know the value of art... And that we're all trying to, we just can't figure out why they won't pay us. [Hearty laughs were had by all here.] Like we just don't get it. 'Cause of course it's valuable. But I think that's something that artists really need to get a grasp on is that we are the first people responsible for making people understand the value of art. And if we don't do something to create a value to the community, then they're gonna continue to not care... I think we get so caught up in the bureaucratic process and in trying to figure out how to get money that we forget that there has to be a value to get money for things... If we can find a way to convince the public of the value of it, then the projects will happen and the money will flow."
Who was that off-screen genius? I so wish I knew 'cause I totally wanna add her to my BFF collection. If you're reading this, oh woman with a million things going on and still breathing, comment or email Cricky immediately so I may give you kudos directly.
Jill Sebastian, sculptor/installation artist/Professor at Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), agreed to some points made there, but noted:
"I do think you're right that a lot of artists think why aren't people paying me to do this, and I'm not an artist who ever asked that question. Ya know, the first question to me is, ya know, as an artist I make art, and connecting with people is, I have to agree with Murph, ya know, that's part of making art. The other stuff follows after that... What my experience tells me over and over again, even though people talk about the average population not being educated to art, over and over they say we want art... What happens between the artist and the community isn't the disconnect in education it's a disconnect I think in process. The most exciting works that I've done in public art have been when I've been working directly with community groups from kind of the grassroots, where I'm not brought in, ya know, here, here's an artist, drop you in on here, instead it starts out as a conversation as to, ya know, what are your dreams and goals and how do you live and what can we do together, and then I take those kinds of conversations and, ya know, process them through what I can contribute as an artist. The money comes after that. I think anybody that is working from the other way around is asking to be misunderstood."
Wow. Just wow, folks. These are exactly the types of conversations we need to be having on a consistent basis because what's being demonstrated here is the utter complexity and diversity that exists throughout the artistic community and, indeed, within the creative process itself.
There is no one way, no perfect solitary solution to grow and maintain the arts within the larger society--all ideas, methods, opinions, and concepts must meld and yet retain their distinctive quality in order for success to be had. We need to approach the discussion of public art and art in general through all of these means and with all of these points of view intact. Though it may make each of us weary and disheartened at times, just as it is with creative expression, the work of communicating the value of art never, ever ends.
If you've got some time on your hands, check out the video for yourself.
Related:
Miltown Proves Its Artsy Love
