Cultured Council

I experienced something interesting yesterday evening! I attended my first-ever city council meeting. (I only stayed for part of it, but...it's a start.)

Why was I there? Waterloo mayor Brenda Halloran wished to recognize members of the Kitchener Waterloo Little Theatre for their award-winning production of the Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. Check out the video:

(Yes, that's me in there. Thanks to Chris for filming the second half of that video so I could go up with the rest of them.) Anyway. Immediately following our presentation was a report from the Creative Enterprise Initiative CEO Heather Sinclair. She's been on the job for a mere two and a half weeks, but it sounds like she's been busy! (Be sure to check out the website to see what this organization is all about.) She said one thing last night that really rang true for me: one comment she has heard most from Waterloo Region residents is that there is "no culture" in this area. But she and I agree that is not the case. This area DOES have a vibrant and rich arts culture...one thing we need to do is find a way to communicate all the exciting things to the potential audience members.

As someone who spends countless hours trying to contribute to the "culture" of this Region (both as an individual artist, a member of a community theatre organization AND a member of a band) it really pains me to hear people say there's nothing cultural going on around here.

Art, Craft and Creativity

When people ask me what I do, I tell them I'm an artist. (I'm slowly getting used to saying that, to defining myself as an artist instead of as a scientist, but that's a topic for another post.) Ever since I started doing my stained glass work, I've always thought of it as an "art" rather than a "craft". But how do you tell one from the other? What makes a person an "artist" and not a "crafter"??

Each piece I make is unique. Most of the work I do is abstract, and my designs are completely my own. I also try really hard to make every piece beautiful...to me. I would proudly hang any and all of my creations in my own home, and enjoy looking at them. I've always said that my stained glass is different, I don't do the usual stock-pattern "angels and butterflies" that you see at oh so many craft shows. I guess all of these things help me to feel justified in calling my work "art".

But I feel like I'm trapped in the craft world. In an effort to try to sell pieces, I sign up for shows. I've tried to avoid the hardcore "craft shows" and tried to get into events with more of an art focus, but the result is still the same: I find myself spending hours and hours in the studio, churning out lots of small-to-medium suncatchers (each one unique!!) in order to have enough stuff to sell at these shows. For instance, this past week has been spent almost exclusively making lots of recycled bottle glassware to have on hand at tomorrow's Bloomin' Earth eco-fair event. I also stress over my Etsy shop, which I try to keep stocked with my stained glass molecule designs, so I find myself cranking out lots of those as well. (I'm proud of my stained glass molecules, and I've been slowly gaining attention on Etsy with them over the last couple of years...it's so nice to have a unique little niche in that particular community. But sometimes I feel like a factory, constantly cracking out little glass hexagons!)

In the meantime, my head is swirling with new ideas, new things I want to try out to take my art to the next level. I want to make large stained glass panels. (I do make large panels currently, but only on a custom basis. I think the chances of selling a non-custom panel are so slim that I am hesitant to put in the time and effort required to make one, when I could be using that time to make smaller pieces that WILL sell.) I'm super-excited for the glass fusing course I'll be taking this summer, and I will want to incorporate the things I learn there into my art. I want to experiment with some mixed-media and three-dimensional stuff, and do more etching/sandblasting.

But I just don't feel like I have the time to simply stop and be creative. I'm too busy trying to get ready for the next show, and the next show, and then the one after that. But if I stop doing these shows, my already-meager income stream will also stop. (The other day I received an invitation to apply to be a vendor at the Fergus Scottish Festival in August. I got really excited, then asked myself: do I really want to spend the entire summer making celtic knot after celtic knot to prepare for it?? I still haven't answered that question.)

I'm going to have to find some balance somewhere. In a perfect world an artist wouldn't have to make the choice between "being creative" and "making money" but I guess that's what I'm facing.

Art in the online comment forums

I made a grave error this morning...I read the comments on an online Record article. I should really know better.

I'm talking about this article: http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/506278--new-arts-leader-announced-for-waterloo-region

The article itself is great news for the arts in Waterloo Region. Any organization whose mandate seems to be attracting creative talent (and funding for said creative talent) to this area is good news in my books. And it sounds like Ms. Sinclair has the credentials to pull this off. I'm not sure how it will benefit me directly as an individual artist (I'd suggest you go read this extremely well-written article to understand what I mean...go read it, I'll wait...all done? ok...) but anything that encourages the arts as a whole in this area will certainly benefit me indirectly, both as an arts practitioner and an individual citizen. I can see that. Unlike the people in the comment thread, it would seem.

I don't mind if an individual person "doesn't care" about the arts. That's their prerogative. But I get so tired of people who use supposedly incomprehensible public statues to claim that the arts are useless and shouldn't be publicly funded.

This particular one caused a lot of controversy. It is called "Aporia" by artist Edward Zelenek and is installed outside the Kitchener courthouse on Frederick Street. Lots of people don't "get it" but personally it is one of my favourite bits of local public art. I'm sorry to hear that people don't like the fact that their tax dollars go toward things like this. It benefits me and improves my quality of life. I certainly don't begrudge them the fact that my tax dollars help to pay for many services that I don't use that might be relevant to them. Isn't that kind of what living in a community is all about? We pool our resources to create a living space that benefits all residents, not just you. Unfortunately that requires a bit of compromise, because you can't make everyone happy. If you can't get behind that, maybe you should go live in a cabin in the woods.

But, I digress. Arts! Culture! I shudder to think what a cold, dark world this would be without art. I just wish the naysayers could see it too. And in the future, I think I'm just going to stay away from the comment threads on online news articles.

Photo courtesy Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery