show me the money!

Artists continue to be asked to work for free – maybe the City Council members should “volunteer” for their jobs.

“It is called citizen involvement, and many people consider it an honor to be appointed to city commissions. It is certainly an opportunity to advance city policy.”

I’m well aware of what citizen involvement is; I actually have done quite a bit of it myself.

However as a professional artist and gallery owner, I know of no other group that makes so little in their profession that is asked constantly to donate their work/time/materials for free and I speak from first hand experience.

This contibutes to the long worn-thin stereotype of the starving artist. It is also why Tacoma still, in reality, does not have a thriving art community.

Tacoma claims to support the arts. Well go on artwalk some third Thursday and you’ll see only a handful of people in attendance.

Tacomans need to put their money where their mouth is – if they support art, then they should buy art.

And the excuse that no one can afford original artwork is lame. There is plenty of affordable artwork, much of it less than $100.

Americans are willing to spend thousands on mass produced jewelry, cars, and clothes, but they can’t afford a one of a kind treasure that can be enjoyed by many generations. Give me a break.

The Tacoma Arts Commission actually hands out grants to folks willing to apply. They also manage 1% for the Arts, which allows the city to hire local artists to do public work. Looks like a benefit to local artists in my eyes. Thank you Tacoma Arts Commissioners for your awesome support.

there was a cutting edge gallery on St. Helens called the Critical Line, but it closed last month due to lack of community interest and funding.

<strong>Seriously, real artists have no time to donate to the “community” Also, art produced that is strictly not political or religious is right up there with soggy toast you find in a mud puddle.</strong>

You have got to be kidding me. “Real” art and “real” artists are defined as the artists see fit. Time donated to a community as an artist can benefit both.

ensie, there are several different layers of professional artist. there is the ‘fluff’ artist which is a favorite of Tacoma arts commission funding or who make pretty glass fruit bowls… and then there is the category of artists whom bring the inanimate into the realm of the living and or forge their will upon the world.

I am not trying to undermine the importance of the fluff artist since they provide a valuable service distracting/pacifying the civilian populations THEN provide a nice contrast when the serious artist reveals him or herself to the world.

Also, if you ever encounter a person claiming to be an artist and willing to ‘donate to the community’ beware, you are in the presence of a fifth columnist.

I’ve known some members of the Arts Commission over the years, and most of the ones I have known haven’t been artists per se, but all were people who were passionate about fulfilling the posted description: Provides leadership in supporting and enhancing the arts for the benefit of the city and its residents. Its purpose is to develop, support, coordinate sponsoring and/or presenting the arts on a year-round basis for the benefit of the residents of Tacoma. Some I have known found it a way to contribite to the arts community when they didn’t fit into the “artist” category. You know, For such a creative endeavor, it’s ironioc that art is one local topic that seems to bring out the most hateful words in people, artists included.

Also, if you ever encounter a person claiming to be an artist and willing to ‘donate to the community’ beware, you are in the presence of a fifth columnist.

I think this statement is a little overdramatic.

Dave – I agree, the majority of these positions (11) are to be filled by people who are not necessarily artists, but who have an interest in supporting the arts in Tacoma.

That was not an attack against David at all, that was a response to RR calling Tacoma Art Grant Recipients FLUFF. My point was that David was NOT fluff – obviously stated clumsily. I do hope we all know David is NOT the Easter Bunny. Aapologies to all who took my comment in a fluffy way…

This kind of dialogue is good.

SOMEBODY has to decorate the retaining walls on the I-5 corridor with pretty geometric patterns.

no, not necessarily, and that is partly the point. the arts continue to be addressed and prioritized in some manner in public policy because there are bodies like arts commissions whose members keep it relevant and on the agenda.

it is fortunate i suppose for you that you have the luxury of self indulgence and complete self satisfaction in your work. good for you—keep on rocking with your bad self.

other people i don’t think should suffer insults or be accused of compromised integrity for participating in the community arena.

since you place such a low value on such participation, i wonder why you’d bother posting on this thread at all (seeing as you were the first).

Paul, although I disagree with you about the need to cut up many lesser artists as bait to attract “Good Artists” I enjoy your articulate countenance.

John, pick up the clue phone; my comments are all in the interest of humor.

meanwhile: Andy Warhol sucks a big one!

We all could pretty much debate the question WHAT IS ART and WHAT CONSTITUTES AN ARTIST all day long. That’s partly what the committee is for ~ identifying what constitutes art that should be publicly funded in Tacoma.

RR – I wish an artist with your sensibilities WOULD take the step to be on the committee instead of just making fun of it. It might change public perceptions of art in the community. Your comments, made in fun, show that you are unhappy with the present state of arts funding in Tacoma. You seem to have plenty of time to post about your unhappiness here, why not spend that time on a committee opening the eyes of community members to “real” art?

Ha! I’ve been in the commercial arts field for a few decades now and I still don’t know what I like until I see it…much less what “art by definition” is. In the interest of laying some ground rules, here are some broad categories:

ART
Painting anything but a house.
Cinema
Literature and most other 4-syllable words
Clay stuff
Corn Palace(s)

NOT ART
Topiary
Macrame
Movies
Most beadwork (sorry)

Stuff like quilting and furniture-making fall in between somewhere. If it’s a blanket, why is it trying to be art? Why not call it a artlet or a blankart or something. Furniture trying to be art is like a teapot trying to be art. Just make tea and be good at that first; if you’re easy on the eyes, bonus.

Well, whatever. It’s about individual expression and messages carried in interesting delivery devices.

In terms of art, I’d be in too far over my head if I posted again, and I don’t want to distract from the interesting ongoing conversation. But as a point of clarification, the geomtric patterns on the I-5 wall have the primary purpose not as art, but as a whole, acting as a a noise wall, by taking what would otherwise be a flat surface and turning it into one that will break-up, deflect and disperse the sound waves created by traffic. We could all pay more per s.f. for more artsy ones, but they probably wouldn’t work as well, and you wouldn’t like them any better. Now please carry on where you left off – this conversation is fascinaing.

Peter,
Movies – Not art? What do you mean by that?

I try to stay out of art discussions, but I must be misinterpreting the idea of crafts being not art. If this is how it was intended, history and origins be damned.

The comment that furniture cannot be art would also lend itself to say that buildings can not be art. While some functional products have art applied to them, this art becomes ornamentation. However, the object itself can make a statement regardless of ornamentation.

(Of course, post-modernist works will sometimes mock its own ornamentation or production with the object. Or is the ornamentation mocking the object?)

Claudia, I was being facetious. “Cinema is art, movies are not art” is more wordplay than substance. Kind of like saying “drawings are art but illustrations are not.”

Blue is obviously art, red clearly is not. Only an idiot would disagree.

“the arts commission is filled with meddling middle-agers who know very little about art and just want to feel they weild some sort of power or authority.”

That’s a pretty harsh statement, and untrue based on people I’ve met who serve on the arts commission.

As far as driving off the good commissioners or the people who have good intentions — I think that has more to do with their frustration at feeling powerless to do some actual good in the arts community rather than some power-hungry volunteer driving them off.

Nice spunk, Ann. I hope others will do the same!

The idea at work here, “again,” I believe is that if you see that something may not be working…get involved to help fix it rather than shying away.

It’s when capable people don’t get involved that things really go to hell. That’s not really a very optimistic view for the community, in my humble opinion. (As a matter of fact, my opinion is the most humblest of all! I AM THE HUMBLEST OF ALL TIME!!!)

This is supposed to be sort of a goofy topic, right?

Primaries are for wimps? What are you, some kind of hack?! They’re called primaries for a reason.

I once beat a guy up for claiming that a triadic arrangement was the best approach for portraiture. And my grandmother, may she rest in peace, was all about a tertiary palette for landscapes. That’s when I put her in a home. A dude I work with started in one some packaging designs using an analogous scheme around orange. I downloaded a bunch of porn onto his machine at lunch and he doesn’t work there anymore. Orange. I know.

So, Ann (if that’s your REAL name), let’s not even go on about primaries. It’s not worth it.

But hey, are you going to apply for the arts commission position? It would be nice to see people with a sense of humor get involved in the public arts. (I tend to prefer art that I don’t have to take too seriously.)

“Praxis”..... whoa…wasn’t that the name of a Hendrix album from the ’70s?

The Praxis of Evil, Ann, – the theory of history repeating itself.

“Santana put out an lp named Praxis….”

...and if you play it backwards you can see a walrus dressed up like Paul McCartney…..

wait no, that wasn’t it…..