Saturday, June 22, 2019
I get no emails. No press orders. No comments. Only one Facebook “friend” request.
Is this what’s it’s like to die in obscurity – a phrase sometimes found in the
annals of art history when an artist or poet, writer or other creative,
inventive, discovering and imaginative individual passes?
Or is it, as prefer to think, my mysterious muse’ way of protecting me from
entanglements with the distractions that emails, press order and comments on
Facebook are to my real tasks of being creative, inventive, discovering and
imaginative – in all, a producer of valuable things.
“Be gone, dull care” comes to mind. What? It turns out to be a title of “an extraordinary short animation, Evelyn Lambart and
Norman McLaren painted colors, shapes, and transformations directly on to their
filmstrip. The result is a vivid interpretation, in fluid lines and color, of
jazz music played by the Oscar Peterson Trio.”
Something my muse dredged up out of my past,
a film from the 1960s when I was a junior in college and Ron Carraher was bringing
film to my attention. It was like the time Carl Chew and I were playing with
video feedback and made the video, “My Father’s Farm from the Moon.”
“So,’ as Elmer Gates said on his deathbed, “this
is how it has to be.” Whatever happened to Bill Ritchie and Carl Chew?
“Be gone, dull care.” What did they have in
mind when they titled their film? What did Carl Chew and I have in mind?
Stories I’d like to tell and, thanks to my freedom, I’m able to tell in my
autobiography.
My stories are too long to tell in this age
of sound bites and stampedes of people running over cliffs, fearing anything creative,
inventive, newly rediscovered and imaginative which has not been vetted to fit
on a “smart” phone.
The day after Carl sent me the advice I
asked for regarding my Artistscrip idea, I checked out the title of his recommended
reading: The art of selling altruism. But it was like the story of the yellow
scarf tied ‘round the trees – there were too many books like that. I’m waiting for
him to tell me which one to read.
In the meantime, I read one about partnerships
for altruism[i],
thinking of my strategic alliance with Rewana Nduchwa – my friend from Botswana
– whose Kalahari Honey project is my current model. Reading the article, I felt
like I could copy-write over it and insert Carl’s and my names into it and come
up with a plan to, as I believe it can be done, sell off our legacy for the benefit
of our chosen altruistic efforts.
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
es190604 Noble, notable links: Inspirational phrase from a TED talk
He lunches in front of his computer with a TED talk on the screen,
lunching and listening to a presentation by Beth Mortimer and her co-worker Tarje
Nissen-Meyer and a phrase jumps out at him which reminds him of his current
work with Mavis Nduchwa. “Nobl…
Paraphrasing Beth Mortimer, scientific researcher on TED talk given
November, 2018, I want to connect their inspirational talk with my current
project with Mavis Nduchwa:
“Advances in science, technology and business require noble
links to be made across seemingly disparate topics.”
Did she say noble or notable? Whatever it was she said, I
hear her words and I think of the example of disparate topics farming, conservation,
wildlife preservation and the disparate topics of art printing, books, and
papermaking.
We hope that agriculture, entrepreneurship and printmaking experience will lead
to practical economic solutions in education of young people and their
families.
How can we do that?
Begin with the economics of it – the economics of agriculture and art.
However, the word art is not what it appears to mean, it’s not what is conjured
up in peoples’ minds, such as art galleries, museums, theaters, dance, concerts
and movies. If you’re in a field of maize under a hot sun, the word art is out
of place. The work of farmers is unlike anything to do with art.
I grew up on a farm and as a kid I worked under the hot sun and I wanted to
die it was so hard. I wanted to leave farming and I became what I thought was
an artist. However, teaching in the arts is what I did.
Sixty years later I’m writing books about that; but lately I’m giving most
of my time to a farmer-turned-entrepreneur[1] and her goal of creating meaningful
work in her community and raising money for educating the kids in her schools.
Economics of farming are not so different from the economics of art in that
both depend for their meaning on consumers – one on food, the other for
experiences. We cannot live without food and clean water – but if our bodies’
needs are met, then we enjoy experiences of art, craft and design.
We may experience these by looking, but scientific research has shown we
are better at problem-solving if we have hands-on experience in art, craft and
design.
If we have problems, then education – including creative experiences – will
help solve them. It’s best to start young, and that’s where artists, crafts
people and designers can help in the same way that farmers make their
contributions to the world.
The devil is in the details, they say, and in the world today the devil is
money. How does my co-worker Mavis bring money to her community? Surely it is
through meaningful paid work – the work of farmers rewarded with sales of their
products like any other productive farm worker.
How to bring creative experiences to the kids? Any of the tools for this –
whether as simple color pens and paper or something more complicated and
intriguing – takes money.
In my mind I go to Mavis’ country. I will not go there physically but I
will use new technologies, from simple emails, Google Earth, and other Internet
tools. I will show there is another kind of art, craft and design never seen in
art galleries, museums and concert halls. It is printmaking intended for users,
not consumers.
Adam Smith, one of the thinkers responsible for the wealth of some nations
like the United States, is said to have written:
“Man is an animal that makes
bargains: no other animal does this - no dog exchanges bones with another. It
is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we
expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. Science is the
great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.”
I made a bargain with Mavis – we would exchange ideas. My need is to empty our
family’s art gallery. Her need is to bring art experiences to her community
schools with the profits of meaningful farm work.
It is from my benevolence that she expects money, but from my own interest –
the ability to labor on her behalf as well as the meaningful work that her project
affords me.
Science, technology, reading, engineering, art and math comprise the magic
pill to the poisons of fear and superstition because they provide for
communication and the satisfaction of solving problems creatively.
I am solving my family’s problem creatively. I am inventing artistscrip. I
began this work years ago with the help of people like Carl Chew – one of the
artists who make stamps (artistamps). My problem is 2,350 unsold artworks that
will never find art galleries or other venues for distribution – never will
they find consumers who buy art in the old-world fashion.
A new reason for offering art for sale has opened, thanks to current crises
facing humankind. We artists in the developed nations, with our wealth of time
and resources, can come to the aid of other nations’ people by using our
artworks as scrip – like stock certificates.
I can sell my art as artistscrip, providing for my family payroll and also
for Mavis’ project in Botswana. Thanks to the Internet with all the creative
methods it has brought about (crowdfunding, for example), we can share our resources
of time and creative problem-solutions.
As Beth Mortimer said in her TED talk, we can find noble (or notable) links
across disparate disciplines and at the same time teach others as we learn together.
[1]
Rewana Ka Nduchwa is an award-winning entrepreneur from Botswana, currently at
Fledge, a business accelerator.
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