Having earlier talked the Art Walk, the next step is to - this morning - nail down my long-held views on local coffee-house art. There's a poor-cousin connect - Art Walk is Nelson's presentation to the world of juried-best-of-the bunch, as-good-as-it-gets local art within a limited time-frame, and coffee-house art is what's presented all year around - juried by Aunt Helen. Both pretty much represent Nelson's fine arts at their finest "out there" - burnishing earnestly its idea of being the most arty small town in Canada.
As an interesting aside: for the recent Culture Walk - inviting the public to "meet people behind the scenes at galleries and museums, visit studios not normally open, shop for original art or fine crafts and experience special events planned only for this weekend" - only 12 culture hot-spots within this very broad spectrum signed-up in Nelson.
On to coffee-house art. Now, coffee-house art is not officially juried but chosen based on the places' decor, owners' preferences and relationships. Mainly relationships. And it shows! Here a generally accepted standard of quality is largely absent, because coffee-house proprietors focus on selling gallons of coffee and stuff to dunk - coffee being a food item with one of the highest profit margins anywhere in anything. Coffee-house art - no so much. I am talking painterly integrity issues in these settings and often personally feeling offended by them - embarrassed too, because this is what visitors see during the whole year.
If a coffee house walks the Art Walk, for the duration quality may be higher but not necessarily high.
Restaurant-art here usually is on the same level; art at Gallery 378 mostly is more decorative than fine; the quality of exhibits at the Nelson Library fluctuates widely - rarely excites; and I can only take so many installations at Touchstones.
The coffee is beginning to make me crazy - I'm ready for downtown!
Sidewinders. For years this place had the dubious distinction of consistently having by far the worst stuff of them all on its walls. But they've come around - they saw the light! They hung two long, rectangular mirrors horizontally on the stuff-wall, with just enough space in between for - right now - one floral offering. The place now feels light and uncluttered! One can breathe! An exception among the Royal City's coffee houses.
You may worry that I will take you to all of them in the Baker corridor - there are many - but fear not, I couldn't bear it either. I've had my cost-effective caffeine-fix and don't feel particularly needy this morning.
Just a few, just a few!
Next - Oso Negro, the mother of them all. The whole place a matinee - everybody's in (on) it; waiting for a cup of coffee in a long line is an opportunity. Oso Negro is IT - one's 15 cool Nelson minutes. So who needs flat stuff on the walls? Nobody, really - but painters wanting to be part of cool and hang their cool-by-association output here are legion, the list is long. Neither here nor in other coffee houses do patrons pay particular attention to the walls - I feel self-conscious about checking-out the poorly hung landscape-overload of no distinction on Masonite, priced absurdly.
An awkwardly painted tree - and this tree multiplied - means that the painter lacks basic facility for painting and shouldn't tree publicly - even at Oso.
Ward's Art Walk display is discreet bed-sheet patterns straight from Canadian Living.
Grounded - yet another Art Walker - presents consistently put together, untitled pieces in "acrylics, sand and coffee"! I kid you not! The painter is an Emily-Carr graduate - feeling entitled to some substantial cash possibly because of it. And - size being everything - the larger the pieces, the more expensive.
Everything is priced everywhere - Art Walk and regular coffee. I see next to nothing which transforms the space it occupies, gives it substance, makes me feel - more. Shaky egos aiming for significance. Some say that painters here paint so many landscapes because the are deeply influenced by the landscape they live in. Stuff and nonsense! They paint them because they wouldn't know what else to paint! But for some reason paint they do! Not must! Do!
Sunday-painters attempting to cross over into Monday.
With each additional poor replica of the real thing more residue, streaks, smears - I mentioned them before - are dulling/dumbing-down Nelson in layer upon layer, more and more deeply into the banal. And kept there with the encouragement of the Cultural Development Commission (CDC) and its single-item focus - "fine" arts.
Yes, yes, yes - I know - rude, cynical, brutal! But if you put it out there - with a price attached yet - be ready! You may say: it's easy to be bitching about everything; what does he have to contribute towards significance? Aside from the fact that I am acknowledging the situation - lots!
Here goes:
1. Depose
Cancel Art Walk for good after asking the following questions and truthfully answering them - copping to obvious trends:
1a.
How much - per year - has putting-on Art Walk cost over the last three years? Never mind where the money came from - ultimately it is the tax-payer.
1b.
How many pieces were sold directly - venue to buyer - per year, during the last three years?
1c.
How much income was generated - per year - during the last three years from direct Art Walk sales?
1d.
How much money was generated - per year - during the last three years from indirect Art-Walk sales (artist's studio to buyer)?
1e.
How much additional income was generated through their own merchandise/services by establishments lending exhibit space to Art Walk (Art Walk-ins)?
1f.
How many "true" fine-arts-focused talents have been discovered and significantly furthered by Art Walk during the last three years?
1g.
Could it be that Art Walk - with its situation-determined standards - actually furthers a self-proclaimed "artist's" self-deception?
There has been a steady influx of people from larger urban centers over time - most of them with a gluten-free bend and attracted by the same here - but it is doubtful that a fine-arts focused "true" talent would come to this area which offers scant possibilities for artistic development coupled with economic reward - unless already established artistically elsewhere. There surely have been focused talents here over the years - but why should they waste much time in Nelson, instead of exposing themselves to serious art-scenes/markets in larger urban centers. Those from here and driven - go! Whichever - today Nelson's Art Walk and coffee-house exposure are a fool's paradise.
2. Propose
But there is an across-the-board talent pool in the Nelson area which should be nurtured/exposed in regional first and then wider possibilities. With knowledgeable patronage under a clearly intentioned/defined city-umbrella - there probably would be enough artistic "product" found here to make Nelson actually begin to matter in the arts - period - and help it grow in self-confidence instead of empty ego. Have a hands-on entrepreneur take over as talent-scout, promoter, agent, manager for local and area talent. At this point local talent is largely on its own, fragmented. Bring them together! Nelson is small enough to make this possible!
2a.
A stronger focus on itself - starting with a major mindscape adjustment - must come from the center - city hall. Of the people - for the people! The plaza in front of it is underused and its upkeep too labor-intensive and costly. All lawn should be tiled over - trees and picnic-tables kept, planters and more casual seating added.
(Example: Vancouver - between the Drive and Britannia Library - has a shady and restful space, with comfortable and sturdy chairs - seemingly haphazardly strewn about. Actually they are permanently and securely fastened to the ground.)
The raised triangular flower/bush-bed should be tiled-over as well - sometimes function as a stage, podium, sometimes as exhibition space.
The whole newly practical/useable space then will be inviting and open to theme-specific, low-key, daytime events - like exhibits; theme-markets, small acoustic lunchtime performances! Food carts during lunch! Cross-cultural!
Give this project a name which then becomes the name of the plaza. Involve the public in all phases of the process - cultural development - and introduce name choices from historio-cultural Nelson.
Learn from the name-and-color fiasco of the Aquatic Center. For lack of interest/imagination it turned into the Nelson and District Community Center - called thus by nobody ever - with a dried-blood (my description) paint job. At the time - seeing that we already had a White Building and a Pink Building - I asked reasonably in the Daily News: what is the color of well-being (no answer) and suggested we call the Aquatic Center's new incarnation That Bloody Building. Alas - no takers! City hall is not big on humor! Yet!
2b.
The funereal hush inside city hall must be busted through with color - as in paintings, photos and posters. Start with the lobby. The 2nd floor corridor is particularly mind-numbing and evidently not conducive to creative problem-solving - neither are Chambers and offices. The whole long corridor-wall opposite the one with pictures of yesteryear's liverish-faced city-hall personages needs to become a juxtaposition to it with today's concerns in color.
2c.
Have the same conduit - talent-scout, agent, promoter, manager - take over supplying open-to-the-public places - White/Pink/Bloody Buildings, the hospital, doctors' offices, clinics, library, banks, stores, hotels, restaurants and coffee houses with quality and location-specific art work. Old - new; loaned - donated. Cross-cultural. Year-around. Part of Nelson. Nelson.
3. Transpose
3a.
The first time I walked into the Pink Building's Victoria entrance - years ago - and saw Fred Rosenberg's photo by itself (then!) I was stunned! Transformation of a non-descript space into a space with wit and grace.
Even a single piece can have (must have!) transformative powers - transformation is not achieved through an onslaught of pretensions. When it occurs it is felt, noticed because of its nature. Addition just intrudes, clutters - Art Walk is clutter, as is coffee-house art!
3b.
After I had been thinking about this consolidated year-around approach for a while, it was validated for me by a restaurant owner who had become increasingly frustrated with artistes and wished for a system to provide him with what he needed for his walls whenever. This prompted me to suggest to the CDC to approach the Royal Bank as a possible participant in showcasing local artwork; the RBC agreed and starting with the current Art Walk now has two free-standing vitrines on its floor - displaying mostly remarkably insignificant pieces of silver jewelry.
Not quite transformative - but a beginning!
Nelson has always been strong in crafts, and crafts play a substantial part in Nelson's economy - fine arts do not! It would seem reasonable to connect these disciplines - giving crafts their rightful place and acknowledging the not-so-much position of fine arts in the Nelson-scheme of things. Arts-and-crafts. Then there are literary arts, music of many sounds, dance, video and what-not. And what about cross-cultural origins within these disciplines? Bring them together - as a cultural fact - and begin to actually inhabit the Royal City's "art-town" gestalt.
4. Propose
Fantastic - you say? Change - you say? Impossible - you say? Imagine city council - as individuals - making its work a creative process - together! Imagine the Arts Council getting creative by saying: enough already with those trees! Imagine the CDC pursuing development within as crucial before coming-up with its new 3-year action plan on the cultural development of the greater whole. Imagine the Community Heritage Commission (CHC) realizing that - with whatever little there is to do heritagewise at this point - they might consider that ultimately they too are dealing with culture. Imagine Touchstones touching and becoming touchable!
And - above all - imagine the gluten-free set becoming involved in matters civic as the most basic cultural building-block and creatively keeping all the above en pointe!
Well - alright - but just half a cup!
No comments:
Post a Comment