As an artist I am, for the most part, a loner. I tend to think that this situation exists with many other artists. After all, getting in touch with your inner creative spirit, identifying how you feel or what you want to say and then bringing that to life in your chosen medium whether that be visually, audibly or poetically is pretty much a private affair. However, at times it is important that an artist come out of his creative world and interact with others. The prime reason of course, if he wishes to make a living, is to sell his work.
I have been a member of Columbia County Council on the Arts for many years. Recently I was approached to become a member of the board of directors . The loner in me immediately wanted to kindly reject the offer. However, after reflecting on the benefits I have received from being a member, I decided to accept. I thought of myself as joining the builders whose task was to strengthen and maintain a protective house.
For CCCA's newsletter I was asked to write why I wanted to become a board member. Due to space limitations much of what I said had to be edited so I thought I might provide my explanation in its entirety here. Why? Because I happen to believe there are a few loners that might benefit from what I have to say.
Why I Want to Become a Member of CCCA Board of Directors
The reason I would like to be a member of the board of directors can best be illustrated by a conversation I remember having with an artist I met at the CCCA gallery. He was relaying to me his experience of how he was always encouraged artistically by his mother. His painting and drawing was done for enjoyment and never really pursued as a profession. As with most of us, the things we enjoy doing many times have to be placed on hold in order to deal with the complexities of maintaining a standard of living. Many years passed for him with no creativity. Later, after his mother died he again returned to his art and was encouraged to submit something for a show. Being primarily self taught he had great difficulty referring to himself as an artist and would rather say he was “just a guy who loved to paint.”
His story struck me very deeply as it was very similar to my own. I wondered how many other truly imaginative and creative people were there like him. People suppressing something beautiful inside because they didn’t feel, or perhaps they were told, it wasn’t really worthy of notice.
An artist tends by nature to be sensitive, and criticism can have long lasting and profound effects, often out of all proportion to the worth of the opinions given. The artist therefore, works in a glass house, and anyone, with or without qualifications, can throw stones at him. Today almost anyone can claim to be an art critic, and get incensed if the claim is challenged. What we need are not more critics but an association of insightful people with a desire to fan the embers of creativity in the hearts of those in our community. As a board member, I would like to help CCCA accomplish that goal for as many persons as possible.
When I graduated from high school in 1975 I tried very hard, with not much success, to sell paintings in this county. Since then the scene in Hudson has changed dramatically. More than ever before there is heightened interest in the arts and it appears to be gaining momentum. Therefore CCCA is in the prime position to organize and feature the work of so many talented people in our community. Membership also affords artists the opportunity to socialize and learn from what others are doing as well as share their knowledge. Getting to the right people, such as gallery owners or collectors, can be done through a network of friends with similar goals. And although it might seem that the other artists are your competition, the truth is that many are more than willing to share and connect you to the right people. You can find new opportunities for business, commissions, art shows, exposure and much more. There is no better way to sell your art than to be known. And you have to start somewhere. CCCA can be one such place, where you expose who you are, what drives you, make friends and become known in the community. That will also give you the practice exposing yourself to the rest of the world.
Kenneth Young
