The Arts in America

Whether one is a writer, painter, sculptor, actor, musician, dancer or any other of the disciplines of creativity, it is expected by family and others that you will end up starving; making no money, existing on the edge of poverty. In reality, that perception is often true.

Great societies of the past valued art and literature. Creatives were valued. Patrons supported those who struggled to bring forth great works of inner vision. Art was a much a treasure as gold and jewels. Even the horrific Nazi regime, hardly a great society but a powerful one nonetheless, sought to capture for itself all the great artworks of Europe.

When I look around what I currently see is a great disregard for art, literature, performance in all its many forms. These things have become business endeavors but not in the sense that creativity is preserved. Instead, the artwork we seek to hang on our walls must match the fabric in our couches and cost less that a night out. The books we read voraciously, myself included, are the pulp mill works that lull us to sleep just like much of the television programming we watch. We have come to value the regurgitation of comic books into film and shun the small independent films of substance. Think? We shouldn’t be required to think in our choices of reading or viewing, should we?

Bear in mind, I make fun of myself here as much as the next woman. I’ve bought the machined artwork that matched my living room, too. I’ve reached for my Janet Evanovich novel with relish, too. Evanovich’s books in the Stephanie Plum series are fantastic fun, but really don’t stretch the brain at all. So, I try to alternate between the pure enjoyment of the easier books to read and the tougher, sometimes depressing reads of Oprah’s book selections, for example.

I personally have not supported the arts nearly enough. It is time to put my money, what little there is, where my mouth is and go see a play locally. If I feel the need to decorate my meager wallspace in Wanda, my RV, it will be with something produced by an artist who fights for her place in this world, instead of something from a giant warehouse store that blends well with the highly utilitarian space I call home.

This awareness came over me suddenly and as a result I’ve decided to do something about the state of the Arts in my own city – Sacramento. I have big plans and will happily share them in upcoming stories on my other blog – SacramentoandBeyond.blogspot.com.

See you soon, in an art gallery somewhere – if not in person, in spirit.