How we Spend in the Arts

Here are a few thoughts based on observation, and discussion. I have been on several arts and social assistance boards over the decades as well. I have watched a lot of well meaning people try to make things happen.
I often wonder if the community would be better off if there was one major facility to centralize the availability and focus of the cultural community?
Would it spend its available dollars more efficiently with fewer but bigger facilities.
I often ask myself why we spend so much on “non producing” administration and not very much on the actual living breathing producers of all forms of art, visual and otherwise. There are only so many dollars available, and this won’t change in an austere economic environment for years to come.
I guess it depends on one’s priorities but perhaps we need to look at things like a “show and buy local artists only policies” in our publicly paid...

Last night I gave a short speech about some of my work:
the “peg board paintings”. I have six paintings hanging at Kwartzlab until the end of July.

The cool part is that it was given at Kwartzlab, a unique “makerspace” in Kitchener. I expected a very small audience but to my overwhelmed surprise at least 25 people were there. Professional speakers will tell you that it is important to know your audience, and I knew I would be speaking to an intelligent group of people with strong academic and technical skill sets, scientists and engineers and designers among the group. BUT I had forgotten how instructive and developmental preparing a talk can be for the speaker. Making a presentation forces you put into words what you have been creating
in your private thoughts. As an abstractionist, it made me test some of my symbolism.
What the heck am I doing, really? Am I doing an OK job...

Life’s Like That

A week doesn’t go by that my wife isn’t asked “how is Jim doing?”. She gives them the short answer, how I cope with illness and hope to be an artist, but what I would like everyone to know is all of this.

I struggled with various lung ailments my whole life: Iosynophilic pneumonia in my twenties, chronic bronchitis since my teens and lung cancer in 2010. The chemotherapy was successful. I am cured. Not surprising to anyone I now have the symptoms of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). My forty year career as a successful financial adviser in banking, municipal government or for individuals was shortened. Despite this I try to lead a very busy life. Notice I didn’t say normal. Prematurely, the cancer kick started my full time art career. I happily had this career planned because I followed my own advice to try and develop what you are going to do in your retirement before you...

Jun 16, 2014