Doodlers at heart

“I don’t get it. Why would the Arts Council bother with a show of photographs? Anyone can take a picture.” If I’ve heard this or a version of it once, I’ve heard it a dozen times in the past three years. People who ask are referring to the CLIC Eastern Ontario Photo Show. Why would the Prince Edward County Arts Council bother hosting any of the “arts events” on their annual roster? Photography is one thing, but why bother with Art in the County? Anyone can buy a box of coloured pencils and make a picture. Am I right? I am.

We’re all doodlers at heart, so why not frame it and call it art? And since when did jazz music become art and evolve into a Jazz Festival? Where’s the art in music? We’re all capable of blowing a horn or banging on a drum (some would say, all day). Are we all musical artistes? Almost anyone can keep time on a table top. That sorta makes us all musicians of sorts. So why would the Arts Council bother with a Music Festival? I knitted a hat, once. It was so weird and misshapen, I hung it on the wall in my studio/office (more as a warning to myself about the dangers of knitting needles in my hands) and someone asked if it was fibre art. Maybe I should hang a shingle for the Studio Tour? But, back to my main point, and I do have one. For some strange reason we can accept some forms of art, but we have a lot of trouble with others. Basically, many of us are scratching our heads and wondering, “Since when did art look like a photograph?”

Yes, we all have cameras, or so it would seem. It seems we can hardly eat a meal or enjoy a moment with family and friends without capturing the event with our cellphones or teensy pocket cameras or our massive SLRs, and then post those “art” images online for the whole world to ooh and aah over. For certain, we will forever be remembered as the generation who digitally documented every breath we took, every stitch we stitched, every faux-kiss we kissed, every pouty face we pouted, all the cleavage, the missteps, the puppies, the kitties, the sand, the trees, a pumpkin and a pear, and every banana split/cheeseburger/salad/cupcake/beer, prior to consumption, and every sunset over shimmering water, all of which we should have been just, plain enjoying and not capturing. Yup, anyone can take a picture. Over the last decade we’ve made that abundantly clear. We’ve even seen evidence of what happens when the baby or the pet accidentally presses “capture.” What is the difference between a capture and a work of art? Can art be photography? Can photography be art? Is it all just a “flash in the pan”?

I believe only an artist will see the balance, the beauty, the truth and the harmony in their world and create a work of art in the medium and on the canvas they know best. CLIC will be celebrating its third year in the gallery above Books & Co., from Saturday August 4 to Sunday August 12. I promise it’ll change your ideas about the art in the photograph. Say, “cheese.”

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca