ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: A WAY WITH WORDS AND HEALING ART

Welcome to Artist Spotlight, a new featured section of the Artbeat newsletter.  In its maiden voyage we present two submissions for our readers: An ART-icle by Dwayne O. Parish, and Art as a Therapy Tool by Anna Ruthanne Olds.  The goal of Artist Spotlight is to bring focus and attention to artists’ point of view about their work, projects, activities, or lifestyle and experiences.  We want to feature artists’ writing about their passion for their art, and about the challenges they face, and solutions found.  We hope you enjoy this first publication of Artist Spotlight.  If you wish to be considered for a future publication please see details below about call for submissions.   

  An ART-icle
By Dwayne O. Parish

"When a man has obtained mastery of one of the arts, it is revealed in his every movement."
- Samurai maxim

Being on Richmond's Art & Culture Commission has expanded my capacity to appreciate art & artists in more ways than I can articulate. When I see & hear art, eat beautifully prepared food, I flow into & from that place where my art is. Creating & supporting art events feels like bringing water from the mountain or that deep, Infinite well within. I call it my "flow"-zone layer. I use abstract art as a portal to get to that place where all things connect. 

I salute artists & supporters of the arts. Mayors, legislators, volunteers, donors, ex-art commissioners like Sydney Metrick. Businesses like Bridge Storage which is becoming a hub for the arts. In Seattle, when you're on hold or in the elevator, you hear local musicians. Sculptors teach me that hard life is like a boulder. There's a perfect "David" inside. Painters & musicians coax me to write in color & sound. I heard a Haitian dancer say, "You go to church to worship God. I dance & become God." The photography of Ellen Gailing & Fletcher Oakes are servings of images for the soul to consume. I read, "Life is like photography. You take the negative & develop." East Bay Center For the Performing Arts, RYSE & NIAD make me cry.

We're hard-wired for creative expression. Who painted the first cave wall or sang in honor of birds or fashioned a drum knowing or not knowing its connection to the heart?  Does a heavy metal guitarist know how connected they are to a toddler who can't walk but bobs to music?  Art supports art. I wrote acrostics for RAC while watching the Oscars & our mayor while watching Bob Marley & the Wailers.  I'm grateful to be a part of this community. Thou art in me.

Art as a Therapy Tool
By Anna Ruthanne Olds, Founder
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
Anna's Place: Friendly Family Counseling
Concord, CA 
925-827-2287 ext. 2

Creating art kept me sane during the break-up of my twenty plus year marriage. Even though I'm a licensed psychotherapist and help people deal with major loss on a daily basis, I fell into a deep depression that medication and traditional talk therapy didn't help. In despair, fearing I would never recover, I turned to art to fill my bleak, empty days.  Drawing and painting helped me get through a difficult home life during my teens. People said I had talent that should be developed, but I dismissed the encouragement believing fine art was an impractical career choice.

I started creating art again as a personal outlet for the intense, overwhelming feelings during the divorce. My skill increased with each piece. During a daylong art therapy workshop in San Francisco I had the good fortune to sit next to a curator from the SF Museum of Modern Art. At the end of the workshop, she said she liked my black and white drawing. Once again, I tried to shrug off the compliment as "just dabbling for fun." She introduced herself saying, "No, you have a gift. I know because I work in the industry and see talent everyday." My midlife crisis finally prompted me to get serious and grow as an artist.

Art helped me heal myself, so I wondered if others, even non-artists, could benefit psychologically from creative expression. I started reading, researching and taking classes in art therapy.  At that time, art therapy was relatively new in the therapeutic community. I found once people got past the performance anxiety of "producing perfect pretty pictures," they liked the techniques. During the years I worked in a psychiatric hospital, I saw how valuable creative expression was in treating even the most severe disorders. The simple act of coloring pre-printed pictures with crayons helped calm and improve focus with even the most sophisticated patients.

Creative expression works because it bypasses the conscious resistance that tends to block looking at difficult issues. Putting it on paper creates a comfortable emotional distance and increases objectivity that breaks through denial and opens up new problem solving avenues. Creative expression isn't limited to visual art. Art therapy can include dance, photography, drama (including cinema-therapy), music, sculpting, play, crafting, writing (including biblio-therapy), as well as all forms of drawing and painting. A major part of the appeal of viewing art is its power to evoke intense emotional responses. Even the act of unconscious doodling has therapeutic value.

Unfortunately, the dual stigma of seeking therapy and having to produce art prevents most people from exploring this interesting and effective healing process. I hope that with education, the average person will discover therapy works for normal life problems and art therapy is a fun way to heal.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Call for Submissions December 15th Deadline

This December 2009 issue contains the launch of a new feature of Artbeat called Artist Spotlight.  Artist Spotlightpublishes selected articles submitted by local artists or arts organizations in Contra Costa county.  The selected articles will not be used to advertise or market the artist’s work.  Rather, they will focus on artists’ point of view about their work, projects, activities, or lifestyle and experiences.  We want to feature artists’ writing about their passion for their art, their challenges and their solutions, about surviving as an artist or arts organization in today’s economy. 

Call for Submissions:  To be considered for this publication, artists and arts organizations can submit articles to AC5.  Articles selected for publication will be featured in the following month’s Artbeat newsletter.  The deadline for the next round of submissions is December 15th. 

Submission Guidelines:  Articles can be submitted via email to ac5@ac5.org. Articles may be submitted as in-line text within an email, or as a document attachment.  Please limit your submissions to no more than one page of single spaced text in 10 or 12 point font.  Images related to your article may be included as attachments.  Please do not send hard copy submissions.  AC5 reserves the right to edit submissions.

ANNOUNCING NATIONAL GALLERY VIDEO LIBRARY SPONSORSHIP

AC5is teaming up with CCTV to offer a video series from the National Gallery of Art Video Library program.  In an effort to bring high quality arts information to our community, the AC5 will sponsor the broadcasting of a series of educational videos made available to us from the National Gallery of Art.  This program will be ongoing and is anticipated to begin in early 2010.  More information about the weekly showtimes and video content will be published in the coming issue of Artbeat.  Stay tuned!

ANNOUNCING ARTBEAT ON TELEVISION: 2010

Scott Belding, Managing Director of AC5, is beginning a pilot program for what he anticipates will be the new Artbeat television series to be broadcast on CCTV in early 2010.  The Artbeat television program will feature live interviews with artists and arts ogranizations from a variety of disciplines: dancers, musicians, painters, sculptors, and more.  The essence of the program is to show the artist at work in their natural environment, to bring the viewer into that experience with the artist while they are creating their works.  A veteran arts management consultant and former television interviewer, Belding is keen to bring Artbeat into the realm of television.  He believes this will help advance the mission of the AC5, to be a convener of the arts, and in doing so it is hoped that an in-depth and personal view of artists at work will be brought to viewers' living rooms throughout Contra Costa county.  This program is in its early stages, and more information will be published soon.  The graphic shown here is a draft composition of the opening banner for the show. 

POETRY OUT LOUD 2010 PROGRAM UPDATES

AC5 and Contra Costa County Office of Education team up to bring Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest open to county high school students for the 2009-'10 school year.Poetry Out Loud supports students in memorizing and reciting great poetry selected for its literary merit. It helps students master public speaking skills, build confidence and learn about their literary heritage. It is a free program of The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.High schools willing to participate in the contest are asked to designate an adult contact to communicate with AC5. Schools are to pick a representative to attend the county competition on February 7th at Acalanes High School in Lafayette. County winners will attend the state competition in March, and state winners go to the National Finals in Washington, D.C, in April 2010.Though it is designated to be part of the English curriculum, Poetry Out Loud can be implemented in any class, club, by a librarian or as an after school activity.
 

THE 2010 NATIONAL FINALS: APRIL 27, WASHINGTON, DC

The 2010 National Finals will be held at the George Washington University Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC. Semifinal rounds will take place all day on Monday, April 26 and the Finals will be held in the evening on Tuesday, April 27. Admission is free and open to the public.

The George Washington University Lisner Auditorium
730 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
Tel: (202) 994-6800

All events are free and open to the public. Information on the time, date, and location of State Finals will be updated as more competitions are scheduled and planned. Find your state's Poetry Out Loud coordinator here.

Poetry Out Loud competition or for information, contact:The Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County
1236 Escobar St., Martinez, CA 94553 (925) 646-2278, email ac5@ac5.org.

Arts & Culture Comission of Contra Costa County 
1236 Escobar St., Martinez, CA 94553
Tel. (925) 646-2278  eMail ac5@ac5.org