STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More Latest Stories

• Speaker talks about Cuba, Calusa Indian connection at historical society’s event
• Dwindling participation prompts local VFW to recruit new members
• After Hours: A crazy good time

Share and Enjoy [?]

This week has been fun filled with many administrative tasks. Ah, the life of a non-profit arts educational facility!

One of the many ways non-profits try to obtain funds is through grant writing. It is no different at the Art League Marco Island’s Center for the Arts.

During the research and development portion of a recent grant submission I came across a great statement. “Art is painting, drawing, pasting, sculpting. It’s sewing, and building, coloring and folding. It is expressing and observing. Art is getting something that is inside you to the outside.”

Joy Evans and Tanya Skelton are the authors of “How to Teach Art to Children,” which is where this great quote came from. I personally think the quote applies to all ages. It’s hard sometimes to accept the reality of how the arts touch every aspect of our lives but there are very simple ways to increase awareness. This time we’ll look at elements that are associated with the visual arts.

Just knowing the basic elements will allow you to recognize art, maybe appreciate art and “most importantly, let you know there is no wrong way to do art.” Another great quote from Evans and Skelton.

Elements are easy to identify they exist of line, shape, color, value, texture, form and space. Now from where I’m sitting all those elements exist everywhere my eye turns. How about for you? So does this support the statement so often made that art is everywhere? I think so.

Now here’s the harder part; the appreciation of the arts. When speaking of appreciation, I am not referring to the definition of liking what you see or hear, taste or smell; I’d rather you try to understand the meaning or the importance of what art is. Although liking is a great added benefit!

The Center for the Arts mission is to promote education in and appreciation of the arts. The center provides opportunities year round to help increase awareness and appreciation.

This summer, in addition to the annual gallery exhibits that are in place displaying works by artist members, “…scapes” being the current showing, we have implemented an Artist in Residence program. This began in May and will run through August.

Artist in Residence in this case is referring to an artist who has been selected to exhibit a body of work of their choosing. The effort is to make the public more aware of the artist, while also providing an opportunity for all of us to appreciate the work on exhibit.

Try to understand how the art is created and appreciate the validity of this career choice. Part of educating in the arts is not just offering the opportunity to take an arts-related class, but also providing you with a service and product that has a value.

Artists and organizations provide services that we require. I stated once before that art is what makes us human. We can all show our humanity by trying to appreciate the value of the arts in your day. Try to let something inside you out or take advantage of appreciating what others have done. Stimulate yourself, stimulate your community, stimulate your appreciation (and if you like what you see, it’s okay to express that too.)

---

Christine Neal is the executive director of Marco Island’s Center of the Arts. She holds an Associate of Arts Degree in the Liberal Arts with emphasis in the Fine Arts and various certifications and designations in business and the arts. An award winning artist, with 20-plus years in management and sales. Marco Island’s Center for the Arts is located at 1010 Winterberry Drive 239-394-4221 mail@marcoislandart.com.