Art--A Collective and Individual Experience

9-19-06

Volunteering at Art Works Downtown has opened a new chapter in my life. After only working for three hours on Saturday, I can already see that I have immersed myself into a new and exciting network that I will continue to be involved with even after my required service hours are completed.
Through my volunteer service, I have found myself assuming the role of a small part of something much bigger than myself. I think this can tie into the concept of self established by Mikhail Bakhtin. The idea that “we experience the world through a ‘We’ before we experience it through an ‘I’” and also “before we can understand ourselves through the process of self-examination, we understand ourselves in a self-evident way in the family, society, and state in which we live” can be related in the lives of the artists who I am surrounded by (Charles Guingon, On Being Authentic, 121). Artists express themselves through different media, such as paint, photography, ceramics, drawings, etc, and the most successful of these artists are typically known for self-expression. Art is a great way to look within yourself and discover who you are, and then express this concept to others through the visual world. But often times when artists are beginning to establish themselves, they seek the approval of others around them, and incorporate lessons they have learned from the people in their lives. This is where the “We” comes in. It takes years of practice and refinement for artists to develop a style that is uniquely their own, branching off from techniques that instructors have taught them, shaping them into the masters of today. Thus, these masters of the visual arts had to establish themselves in the public eye, with style influenced by those of their past, before they could experiment with their true self on canvas.
The idea that artists incorporate techniques from others around them into their own style of work can also be related to the philosophical views of Bernard Williams. “It is only through our social interactions that we become selves whose inner episodes are given enough steadiness and cohesiveness…” (155). It is the interactions we have with other people and the choices we make that establish who we are in our inner selves. Constantly, our lives are influenced by those surrounding us, and it is how we correspond with these interactions that determines our true selves. Art Works Downtown is a community of artists working together to introduce the world of fine arts to the community. They hope to make this world a brighter place through awareness of culture and appreciation for creativity. A commons for these ingenious minds, Art Works Downtown harbors all of these individual “selves” in one catacomb of creativity, creating the sense of “we,” or the artists as a community. I am honored to be a part of this amazing establishment.