ART & Art House Co-op, Opportunities for Visual Artist Nationally

The Sunday Scribbling post this weekend is the word ART.

In my life 'art' is one of two small three letter words (you can guess what the other is) that in its munificence and multiplicity of interpretations is as all encompassing and one of the anthropological enigmas and forces of a human being's existence. The human need to create, construct, design, document, communicate, exhibit and display emotive, aesthetic, visual, kinetic, auditory, sensory or political statements that infer reaction (even if silent) has been a point of great controversy when attempting to encapsulate and define the word 'art'. Though not to the same degree it is in that same way that wars are waged over defining the word God.

I carry an MFA - a Master's Degree of Fine Art and I have walked in that world of higher aspiring gallery-tooting artists for quite some time. The kind that dismiss lesser art-forms; crafts, instruction, function, accessible, non-toxic techniques and community - the kind that believe that the lofty studio is the only form of daily, noble occupation they should hold. However, I have found myself not prescribing to an elitist, high-brow definition of art-making either with food, word, song, color, line, form or performance. Therefore I do not distinguish (like many in my field) between Craft and Fine art.

Beauty Cage Sculpture by marisol diaz

That doesn't mean I don't wish my daily grind was facing my own rules in my own studio daily (who wouldn't), it means I do not believe it is my gift alone to have and I do believe that the joy of experiencing art is teachable. Affirmation is doable. It means I do not see function as lending a utilitarian, hand-evident and therefore neophyte quality to the art-piece. It means that I believe art is for everyone, in everyone and about everyone - whether you are in-tuned with it or not. The evident work of the laborer and hand in a piece of art is just as much a masterpiece as the art work whose maker masters at disguising there was ever a hand there.

In the visual arts those who say - 'I cannot draw' are denying themselves the lifting of a veil, since it begins with simply making a mark and ends with the practice of doing piano scales, because we do indeed admit that we can learn. What is it after all you are trying to draw? Sure there is something said about inherent talent, amazing innate gifts of skill and fluidity, but even the artist born with those abilities are making art hoping to touch the artist in others. To me its that simple connection that determines the extraordinary reach of the word art.

Art House Co-op Sketchbook Show Excerpt by marisol diaz

So I have a new self-imposed deadline, and here's why:

One of my visual art students (artist Colin Alexander) told me and my hub (fellow artist and teacher) about Art House and an exhibit opportunity that we should look into. So we did. Now our student, my hub and I are all submitting work for the sketchbook show and we will be exhibiting together! So what is ART HOUSE and how can we all benefit?

Art House creates massive, nationwide (and global) art projects that tie hundreds of artists together – and anyone can participate. We started two years ago with the goal of bringing art to the masses. Since we started, we have interacted with thousands of artists from around the world, all brought together with the common goal of creating art and sharing it with each other. We host many of the exhibitions for our projects at our gallery in Atlanta, Ga. In an attempt to give artists as much recognition as possible, as well as providing the opportunity to see the exhibition that they're a part of in person, we have started taking select projects to guest galleries around the country.

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