Art is a beast unto itself. It walks among us unnoticed, ignored by the masses, discounted by the media because it makes for anemic headlines, and yet fought over by those who make it. It has always been the case that art gets lost in the commonplace, the day to day of people’s lives, yet every so often it triggers a strong response in the very people that have pushed it aside and into the margins. It is then the community of artists finds common cause, finds a purpose bigger than themselves, and gives voice to it.
It is unfortunate that those voices fall on deaf ears. This should surprise no one, especially the artist. Art in itself changes little, it doesn’t give us all the answers, it merely asks the questions and those questions, the ones that artists see as significant to societal change, will forever be asked. To believe in a better world, a fairer, just world, we must never sweep those questions under the carpet or wait for the pendulum to swing the other way in the hope that all will be well.
Every few months I ready myself to submit an essay for this Journal. I ask Pat to grab the archives from upstairs. I have written in the past that The Archives are nothing more than a bulging folder of old UMVA newsletters and other related material—from an archival point of view, a total mess! But that chaotic jumble can yield some edifying curiosities. What follows are a select few.
We all know that change is a constant continuous process, yet at times it seems things remain in a state of suspended animation. From a UMVA newsletter dated February, March, April 1990, the following:
On December 15, UMVA sent a telex to President Cristiani of El Salvador and US Ambassador William Walker urging the immediate release of Isaias Mata from Mariona Prison. He was arrested November 19 because he is a leading member of the artists’ union in El Salvador. He came to Maine last Spring and gave a talk at the Portland School of Art. Natasha Mayers met with him and his students in San Salvador. It’s pretty dangerous being a member of an artists’ union! Many other members have been captured, disappeared, or killed outright. UMVA members should write letters to El Salvador requesting his and others release and to our congressmen requesting that they inquire into this and stop all military aid to El Salvador
This was written thirty-five years ago! El Salvador looms large in the current news cycle today for the same reasons. Make of it what you will.
As we move forward as artists, or as a people who value honesty and truth, history has much to offer. Looking back can give us answers to the times we now face. From a UMVA newsletter, dated September, October 1989, these thoughts penned here by former UMVA President David Brooks:
I wish to express the concerns of Maine’s visual arts community over the current threats to artistic freedom of expression and the support for contemporary art through the National Endowment for the Arts . . . Creativity cannot flourish in an environment of censorship and the threat of “blacklisting” artists and museums that do not conform to a small minority’s view of “acceptable” art. The damage to America’s Cultural Life would be profound. Museums are justly concerned about the loss of funding to the NEA.
Freedom of expression has always found itself balancing on both sides of the fence. The need to decide which side we fall on has lost all grayness of reasoning, leaving nothing but the starkness of black versus white. How do we proceed knowing we have been down this path before?
Looking through these old UMVA newsletters I’m struck by how the Union championed community. A community of artists living in a rural state, banding together, through group exhibitions, slide show presentations and of course annual picnics! In 1990 the membership of the UMVA stood at approximately 450 dues-paying members. This was no small feat considering the vastness of the State of Maine and of course prior to electronic communication. Today, the membership in the Union is approximately 400. What those numbers suggest, I don’t know, yet the community still exists in all its forms and the need for communication is as vital as it was in 1990.
They say that hindsight is 20/20, but I don’t think so. I believe it’s far more subjective than that. Looking back, we pick and choose what we see as relevant to our present state of being. For many of us the past can offer profound history lessons; what we encounter there might not be the most pleasant, but we have an obligation to make a change for the better. This from a UMVA Journal dated June 1992 and then Union President Thomas Cornell:
When artists become aware of the problems presented by their time and their culture, then their behavior and artistic expression acquires meaning . . .
Being aware of our times and cultural state can act as a toxic overload—I’d much rather go walking in the woods and forget the world—but the need for reason and understanding creeps in and keeps me going, keeps me hoping that there is a community of the like-minded.
Image at top: Tony Owen, UMVA Archives.