Art House: Ephemera

My mind fills with ideas, linked together like a string of summer festivals running through the city. These different topics are related by the vibrant energy that art generates.

What is common to all festivals? It is the magic of being in the moment that the visual and performing arts invite.

This is also how children approach making. During a summer camp clay class I taught, one seven-year-old applied glaze like an abstract expressionist, confident in his quick, bold, open brushstrokes. Just as quickly, he moved on.

Another connection: Arts engagement fosters a spirit of generosity. For example, Joe Day, Bernadette Glorioso, Will Sanchez—a few of the artists who participated in last year’s Artist Inventory Challenge—give of their time and talent to bring people together, to advocate and revitalize neighborhoods. Come September, a new set of artists will donate their creativity to make our 4^th Annual Artist Inventory Challenge another wonderful evening.

This intangible, but palpable, vibrancy is expansive. It activates the imagination, spreads out, and fills the air, just as the summer season becomes verdant, rich with life. In this data-driven world, if only we could pull a petri dish sample from this art-charged atmosphere….