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Can We Go Back to Where We Were? Let's Try Some Drawing!

© Gretchen Wms. Jurek

Frankly, I don’t think we will ever be able to go back to where we were…

And I have read several articles lately on how or whether art is really just frivolous in the aftermath of all that is really serious and important in the world. My personal feeling on this is that art is life-affirming, a positive act, an act of hope and faith in the future, and even in the present. I really feel that the U.S. was short-changed in the culture arena by the extremely rigid, plain, and pragmatic teachings of the good old Puritans. If you can’t eat it or wear it, it must be frivolous – that kind of attitude. I also have another opinion – that the witch doctors and shamans and other more “connected” individuals in many societies are or were the more artistic ones of the communities, the ones who saw things a different way, perhaps more holistically. Just my opinions, but these go right back to the subject I have chosen for this time.

Why do Americans feel so uncomfortable with things artistic? Perhaps I should say those who are in the fourth or fifth- generation away from their immigrant forebears. Let’s be honest. Our immigrant forebears were craftsmen and artisans, or at least people who felt relatively comfortable tackling something new or unfamiliar. They relied on their own inner feelings that they could do it, they could handle it, pretty much no matter what it might be. They came here, didn’t they? They must have been willing to try new things, tackle new situations, learn new ways, learn new languages, and about new foods and customs and all of the pieces that go into the puzzle of another culture. And they made things!

I watch a crafty show and a quilting show often on TV, and the remarks on those shows are what have led to my thinking about this so much lately… “But - I can’t draw!” “But you can do that because you are an artist!” “There’s no way I can even try that! Isn’t there a template or a stencil somewhere?” And I am always so surprised. When does it go? What happens? Why does it leave?

Do you know that all children in the whole world who have a “normal” childhood to develop into “normal” adults do their art the same way? in the same shapes, at the same ages? Those schmiers all over are happening everywhere with the same age group. And the stick figures, and the houses with x-ray walls so we can see what is inside, and the big heads, the emphasis on eyes – all those bits of identifiable children’s art work, all basically at the same pace. (Trust me, I read this somewhere during the last century when I was studying the art and art development of children.) But something happens in this country (the U.S.) Boys start to think they’d better not profess an enjoyment of art or music or theater lest they be thought of as testosteroneless in this “tough-guy” culture. So they get into drawing warriors and killers and guns and hotrods and ugliness. And girls feel it is their bailiwick to be artistic, and that they are supposed to like pink. But then, when the reality strikes, that is, “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO FOR A LIVING?!?”, art goes out the window. The U.S. does not value its artists, in my opinion, and art lessons are for little kids and old people.