ONCE AND FUTURE ART

20/20 ENVISION:
MAINE CRAFTS ASSOCIATION 20TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
On view at Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine
From December 7, 2003, to January 25, 2004
On view at the Art Gallery at the University of New England in Portland, Maine
From February 3 to March 20, 2004

Reviewed by Laurie Meunier Graves

Not long ago, I went to 20/20 Envision: Maine Crafts Association 20th Anniversary Exhibition at Colby College Museum of Art, and this small but snappy show led me to reflect on the difference between crafts and art as well as the nature of each. Now, I am all too aware of the dangers and pitfalls of even reflecting on such subjects, much less writing about them. To attempt to define either art or crafts is, as they say, like treading on thin ice. It’s treacherous territory, and the hapless traveler is likely to crash through and drown at any time. On the other hand, what do writers live for if not for the chance to venture, from time to time, into treacherous territory? Those who are afraid of such expeditions had best settle for safer occupations, say, brain surgery or fire fighting.

Whenever I puzzle over word definitions, I turn to various dictionaries for help, most frequently to the Oxford American Dictionary and to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. However, in both dictionaries, the distinctions between art and crafts were slight and, I must admit, unsatisfying. In the Oxford American Dictionary, the definition for art is “the production of something beautiful, skill or ability.” For craft, it is “an occupation in which skill is needed.”

But surely there is a difference between a table, however beautiful and well made, and a painting by Dürer. Surely there are distinctions and gradations that go from the most practical of crafts to art at its finest. As I hear the ice begin to crack around me, I feel the need to grab onto the safety line of qualifications: that is, my personal definitions of art and crafts. In doing so, I acknowledge that the notion of what is art varies from person to person, and although there are standards, they are flexible, often changing from generation to generation.

Crafts, to me, are either functional or decorative and do not cross very far into that which is symbolic. At their most basic, braided rugs, quilts, dried wreaths, pottery, and baskets fall into this category. They are what they are and quite often have practical uses that would not be out of place in the average home. My own house is filled with such things that are used every single day. While I admire the skill and care that went into making them, I do not consider them art.

Art, on the other hand, is the union of mind and imagination coming together to make something that provides illumination—religious, mythic, or secular. The greater the mind and the imagination, the greater the art. This is true regardless of what is used—marble, bronze, tiles, wood, paint, or canvas. Even Styrofoam and cardboard. Degas remarked that all art is artifice, and he was absolutely right. There is nothing inherently natural about it, and in every case some kind of material is manipulated and transformed into something other than what it is.

Here, as Gollum would say, is where things get tricksy. With the definition I have given of art, it is no great leap to suppose that some quilts, pottery, bowls, or wreaths might cross from the crafts’ category to the art category. Indeed, they might and sometimes do. However, when they do, it is usually obvious that they are no longer either practical or functional and that their value comes from what they represent rather than what they are.

A perfect example of this can be found at 20/20 Envision. Jacques Vesery has fashioned a bowl from wood, but this is not a bowl that would hold, say, salad or tortilla chips. Vesery’s intricately carved bowl is brown and has a twig motif. Inside, are two wooden eggs with feathers carved into them, and next to the eggs rests a single, carved feather. There is even a title to go with this grouping: We Will Soon Be Something But We Don’t Know When. Taken together, the title and the pieces evoke a nest, the process of becoming, and the uncertainty of life. This imagery places the bowl far above its more utilitarian brothers and sisters and firmly into the category of art.

The same can be said for much of the work in the 20/20 Envision exhibit. There are a few exceptions—among them a chest, a mirror, and a chair. However, most of the pieces cross the line from craft to art and are fairly typical of what’s being produced by contemporary artists in Maine as well as in the rest of the country. A year or so ago, I noted this development and wrote, “Lately, there has been a new wind blowing into the visual arts community in Maine. It is a good wind, a restless wind of change and renewal…It’s as though the Mary Poppins of art has suddenly blown into the state, and when I’m in Portland, I scan the rooftops for dancing chimney sweepers.”

As with any group exhibit, some of the pieces in 20/20 Envision have more spark than others do, and those, of course, are the pieces that caught my attention. In addition, this show features work that comes in pairs, one coming from an established artist who in turn has selected a piece from an emerging artist. Wall texts clearly distinguish the two, and it’s fascinating to compare and contrast the two. Sometimes there is an obvious connection; other times there is not.

For example, Warren Seelig of Rockland chose Pia Walker of Liberty. Mr. Seelig’s piece, Shadowfield in Granite II, is a spiky grid of granite pebbles attached to slim rods. The rocks, the rods, and the grid throw shadows on the wall, but the shadows do nothing to soften the piece. Even though the rocks are round, Shadowfield is all hard angles and obstinacy, much like the coast of Maine, and it possess a masculine sensibility. Pia Walker’s Survivor is quite another matter. A red bathing suit—it looks like a child’s—is fused with a red inner tube. In some ways, this warm, gleaming piece is the exact opposite of those hard, austere rocks. Yet, Survivor possesses its own kind of hardness, given to it by the title. A survivor of what? Pop culture? Childhood? Being a girl? The title is suitably ambiguous, leaving the interpretation to the viewer.

A similar relationship comes from Sam Shaw of Northeast Harbor who chose Alison Mackey, also of Northeast Harbor. Again, there are rocks and again, it is a man who has used them. Sam Shaw has fashioned what might be loosely described as a necklace, a ring, and a bracelet, but instead of ethereal gems, he has used solid, heavy rocks. The necklace, especially, looks as though it might have been for Jacob Marley. Or, perhaps Mrs. Jacob Marley, if such a fictional person existed. The titles of the jewelry, puns included, only serve to emphasize the weight of the pieces: From the Wreck of the Bijoux Grande, Le Ring du Bon Chance, and Queen Casinos Blackjack Bangle. At first glance, Alison Mackey’s Fall Interrupted seems ethereal by comparison. It’s a round circlet with an amoebae-like pendant attached to it by a slender branch that also pierces it. Small sharp buds come out of the circlet as well as the branch with the pendant, and suddenly the piece looks a little less friendly. As with Survivor, the meaning of Fall Interrupted isn’t clear. Is it a biblical reference? A symbol of rebirth? A reference to the regenerative powers of nature? Or, perhaps it’s none of these things.

Time and space do not allow for a complete discussion of all the pairs in this fascinating show. Therefore, there is only one solution. If you are within driving distance, go see the show and come to your own conclusions. 20/20 Envision will be at Colby College until January 25. After that, it will move to the Art Gallery at the University of New England, where it will stay until March 20. This show once again illustrates the skill of Maine artists and how lucky we are to have art of this quality in such a small state.

 

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