Art is fundamental, unique to each of us.
For me, writing allows me to be creative, to be thoughtful and to learn more about myself and those who inspire me. But I also see art in so many other aspects of life: in parenting, in expressing our spirituality, even simply how we dress each and every day.
My husband, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, paints to relax. And of course, he loves to act. But he also approached bodybuilding as a form of art, self-expression and communication.
Each of us has an artist within and this is exactly what we teach our four children. We encourage them to find their form of expression and art.
Even in difficult economic times - especially in difficult economic times - the arts are essential. And right now, Californians have an incredible opportunity to support the arts through the Million Plates Campaign for the Arts coordinated by The California Arts Council.
If one million California drivers purchased an arts license plate, we would raise $40 million. That's $40 million dollars that would go directly to more than 300 groups across our schools and communities.
Think about what our re-commitment to the arts would mean - not just to our children - but to our economy. Creativity and innovation are part of California's fabric, and we can all honor and further that legacy.
The Million Plates campaign launches Monday in Los Angeles. But plates are available right now by simply going online to artsplate.org.
I hope you will take part. But more importantly, I hope you will embrace your own form of art and self-expression.
Whether you play basketball after work or sew for your children, you are an artist. You deserve to express your own truth and view of the world.
Your artistic contribution makes California richer, and the world a more creative place.
Follow Maria Shriver on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mariashriver
In order to recommit to the arts there would have to have been a commitment in the first place.
Americans have always been dubious about the value of art, and at times have been downright hostile. That's one reason that it was absurdly simple for Lynne Cheney to engineer the demise of the National Endowment for the Arts to the advantage of her National Endowment for the Humanities.
Americans have provided vital and innovative expressions of art as well as refined and faithful renditions of traditional forms.
All the while American arts and artists have been treated as (excuse the expression) unwanted stepchildren by the government and those in it.
While European nations have traditionally supported the arts both through private commerce and government support at significant levels, the first time bad girl Lynne sniffed with her nose pinched shut at the arts, the government support faded into nothing without a whimper or outcry.
There should be serious government support for our arts and artists, and it is the shame of this society that there is not.
Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FWq17CT6Cs
All the best
Knute
TR Knudtson
AND THEY CAME!
Songs is their hearts, visions to bring to life, a dance unknown even to themselves, and they came. Painters, Artists, Poets, Architects, Set Designers, Writers, Visionaries of the Virtual World, Carpenters, Masons, Steel Workers, Technicians, Musicians, some with only the shirt on the back,,,, THEY CAME.
Their combined product,,, STILL,,, surpasses all gold and silvers and guck and muck that was ever gathered from the bowels of the earth.
THEY CAME.
From out of the nebulous, inscrutable eather, their hands and minds yielded WORTH and enrichment that FEEDS the heart of the world.
THEY CAME!!!!
Wait,,, wait,, what is that you hear? Feet?
And they come,,, AGAIN!
All the best
Knute
TR Knudtson
Thank you for the link above and for this verse, reminiscent of one of my favorites, Carl Sandburg.
Faved for beauty and inspiration.
Let’s please remember that Arnold took over after Enron had broke it off in the California businesses, home owners, communities and the Dot.Com-ers.
Investment went rushing back to “Brick and Mortar†and then President BUSH said of the ENRON rape of California,,, QUOTE: “Well, wasn’t it Californians who voted for deregulation of ENERGY?â€
So when we start bashing Maria,, or Arnold,,, we might just want to think a little about how California GOT TO THIS PLACE! Oh,, and just how did that “Brikie Mortarie†thing work out for Yas???
All the best
Knute
TR Knudtson
Seattle, The Village NYC, Portland, Sacramento, Palo Alto, South Pasadena, the waterfront of St Louis, San Monica, Old Town San Diego, New Orleans.
The spearhead of what is usually to follow, “Gentrificationâ€. Maybe a good thing,, maybe not so good,,,, because rising property values usually mean higher rents and the Artists move on.
But for that glorious 10 years or so in-between, pedestrian traffic increases, sidewalk cafes open, neighborhood theater groups start up, Vegan restaurants flourish, book stores open, galleries, coffee houses,, Art Walk tours start, mom and pop hardware stores do well, the spring and summers are amazing!!!!
But when is it time to move on????
When the Galleries start charging 60%.
When toilet paper from a blender and thrown at a canvas, sells better than a Rembrandt.
When the runaways start showing up and the hookers have all moved out.
YEP! Time to go! Time to go!
But for a time,,, oh the wonder of it all.
All the best
Knute
TR Knudtson
Just how many cities and towns are there in California that hove old Warehouse districts, Waterfronts, Rail Yards, Slums, Old Breweries, rundown sections of town that were once the hub before the Malls took over retail?
50 Cities small and large??? 500 Towns???
Multiply that by MILLIONS in sales taxes,,,, and BILLIONS of increased property taxes, lower Crime rates. And to the dickens drug worries, Wine and Coffee are the drugs for Artists,, BOTH are legal. Anything harder and they won’t be an Artist LONG!
NOT BAD,,, Huh?
All the best
Knute
TR Knudtson
I'd rather see our tax money going to artists than corporate bullies.
To limit Freedoms Of Expression in USA would send us down the slope of Hitler era of no one can think or talk unless govt approves...
Architecture is the queen of the arts & as a licensed California + Washington State Architect & have long been a supporter of the Arts.
Currently unemployed Democrat in Washington ( lived in San Diego CA for 13 years ) & I am always inspired by the arts & the artist inside of people that I meet, mentor & try to inspire.
Thanks Maria!
Of all the countries I've lived in and visited, there was nowhere with as low a priority for the arts as the US. (China since the Cultural Revolution seems to have deep suspicions about art and artists, but still the art market is robust.) We need to realize that the variety that becomes the spice of life comes from the arts. When we refer to highly developed civilizations, we mean the quality of life as enriched by the arts. We trivialize the arts at our peril. (That goes for you too, artists. Time to get serious.)
It enhances centers in the brain important to critical thought, comparative analysis, mathematics, reason, speech, word structure, sound, grasped scientific principles, social relationships and structures and future learning potential. Essential of a healthy, well rounded, intellectually curious, forward thinking, aware individual, free thinking and challenging of every boundary or limitation. A developed inner courage and welcoming of the unknown. A bravery of spirit to embrace clay, blank canvas, a new step, the highest note, a new form of expression, and self-motivated to achieve ever and ever greater heights of personal excellence. A willingness to push boundaries, to question, to dream, to envision what is not there and see that it comes to be.
Creative, ingenious, innovators who become bored easily with the mundane, repetitive, tedious and the routine????
And the Government has cut funding,,,, WHY?
Humm??? I wonder!
All the best
Knute
TR Knudtson
I'm a data junky and get my professional and recreational kicks from learning, interpreting and using real stuff - like facts. I have no need of art for any of this. I'm told I'm unusual - but I am almost certainly not unique.
Oh,, now there I would disagree with you Paul. The fact that you are very good at “connecting the dots†would make my case for me.
The Artist within.
You do not need Art to be stimulated??? NO! But like you, neither does the Artist. It is just there. Art is the outward manifest of precisely what you have described. In fact, most of us began with Dot-to-Dot books. AND just like you, it finds its’ surfacing, its’ coming to be, in a passion, a drive, a motivating force. Art, is just the wake of our passing.
Unusual?? Yes very! I would agree with others on this,,,,, AND celebrate it!
WELCOME!
All the best
Knute
TR Knudtson
Fanned and Faved
Why did the government shut down the National Endowment?
Lynne Cheney destroyed it so she could seek greater funding for her personal govt toy, the humanities endowment. She had no difficulty doing so.