I have had my eyes opened to art the last couple of years. I started dating an artist about 6 months after transferring to Houghton. Since then my appreciation for art has grown for no other reason than exposure. Sure, I took art in high school for four years, but was never introduced to vast theories and practices that art encompasses. Because of this recent exposure I have grown to not only appreciate art, but also artists.
In Rochester there is a place called the Genesee Art Education Center. They have a community dark room, community wheels and kilns, and a book arts center. My girlfriend, Margaret volunteers at the center for access to their book arts center where she has started using their letterpresses and paper making studio to start her own small business called Nightingale Handmade. It is a pretty amazing place. It gives people access to continue feeding their passion for art. This means of expression can be an amazing release for people to participate in.
I feel much of our culture is pent up in a cubicle where they are told what to do and how to do it. That is not the way to exist. We have been given far more than this. I desire to express little more than this: express yourself, see the world through your own eyes. To gain this perspective may I suggest trying the eyes of an artist.
