As we pivot through the third wave of this pandemic party, it is truly interesting to watch the world change.
Change is the word that will always remind me of Covid19. How fast can we adapt is true evolution. Watching the creative businesses and people pivot to make digital and physical u-turns, shows the resilience and creative brain power we all have at our fingertips. Projects that I spent decades working on were stalled, changed, yet somehow made more relevant in a time that seems what the projects were destined for.
No mistakes in life and there really is a master plan. Decades of selling art as destination placemaking is now a trend, the renewal is now focusing on creating art and content. And the arts are taking a lead in the future. But wait …..seriously…..think ……tool making…..art infrastructure is what mankind has done since we figured out our thumbs could hold a tool, and create something useful. In times of great bounty we had time to decorate those tools. This time round it seems more like reversed engineering. We had bountiful time to decorate the things we need to create to rebuild our community and digital infrastructure. What did we do with that time? What cave drawings did we do that will leave the story of this time?
Looking back with a blue lens, I am so grateful to the creative tribe I came from. Business leaders, union creators, farmers, musicians and artists. A real mix of many skills. I remember a time that I was laughed at by a mean girl in school, because my dad used to love to go the dump looking for things to remake into treasures. In front of my whole class she snarled and said, “we all call your dad a dump digger!” I still feel the hot shame I felt and the nose bleed that overtook me as I started to cry.”
Looking back with pride. I am a dump diggers daughter. How did I feel even one moment of shame?
I know how to take things that others throw away and make something beautiful. Hundreds of gallons of dump paint went into the hundreds of murals I painted. My dad was an artist, a musician and a businessman. My mother was a baker, an artist, and a business women. They built their communities from the hands up.
With environmental knowledge that wasn’t a fad, it was how things were done. I am a product of these people and the skills they had from the immigrant parents that toiled to build this country. Those skills are going to be needed as we all dig out of this mess we are in. I know this……we have to look back to find a way forward……together
ARTIST MICHELLE LOUGHERY 