funism: Worthy

Well, it's been a good year for my art, getting a little steam, especially for the 'historical' marker sculptures, and the other day I got this email:

Hi Norm,

My name is Helen, I work with an educational organisation called Creativity & Change based in Crawford Art College in Cork, Ireland. We run a post-graduate course, as well as lots of other training and events exploring art's place in addressing social and global justice issues. It's a really great alternative and forward-thinking programme that I think is pretty important and unique.

I am writing to you because we are creating a publication that shares the insights of certain changemakers and socially engaged creative practitioners on how art and imagination are best placed to support our futures in this mad world. I love your work and think it would be amazing if you were interested in adding your voice to our book. It could be as simple as submitting a few images and words, or something you had previously written that you feel is a fit. We have some interesting submissions from some great contributors already, including the president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.

You can see all the information here:

https://www.creativityandchange.ie/invitation/

Thanks for reading, hope to hear from you,

Best wishes,

Helen

on behalf of the Creativity & Change team

So I clicked on the site, where there were further instructions and it seemed they were looking for writing, from socially engaged artists, about how this is a good moment for art in our societies. A topic I'd been thinking about ever since late March, when the pandemic first hit and I did this: https://samiamchef.blogspot.com/ and then the "Pandemic Heroes" sculpture below. So I wrote a piece for her journal and sent it in and now I wanna post it here. So I won't lose it, I guess, since, realisticaly, I doubt anyone reads this blog except me!! Here's the essay:

WORTHY

When the pandemic hit, I found my worth.

Despite having dedicated thirty or so years of my life to creating art that sought to engage its viewers aesthetically or intellectually or even emotionally; despite having spent decades creating “art of social conscience” and writing, repeatedly, that I hoped it “might help people think about some of today’s most pressing issues from a different point of view”, I had historically and chronically undervalued the role of art in the world, including the role of my art. For me, making art had always felt more like self-indulgence and less like anything approaching public service.

* * *

In the early days of March and April 2020, we were all being told to stay home and shelter in place , but, for many, that was not an option. Those people: cops and firemen, doctors and postmen, garbage men, grocery workers, nurses, farm laborers, and other “essential workers”, kept going to work, either by choice or by mandate. They kept working on behalf of all of us who still needed to eat and still needed to be kept safe and healthy. They truly seemed to be the everyday heroes of this difficult time in uncharted territory and I wanted to celebrate their dedication by creating a new piece in my ongoing “On This Site Stood” series (in which I subvert the format of historical markers in order to add the weight of historical importance to contemporary political and social issues).

“Pandemic Heroes”

The actual sculpture (above) is cast aluminum and acrylic paint and stands 96” high by 36” across by 4” deep. But prior to becoming an actual sculpture, it was a Photoshop mockup and a postcard.

* * *

One day, I took some of these postcards with me to the supermarket to share with the workers there. After my checkout person finished ringing up my purchases, I pulled the card out of my pocket and gave it to her.

She looked confused, at first, that I would be handing her something. A postcard. Then she looked again and seemed to recognize that it was one of the familiar blue and yellow historical markers that are all around us here in New York state. Then she read it. And I could see in her eyes when she understood, intellectually, what was written on it, and when, a moment later, she had a deeper, emotional response. Her eyes glittered and softened toward tears and then got wide and excited and she asked if she could keep it and ran off calling to her friend, a few registers down: “Hey Johnnie!! Look at this!”

And then I softened. And I softened all the way back to the car and softened into tears and I felt, maybe for the first time ever, how important art could be to people. And how important art could be RIGHT NOW as we navigated this new world in which we were all living . . .

- To help us process the way it seemed things were going to be for the foreseeable future,

- To deal with the attendant loss of the innocent living that so many of us had probably taken for granted right up until then,

- To provide a humorous or aesthetically rich diversion from all that newly necessary processing that we had to do, and/or . . .

- To create a sense of community at a time of division and danger. It was an amazing moment for me to feel so clearly the actual utility of art (including my art!) in our lives and in our society.

* * *

But there was another strange feeling that came along in that moment as I sat in the car. And I only bring it up here because I think it may resonate with other artists who might be reading. Mixed in with the pride of that moment was the overwhelming feeling that I was not worthy. A strange thing to feel but there it was; and one of the ways I’ve looked at it and think I’ve made sense of it over the subsequent months is this:

My art can accomplish things that I can’t.

Or: my art is better than I am, more worthy than I am. I know that doesn’t really make any sense. I mean, it’s MY art, after all; I made it, I brought it out of my head and heart and into the world. But even though something inside of me won’t allow me to take all the credit for it, I feel like it would be weird to not take at least some of the credit. And so I do . . .

Here’s my attempt: I make art. And I see now that art in general and my art specifically can really, truly help someone smile or be proud or feel other things and maybe just maybe, can help them to “think about some of today’s most pressing issues from a different point of view”. And if that’s worth anything at all then certainly I must be too. Right?

* * *

words and images by Norm Magnusson

(more examples from my “On This Site Stood” series are below.)