Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Halloween at the Jacksonville Center

It was a fine afternoon for shooting photos at the Halloween Kidfest Sunday. About 60 children and 40 adults participated in a pumpkin carving and costume party with prizes for everyone.

This is an annual party hosted by staff and volunteers and is becoming a community tradition.

In this community of artists, as many adults were in costume as were children. There were lovely witches of all ages, a dapper werewolf, a really gruesome ghost, a Dalek from Doctor Who, and and alien visitor.

An entire photo album has been posted on the Jacksonville Center website. Check it out!

Getting ready for Winter

The last few days of October bring us weather changes that delight and alarm. Even as the last fires of Autumn foliage are lighting up the trees, snow flurries are falling on nearby mountains.

For those of us who have not cut our winter firewood, the sudden drop in temperature is a last warning to get busy and stack enough away to carry us through the Winter months ahead.

I have enough logs to make up 6 cords of firewood, but I need to take some time off to cut and split it. A few days of energetic woodcutting will make a huge difference, so the sounds of the chainsaw and logsplitter will echo through the woods until I'm done.

I have seasoned oak and poplar with a little maple, so the stove will be well-fed this year with even burning firewood in a wide range of convenient sizes.

To get an idea of the production that is possible with a DR brand electric log splitter, check out one of the following videos.

Log splitter.wmv (5.45mb)

Log_splitter.mov (20mb)

I can increase production further by enlisting neighbor Tom King to operate the log splitter while I fetch the logs.

I have a blogger friend, Fred First, who prefers the traditional method of splitting logs with a maul, claiming that this heats him twice: once when he splits it and once more in the stove.

You will see from the video that I get enough exercise lugging logs around that I am more than willing to have an electric log splitter do some of the work.

Tag: electric log splitter

Uncomfortable questions about generating income from your artistic efforts...

Generating income from your artistic efforts is the first step towards supporting yourself. It is entirely different from technical expertise. Read on only if you like getting paid for your efforts.

Generating income as an artist may be more difficult than generating income as a business person because the answers to the following questions can be harder to answer:

What need does your product satisfy?

Who has that need?

What are they willing to pay to satisfy that need?

Like it or not, your chances of creating a viable career in the arts or any other form of business depends on how accurately you can answer these questions.

Before you throw up your hands and say, "He's trying to apply business logic to art and it won't work!" consider that every buying transaction involves satisfaction of a need. People buy books, hand crafted articles, and paintings because they want to be entertained, amused, enthralled, or validated. They also buy them for countless other reasons.

Generating income involves a customer exchanging money for something you provide. Trust me, it is a good thing and will do great things for your self esteem. It will also make others happy, which is always a good thing.

If you put attention on satisfying a need, you are putting your attention where it belongs, which is on a future customer and what this customer needs, wants and is willing to pay for. You are already thinking of your creation as part of a communication. It works like this:

(1)You create a work with a message,
(2) A potential customer recognizes the message,
(3) and admires it enough to purchase your work.
(4) You are validated by the acknowledgement and set about creating more work.

Now, you don't have to consider a future customer while creating your art but ignoring customers is a certain route to nonviability as a businessman or as an artist.

Here is a way to turn the first three questions inside out. Try asking yourself these two questions instead:

What problem do people have that I can solve?

How can I solve it for what they are willing to pay?

There are at least a thousand ways to exhibit your creativity. Doesn't it make sense to choose a few ways that people are willing to exchange money for?

If you would like to have people validate your creativity with cold, hard cash which you can exchange for food, housing and trinkets, try working through these questions until you come up with answers that make sense to you.

If it seems too difficult, leave comments and let's see what others can suggest.

Here's to your success!

(All of the items pictured are produced by artist/members of the Jacksonville  Center in Floyd, VA.  Examples of their work are on display in the Retail Shop or the Hayloft Gallery.)

Bob Rogers, Architect and Artist

Bob Rogers, a respected architect and really nice guy, is taking on a major challenge as a late-life artist.

Not content with the difficulties of becoming an artist, Bob is developing an art form at the same time.

Unlike "Junk Art" or "Recycled Art" (which are already established movements) Bob's pieces use recycled materials to create an armature on which he arranges story elements. We don't just observe Bob's art, we are lead into discovering a message.

To this observer, Bob's art is a playfully sophisticated melding of artwork and story.

His three dimensional pieces embody a thought-provoking view of issues we face and each has an unmistakable touch of insouciance.

Even though he has been at it for only a few months, he is creating works that leave a lasting impression. I find myself going back to view his work and discovering new insights each time.

As an architect, Bob has these professional goals: To change the nature and methodology of architectural practice to more fully embody the firm's mission - "Architecture for Sustainable Living - Connecting Body, Mind, Spirit and Place".

As an artist, he seems to be carrying on a similar mission through his art work.

Bob has a long history with the Jacksonville Center in Floyd. His firm, Architectural Alternatives, supervised the transformation of an abandoned 1940's dairy barn into a showcase for regional art and crafts training.

The above piece titled "Public School" will be on display at the Canopy of Trees Exhibition in the Hayloft Gallery at the Jacksonville Center in Floyd, VA through November 25.

Tag: late-life artists

Life is interfering with blogging - again

Thanks for keeping the place going while I've been preoccupied with life. I appreciate your dropping by and commenting, even if I am not posting as much as I did earlier. My lack of blogging is due to a lack of time, not a lack of things to blog about. Life here in Floyd is going on at full tilt and we are right in the thick of the action.

I have not watched TV for many months which was no big loss, but not having time to read weblogs leaves me feeling cut off from life. I have a full-time job keeping up with my email traffic, preparing the house for winter and managing an increasing volume of activities at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts.

I find myself driving down country roads with all sorts of insights bubbling up and no time to jot them down. By the time I get to my destination, I plunge into chores or a pile of overdue tasks and my posts get pushed off for a more propitious moment.

I have more than a dozen interviews of artists and musicians in my backlog and have hundreds of photos and video clips to post so there is no lack of material. I even have some ideas to share on getting more enjoyment out of life. I hope I will be able to catch up during the long winter months when things are supposed to slow down. :)

More later.

Late-life Artists - Transforming Life Experience Into Art

I see an increasing number of professionals who find themselves transforming their life experiences into art. Many of these mid and late-life artists were launched into art by taking a course taught by a professional artist, while others simply find themselves caught up by late-onset creativity.

Whatever the reason, these late-life artists are playing an important part in Floyd. In fact, the majority of students at the residential craft school at the Jacksonville Center in Floyd are grey-haired veterans of life and industry.

A little background for those who are not familiar with the Center: The Jacksonville Center offers a wide range of classes from pastels and watercolors to pottery, glassworking and blacksmithing to students of all ages. The students range from beginning artists and craftworkers to well-known professionals who are cross-training in other disciplines. The cooperative interaction (synergy) between students at different levels is one of many benefits of these classes.

I think the reasons we find so many late-life artists emerging is that "Art" is not an easy way for a young person to make a living . Many young people, myself included, investigated making a living as artists and concluded reluctantly that we were not able to support a family with art although we could do so as engineers, salespersons or business managers. Some artists were making a good living, but I concluded that I did not have the skill or connections to succeed at that time.

Many of us made our choices to work at careers which enabled us to support our families, but once we reached an age where we had no corporate responsibilities, we could reignite our passions for creative work and explore new opportunities as craft workers and artists.

This delayed entrance into the world of art is not necessarily a disadvantage. Unlike ballet, where you are too old at 13 to entertain thoughts of a career, a career in painting can be launched at the age of 79 (Grandma Moses).

Art can be considered a communication where the artist evokes a response in the observer. Artists with a great deal of interesting life experience only need to learn to translate that life experience into a recognizable communication and they will generally find a ready audience.

Late-life artists may even have a certain advantage over young artists. At the same level of technical skill, the older artist has more to communicate about that will resonate with potential buyers.

This also applies to writers, as best-selling author Barbara Kingsolver recently commented:

Learn everything you can about the world. ... Having something to say is more important than trying to guess what people want to hear. ... Live long enough to have something wise to say.

Many thanks to Colleen Redman for capturing Barbara's comment.

I have a backlog of interviews I have done with late-life artists and crafters and will be posting them here in the next few days. Their stories are both fascinating and inspiring. I think you will find them thought-provoking also.

Stay tuned...

Tag: late-life artists

Connectedness

There is something fundamentally different about a small town where many of the residents work in or around the town. There is a "connectedness" that you don't find in small towns that are bedroom communities

I am sure some bright young sociologist has already mapped this out, but I have discovered a phenomenon in Floyd that I have not experienced elsewhere and I want to jot down my observations before they fade away and lose their freshness.

I am sure there are other places like Floyd, but I have not seen them. I have lived in several small towns, some of them as small as Floyd, but they were mainly bedroom communities for commuters.

In these towns, neighborhood relationships were mostly created by mothers with young school-aged children or by employees of companies in the same industry. The networks were fragmentary and most families were essentially isolated, even from their immediate neighbors.

I lived in many small communities where I didn't know the names of the neighbors I could see from my front steps.

Our lives were severely compartmentalized.  Neighbors would get divorced and move away and the remaining neighbors would not know where they had gone or what happened.

In Floyd, on the other hand, it seems like everyone is connected in some way and the effect is multiplied because many people work several jobs. We discovered this early on when our mailman introduced himself as our County Supervisor.  By the time we got to town the next day to go shopping, several people knew who we were and where we lived. 

In the next few weeks, we found ourselves greeted warmly by strangers all over town. We figured they spotted us as newcomers because we hadn't figured out how to look like Floyd natives yet. Maybe our Muck Boots were too new and our jeans didn't have that well-worn look yet.

No, it was merely the fact that the 500-odd people working in Floyd knew everyone else, so we had to be the new people. Now that we have been here for ten months, we can spot strangers ourselves, even those who come from neighboring communities.

Now that I am working in the community and interacting with people all over the county, I see another ramification of life in Floyd. Many of the married couples keep their own names so you can talk with a Mary Smith, for instance, and find out later that you were talking with Bill Brown's wife. A failure to understand the first person can ricochet through the community and one ends up with unexpected responses from someone one doesn't even know.

It dawned on me several weeks ago that in a small and tightly interconnected community, changes are best made slowly and with full agreement of those you are dealing with. Urgency creates ripples and destructive side effects.

In a loosely connected community, news good or bad travels slowly or not at all. It takes more activity to create an effect in the first place and the isolation of the community members creates a damping effect. As a result, activists and agents of change find themselves shouting and demonstrating wildly to create any lasting effect at all.

A tightly connected community is like a "Slow Wake Zone". Very small changes introduced too quickly create undesired effects on all sides. One is not dealing with individuals. One is dealing with a network of tightly linked individuals.

Every conversation will be relayed to several others, which is fine if your conversation was mutually satisfactory. If the conversation ends with a misunderstanding, you can be assured that the misunderstanding will gain momentum as it is relayed to family and friends of friends, etc.

The best handling is to reestablish communication and discuss any misunderstanding and upset until accord is reached. Well-intentioned people are able to do this and usually do so when they realize they have created waves in an otherwise smooth environment.

When one is an agent of change, it is absolutely necessary to understand the benefits and problems that can come with introducing change into a tightly-connected community. If change is introduced slowly enough and carefully enough, it is like a rising tide, smooth and irresistible.

If change is introduced abruptly, the reaction is destructive to all concerned.

There is an ancient saying that can be applied here: Make haste slowly...

I'm still working on the "slowly" part.

And a good time was had by all...

It was a cold and rainy Friday night at the Jacksonville Center, but that didn't stop 75 artists and art supporters from gathering to admire an imaginatively conceived display of works related to the canopy of trees which cover much of this planet.

Art lovers came from as far away as Roanoke and Manassas to celebrate the final 2006 exhibition in the Hayloft Gallery at the Center.

Young or old, they all found renewal in the creative outpourings of artists working in a wide range of media. The theme was trees and the media ranged from acrylic, to pastels, to mahogany and beyond.

I overheard several discussions between highly regarded artists and newer artists and I was impressed by the supportive attitudes expressed by the experienced professionals.

Recognition of any kind means a lot to an artists starting out and when the comments are encouraging and right on the mark, it strengthens the resolve of the new artist to continue striving toward their artistic goals.

Most of the artists I know in this community of Floyd are still struggling to achieve financial success but their level of cooperative activity is truly heartwarming.

Instead of viewing artistic and financial success as a zero-sum game, they have wisely taken the position that sharing resources and advice is the way to achieving mutual satisfaction.

We brought some distant friends to the event and they got right in the spirit of things and signed up to became members of the Jacksonville Center. One of them, Dickie Conn is a high tech executive who is following the path Gretchen and I took when we made the transition from industry to the arts. She makes extraordinary quilts of a non-traditional design and I now have one hanging in my office.

My Sony DSC-F828 camera chose this particular event to get finicky about focusing and I lost many excellent shots. If anyone knows of a good Sony Repair center, please drop me a line. I need to get this camera back in action ASAP.

It's Party Time Again!

At the Jacksonville Center in Floyd, 71 works of art by 32 different artists have just been mounted in the Hayloft Gallery.

This exhibit is called The Canopy of Trees and the works are either made of wood, have trees as a subject, or are in reference to trees. The quality and variety of work is already producing rave reviews from visitors.

I had a chance to visit the gallery for a few minutes last week when the committee was setting up the exhibit and I took this photograph of Ron Campbell's "Country Porch Swing" under Adele Wayman's "Winter Trees".

The exhibit will be running until November 25, so you will have a chance to see what these 32 artists have conceived.

On the other hand, if you want to meet the artists themselves, you need to come on down to the Jacksonville Center tonight and join in the fun at the Artists Reception which starts at 6pm and runs to 8pm.

Refreshments will be served and a good time will be had by all. These "Meet the Artist" receptions are attracting more people each time we hold them. The receptions are a great way to meet the movers and shakers of the Floyd art world.

You can make some artist's day by buying their work. Everybody likes to see a "sold" sticker on pieces in an exhibition.

There is also a ballot for selecting the work you like the most. You fill out your ballot and put it in the milk can ballot box.At the end of the exhibition in November, the work that gets the highest number of votes is awarded a $50 prize for being the popular favorite.

When you have toured the gallery and met all of the artists, you will still have time to drive down the hill for the Friday Night Jamboree at the Country Store and a latte, coffee or a glass of wine at the Cafe Del Sol.

Fall foliage is already beginning to show in Floyd. Maybe we will see you this weekend!

The miracle of selling creative work

I recently got an entirely new viewpoint on how necessary and vital it is for artisans to acknowledge themselves when one of their pieces is purchased.

Their creation of the piece may be a triumph of will over the barriers of time, lack of money, and fear of the unknown, but there is the absolute miracle that a customer has so duplicated the message in the work that they have purchased it with money that would otherwise have been spent on food or other necessary aspects of survival.

For the vast majority of people, there is never enough money to go around, but they will find money for art or craft work that speaks to them.

So we have this miraculous transactions where an artist creates a work by pushing through all sorts of barriers and it gets purchased by a customer who overcomes a different set of barriers to buy the piece because it means so much to them. Each transaction like this validates the idea that people don't buy art for the purposes of surviving. They buy art in order to live!

This concept alone could encourage someone to move out of their comfort zone and become an artist. It also recognizes the creating and selling of art as the spiritual activity is actually is.

Support your local artists.  You won't regret it.