*cino needs YOU to vote each day in December to help us win a $50,000 grant to renovate the old kindergarten room at Huss School! Why vote? Read on…
Reason #15: Local artists need venues and encouragement to develop their skills and artistic voices.
In October 2010, painter Makoto Fujimura published “A Letter to North American Churches,” offering an artist’s perspective on the sense of alienation many artists feel in the Church. Not just in the Church, but in contemporary Western society as a whole, the artist’s vocation has not always been esteemed. Productive members of society are seen as those who make functional objects and who generate money, not those who create beautiful, challenging art out of sound, paint, metals, clay, scripts, words and other media. We’re seeing the effects of the devaluing of artists as art programs get slashed from school budgets and both we adults and our children are poorer for it. Art is an important teacher, both to the artist and to the society the artist seeks to communicate with. Artists challenge our prejudices, wake us up to extraordinary beauty, take us places we’ve never been, help us identify with the oppressed, record our community’s stories and so much more. We believe art is necessary and we hope Huss School can be a place that encourages artists of all ages, ethnicities, income levels and abilities to develop their gifts…for the good of the whole community!
December 15, 2010