Memphis River City Art Fest this weekend was a great way to get outside and enjoy traditional carnival food and outdoor family-friendly music whilst taking a peek at Memphis's commercial art scene. All in all, the event was just an excuse for people to be outside on one of the few sunny days we've had since we hit october. As for the art itself, it just wasn't much to behold. Every painting and sculpture looked as if it were designed to match the living room couch and carpet, or a kitch lawn piece you would expect to find in any old country home. Not much better can be said for the Jewelry vendors either.
Besides being unenthused with all of the mostly mediocre work, I could not stop wondering where the younger/student artist's booths were. Why wasn't there a section for them to showcase their latest pieces?! I'm sure that would have been much more interesting, or at least more inspirational anyway- the elderly and glim looking vendors at the rest of the booths seemed only to see their work as potential profit. This addition would surely have helped broken up the homogenity of the whole affair and brought a bit more spunk to the day as well.
This weekend's void highlighted the larger problem at hand. In order for a community to foster a strong culture of the arts, younger artists must be part of the cultivation and showcasing process as well as the more established ones. Why didn't the town offer student vending booths at a lower price (understanding that they would most likely not sell as much work) to encourgage younger local participants? All I'm saying is the whole artist community should always be considered in projects to enrich the arts in a community and until memphians understand that, memphis will remain a weak link in art world.
1 comment:
To fill you in-- the River Arts Fest, which was formerly Arts in the Park, required the vendors to submit a portfolio of work in June to be juried, and only those who were chosen got a space. I know because Rozelle attempted to buy a booth in September when we heard about it. Now, if that tells you anything, it's that the judges were aiming for a desired result, something not as ridiculous and cooky as CY Fest can be, where vendors just pay rent on the spot and sell what they want-- which, in my tent, we had fake Elvis crucifixes and a secondhand leather boustie for sale.
But all in all, what kids? This was very obviously intended to be an arts festival aimed at the middle-aged condo-owning martini-drinking upper class of downtown; a counter-response to CYF.
Arts in the Park used to be good at picking vendors and activities for kids to do too, like when I was 11, but I noticed over the years, it began catering to a specifically older demographic, and kid-friendly vendors disappeared, like the paper marbling, necklace making, tie-dying, and my favorite, the art maze. It got to the point where it was more like being dragged around Home Depot than going to a party like it was in the old days. I remember the last time I went, I was maybe 14, and the only evidence of kids were these trash bins painted months earlier by highschool students.
But the point you bring up is correct, just much larger than that gaudy art market. Main St. and the surrounding areas boast themselves as an arts district, yet the cost of living has increased so dramatically, no young artist could afford to live there. The condo development is the real issue. Developers and real estate agencies foresaw the approaching economic boom downtown would get, so they're raising prices far too soon in order to get a jump on it and make quick cash. They are priced too high for the income level of any young artist, and without the youth, the art appeal will die away in 30 years. Riverfront condos are going for $300k, and MCA students are graduating with an average of $45k in unpaid student loans. There is actually one urban planner proposing a strip of low-income artist dorms/studios to be built parallel to Main. Her name is Lorie Chapman. Look her up.
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