Janet Zweig vs Milwaukee,WI

During the last few weeks there has been a lot of talk about the near debacle of yet another public art project here in Milwaukee To make a long story short the project created by artist, Janet Zweig nearly fell apart due mainly to lack of communication and follow through. Who’s at fault? The arts community for not knowing about the project and supporting it? Members of the Milwaukee Common Council for not educating themselves about the artist? The artist for not showing up to explain her work to the Common Council before they made their finale vote on the project? All of the above? In the end the project survived. But that’s not what I really want to write about.

All of the debate, anger, and threats of defecating on lawns
surrounding the project has got me thinking about the state of Milwaukee’s cultural scene and how that scene is tied to the over all health of the city. Most of the blogs, posts and meetings I’ve come across or attended lament the weak state of the arts in Milwaukee. Galleries open and close before anyone knows they exist. Funding for art is hard to come by and artists struggle to make a living from their art.

Then I think about the state of the city itself and wonder if the art world complainers see what I see. The poverty and segregation here are legendary. The high school drop out rate is hovering at 50%. The unemployment rate for black men is at or pushing 50%. Many of the city’s neighborhoods have not seen development in decades, and are quickly becoming slums. Milwaukee’s people are hanging on by a thread in many cases. So when the arts community comes together to plead for more funding for public art, I’m not so much against it as I’m worried they’re not seeing the big picture.

In a city with a largely black and Hispanic population that doesn’t go downtown except to shop at the mall, is it really worth it to install public art downtown if most of the people from these groups never see it? The Zweig project has been in development since the 1990’s. How many projects does the city have in the works to bring jobs to the inner city? I can’t see the black unemployed caring about the controversy over the bronze Fonz, when they’ve never heard of it and have no way to get to it. I feel more anger and concern about the lack of resources people need to survive then about a tacky statue of a character on TV.

I’m a poet and a painter so I can’t be labeled as biased against art. I care a great deal about the decline of writing poetry as a serious endeavor. I’ve struggled and am still struggling with trying to justify writing poetry when it is so isolated from the rest of American culture. What I’ve found more often then not is art is not part of everyday life. It’s being squeezed out of the “real” world.
Those who try to bring the two together struggle for attention and support.
I know what it’s like to not get the attention deserved for the efforts put forth to promote or produce art. But artists and galley owners can often come across as elitist without intending to, because the art community often takes for granted that everyone else is on the same page. The voices discussing art and it’s importance and what constitutes legitimate art are mostly white, middle class, educated and don’t live in the inner city. They don’t see the ugliness of poverty every time they walk out their doors. They don’t generally have to deal with law enforcement, low wage jobs, or W-2. Art, if it is going to be part of peoples’ lives and communities needs to reflect them. Art has to be of value to the majority not just the elite. Otherwise it can’t expect much support from the majority, which it needs to survive.

It’s a lot to ask artists who may not even be able to relate to someone outside of their world to reach out to those who don’t have easy access to art, but it’s happening in small ways. Just as we need those pot holes filled in and MPS fixed we need to build on the arts. We need art and jobs and decent affordable housing. The arts community needs to care about more then just getting funding for itself if it expects support from the wider world. Maybe the days of producing art for art’s sake are over. That was a dream world I certainly never saw.

ART BABBLE FEATURES ART:21

If you ever wonder what goes into the creative process check out Art Babble, and see a preview of the next season of art:21 art in the twenty first century. I believe this is the only series on TV that gets behind the process of makng art, taking the viewer from inspiration, creation, to the instilation process. Some of the contemporay artists to be featured are Mary Heilmann, William Kentridge, and Yinka Shonibare

The Darfur is dying. Let's watch Britney Spears

photoStephanie Zito

Words by CYB

Things seem to be falling apart around me. Or at least that’s what the talking heads on cable would have me believe. I don’t want to write about the state of the economy or whether Obama is a socialist, or soon to be mass murderer as some other blogs would have me believe. I am not looking for an angle or bold head line. The problems this country faces are far too complex to summarize in one emotional, brain dead rant.
Our civilization is in flux. It may be dying. We in the West may have to go back to living on less of everything and that may be a good thing for us and the planet. If the United States economy is based on consumerism and credit surely it can’t help but fall apart when consumers run out of money. And surely the world doesn’t have enough oil for two billion people in India and China to live the life style of the average American. So why are so many people shocked to find the economic system we live under is falling apart?
I pray individuals will start to realize they need to change their lives before leaders have to tell them. When leaders start to be forced to face the truth it will be too late. Millions die so we can have cell phones and oil. Millions die for no reason at all. All we can do is watch Britney Spears shave her head.