Art as a Social Force

i like the kind of art shows where you can touch the art and the alarm doesn't sound. the kind where you get to talk to the artists about what inspired their work. the kind where families and friends show up to talk and laugh and break a little bread while gazing around at the art. the kind where mixed media is the rule rather than the exception. the kind where i leave feeling compelled to make art, to dig a little deeper, to seek out the answers to my questions. to find my truth, to work to understand our truths a little better.



that's how i left the uama art as a social force show feeling. like the world was a little more defined, perhaps like it was sharpened into focus for a moment. like i had a greater sense of my students' identities, intellectual curiosities, and selves.

i also left feeling like i wanted more, like i wanted to see a clearer description of our collectives selves--who we are together, who we are apart--what makes us tick, how our various versions of our interwoven "selves" are shaped.