The Art in Living
There is a common notion that in some African cultures there is no separation between art and life. Is this also true in Western societies? Or perhaps, are we implicitly defined by our opposite, that in this place, life and art exist separately.
Ours is a compartmentalized society. We value specialists; we define ourselves by job title. It makes sense that art remains a separate component of daily existence: a time to work, a time to shop, play soccer, visit friends and a time to take in art.
In less industrialized societies art was part of survival, a way by which people expressed their thoughts and concerns. Art was not separated, specialized or to be consumed. It was personal and part of the whole of existence: art for life’s sake.
How much art exists around us today? How much do we value it? How can we access art as a way to discover who we are? Must art be presented to us? Or can art be something we do as naturally as breathing, as joyfully as playing, or as seriously as coping with the pains and challenges which define being human?
The definition of art or not art interests me less than how people can be touched by the wonder of what other humans can produce; how each of us can see a path to more clearly and self-consciously understand how art connects us to each other and our cultures.
Our job at Salina Arts and Humanities Commission is helping citizens make contact with art and through that, themselves and others. This is art in the everyday, art in which each of us participates, learns and gains skills. Pete Seeger says, “Each of us must in some way be a creator as well as a spectator or consumer…Make your own music, write your own books, if you would keep your soul.” That is what we try to do.
John Highkin
Executive Director
