Featuring artwork from “The Group”
“OUT OF THE BLUE”
This exhibit runs from June 3rd thru Aug 1st, 2022
GROUP
Almost 50 years ago, a group of young women who wanted to nurture their creative expressions gathered together to share. They shared art, ideas, information, help, support, and lunch. There were no rules, leaders, or fees. They had no name, but eventually the term “GROUP,” became the common identifier. They were never a large group, maybe 13, at the most, and members came and went. But there was a core of 7 who were there at the beginning and still remain. Today, and for the past 30 years, the same 12 women meet weekly. They are the GROUP. Over the years, members of the group, individually and together, have had art shows, won awards, taught art to others, and continue to create today, even though “the baby,” is 72. What started as a need to nurture creative expression, became a lifelong need to create.
This remarkable union did not grow by accident. We can look back and identify some factors that led to the group’s vitality and sustained enthusiasm. First and foremost was a passion for learning. Whether formally or informally trained as artists, each member of the group sought out new information about ideas, materials, and techniques that they gleaned from workshops, formal art groups, other artists, and reading. All of it was shared. Opinions, also, were freely shared. The trust within the group made critiques a warm and welcoming way to look at art from another’s perspective and learn through their eyes. Finally, there were the “challenges,” informal assignments that tugged them beyond their comfort zone, teasing the limits of creativity and leading them along paths they would have never found on their own.
Art grew everywhere within this group. The annual camping trip became an opportunity to learn a new skill from someone within the group. Birthdays (celebrated only when your age had the numeral 0 in it) became performance art, with costume, song, and poetry. The annual Christmas party was the feast of feasts, where it was hard to determine what was more artful, the food or the presents made for each member. The group is always surprised when they talk about their longevity, even though there are albums and albums of memories, stories galore, and art that can reach the sky. It seemed like yesterday. But, while reminiscing is a lovely activity, this group likes to look beyond, knowing there is always something new on the horizon.