Painting and Processing - Impressions of the Art of the Peace Symposium

my painting stuff fits my desk the way it fits my life - squeezed in where I can find a space!

I'll be thinking about the Art of the Peace Symposium for a while. It always takes me a while to really know what I thought about what I heard and form my own opinions. Here's some of the half-formed impressions so far:

• multiple conversations about getting people to care about original art - education is key
• learning about salt glazed, wood fired pottery from potter Greg Crowe
• learning to appreciate pottery more through learning about the process and technique involved in its creation
• for your audience's sake, title and date your paintings!
• Western Canadian artists have gotten short shrift in Canadian history
• what is art's role in our national identity? does it play a part in defining who we are?
• what is the role of our large public galleries? how should they interact with the public?
• it is possible to be a full time artist in the Peace Region - if you want to be poor (quoting artist Carrie Klukas)
• coming home excited about art, longing to paint, and yet frustrated by the roadblocks so common to artists (apathy, ignorance, misinterpretation, politics, funding)