Quotes Addressing ART, ARTISTS & CREATIVITY

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Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on September 13, 2008 at 9:54pm

Ode

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams.
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down!

We, in the ages lying,
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
An o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth. . . .


Arthur O'Shaughnessy, 1874

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Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on October 3, 2008 at 5:59pm

The Artists’ Manifesto – The Time Has Come.

By Thomas Lane © 1991

In the early 90’s (preinternet) I was still living in Portland, Oregon and would make occasional business trips down to LA. It was while on one of these business excursions to the City of Angels that I first heard about Thomas Lane and this book he had written called, The Artists’ Manifesto – The Time Has Come. Some artist friends I had who knew Thomas were really talking the book up but nobody had a copy to show me and I ended up leaving LA without finding one to purchase. Then one day, after being back in Portland for a week or so, I get a call from this friend of mine and she’s telling me all about Thomas Lane. I tell her that I’ve heard about him and his book and wanted to buy a copy but… and so on and so forth. Well, she then says, “Terry (her husband) and herself had bought a box of them to sell to their friends. She said that she would save one for me. So, in a very unexpected way, I got my copy of the book.

Thomas Lane is a writer, lyricist and composer. Back in the early 90s’ a popular TV series (seems like it was BayWatch but I’m not sure) used one of his songs in the opening of the show every week. Other than that, I don’t know if he has any other claim to fame. In any case, I have unfortunately misplaced the two newspaper articles that I once had about Thomas Lane. That being said, and without anyone else’s testimonial regarding his book, I think his book is incredible! The Artists Manifesto has been out of print for a number of years but I have seen some used copies for sale through Amazon.com.

If you’re wondering why in the heck I’m going on so about this guy, Thomas Lane and his book, it’s because I feel that what he has to say and how he says it in his book, as appropriate as it was when he first said it, is still just as appropriate if even not more so. Therefore, I am going to begin sharing passages of The Artists’ Manifesto – The Time Has Come with you. I hope you enjoy what I choose to post.

Monte Man

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Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on October 3, 2008 at 6:03pm

Taken from the book, The Artist's Manifesto -The Time Has Come.

An Open Letter To Artists


My Dear Fellow Artist,

We are the old friends who have drifted out of touch over these long, strange years. I have rejoiced in your work. I have been taught by your search. I have been instructed by your pain and by your joy.

My own creations, maybe like yours, have been, at best, like shooting stars in the blackness of night. Brief, solitary, and quickly extinguished. And it has been a long and difficult night for us who still see art as a blazing sun of inspiration that should remain forever in the skies above our lives.

Artists in their innocence and in their wisdom have always wanted to save the world. In this skeptical age we are in danger of becoming "realistic" and losing this unbridled reach. We must not - it is the source of our power and our worth.

We need to know each other better, and so we must talk. We need to work together, and so we must plan. We need to channel our power, and so we must organize. And all things may still be possible, though the hour be late.

We have spent dawn and we have spent sunset following the ambitions of our subject: our fellow man. We have followed him through his wars, and his brutality and his love. We have lived this journey and chronicled it so that we could hold the experience within our hearts forever.

And we have followed him out into the meadow of his laughter and his tears. And we have always come back to our pages and our canvases as tired lovers and written about his sad steps amidst the mountains of his yearnings. In cracks of fury and shivers of joy, we create because we care.

What is there left for us to do but to climb alongside him and describe the outrage of our love? What is there left to do but to stand within the shadow of our own soul and find its words and hear its song. We linger on a precipice. We must not wait.

This is a call to all souls who are still active. This is a summons for dreamers who are too agitated to sleep. This is a voice from ancient hope and longing that has been raised in your direction. Let us put our dreams together. Let me offer these invisible threads to you.

With hope,

Thomas Lane

March 21, 1991

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Permalink Reply by Lou De Frog on October 6, 2008 at 11:07am

The motto of The British Interplanetary Society is "From imagination to reality'. taken from the sub-title of a book of paintings by R A Smith (High Road to the Moon), published by the society in 1979.

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Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on October 9, 2008 at 8:49pm

The Artists Manifesto – The Time Has Come

The Role of Art

"The role of art is unique among all the endeavors that are sanctioned by society. It is positioned slightly outside the activities of the culture. While other professions are embroiled in the machinery of commerce and in daily survival, the artist uses his freedom and mobility to perceive, digest and then create from his observations.

"His job then is to project his perceptions into the culture.

"From this position the artist can hold a mirror up to the population so that people can see themselves in a new and different light. How do we all look from the outside? How are we feeling? What are we doing? Ultimately, who are we all becoming? The artist can articulate those experiences, those feelings and dreams that others find hard to express. A great work of art makes those who experience it feel less solitary, less alone in their struggles.

"The arts have historically been a forum for inspiration and for dissent: morally, socially, politically, spiritually. Although sometimes banned or blacklisted, artists are all allowed – almost expected – to be controversial; they have far more freedom to criticize the status quo than those in other professions.

"This is because art generally has a lack of vested interest that gives the artist credibility. An artist makes a living from independent observations and emotions and is not expected to personally benefit from the espousal of a certain view.

"So the artist is in a unique position to effect positive change. Art places images, symbols and awarenesses into the culture that are, themselves, beneficial. These prompt insight and, in some cases, do cause shifts of consciousness.

"It is an important role. In fact, it is so important that we have been kept from doing it."


Thomas Lane
(c) 1991

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