Page 24 - the NOISE July 2015

A CARNATION
IN THE PARK ...
FROM LEFT, the raku of Stuart Wolf; the jewelry of Ryanne Sebern; and the watercolors of Greg Hill are all but a few of the 100 artists represented at the Fourth of July Art in the Park in Flagstaff on Independence Weekend.
STORY BY CALEB MCCLURE
Stuart Wolf’s young adult life began like getting on a train, which picked up momentum before he could figure out what he really wanted and where he wanted to go. He went to the same college as his brother — the college he was supposed to go to. He majored in what was practical and what he was good at — math and science (specifically geology) and eventually went into the graduate program a professor recommended. Not before long he was making big money in the oil industry and he was miserable. He saw the horrific impacts the oil industry had on the environment, but it wasn’t until he saw a speech by then Vice President Al Gore admonishing the oil industry for it’s shady practices that he got out of it.
“I was like, ‘Holy crap, this is me. I’m involved in this idea of protecting something that is so obviously wrong.’ It’s about profit driven pollution, so I was seriously at odds with my very basic view of how we should live on the planet,” said Mr. Wolf. In the early ‘90s he volunteered for a layoff at the oil company. For the first time in his life he felt he was laying the tracks of his life’s journey. He had the option to move anywhere he wanted, so he stayed in the mountain town he discovered while visiting the Grand Canyon and started hanging out with potters and throwing pots. Now he works to mould the world into that basic view of how it should be — organizing the bi-annual Art in the Park Arts and Crafts Festival on Independence Day and Labor Day weekend in Wheeler Park.
Every summer, an open air art market is created in Wheeler Park. “There’s artist’s booths, food booths, security, portable toilets, and first aid. We build a small functioning city in three hours,” described Mr. Wolf. It is an experience unique now- a-days when markets like it used to be common practice. It connects the people who create — artisans and craftspeople directly to consumers. People can interact with the artists who make things — creating a smaller local economy.
The vendors at the fair aren’t just entrepreneurs looking to make a buck, and Mr. Wolf makes sure of that. There’s no commercial resale in the show. The vendors must be passionate about what they do — they are artists who put a little bit of their heart and soul into every piece they create.
He also believes people should be paid fairly for the passion they put into their work. None of it is outsourced to countries who don’t have the same wage laws as here in the states.
“There’s often an unfortunate reality placed on imported work. They (the artists in outsourced countries) often live in places and societies where the value of their skill isn’t appreciated. Some of these folks who make pottery [that gets sold in retail stores] make dollars a month, so they’re effectively slaves. Supporting that in the world is a funny thing,” said Mr. Wolf. Unlike big retail shopping where customers are so far removed
from the producers of the product they are buying, people who go to Art in the Park know exactly where what they buy is coming from — the person behind the booth. Instead of a product of unknown origins, there’s a product with a story and a history beginning with someone they can see and meet.
“Somebody can look at one of my pieces sitting on the dining room table, and say, ‘Stu made that,’ rather than, ‘I got that at the store.’ You know, there’s a whole story instantly. ‘We were at Art in the Park. We met Stu. He’s a goofy character.’”
Theshowalsoconnectsartistsandchallengesthemtogrowa more creative art scene. Even though the artists are selling side by side there is a sense of camaraderie instead of competition. Jewelry is the most sought after medium at the festival, but the jewelers feel there is room enough for everyone.
“More jewelers at the show builds the desire to see more jewelry. We all do very different things, and I think if there’s competition then it’s time to do something a little bit different and bust out of the niche. Instead of competing with other jewelers I like to work together,” said local jeweler Ryanne Sebern.
Some of the artists even give each other tips, or trade work and encourage one another to continue making the goods they produce.
“If it was about pure competition these people wouldn’t be nice to each other. They hug each other when they come to the show and haven’t seen each other for a year, because it’s a family and they recognize that they’re different and what they’re doing in the world is different, and there’s strength in community,” said Mr. Wolf.
It took two decades to grow Art in the Park to what it is now. In the beginning, Mr. Wolf tried to spread the word about his show by going from festival to festival promoting the show, but this strategy didn’t produce results. The artists wanted to hear it from people they knew, and they saw him as someone who would say anything in order to get people to show up. “The way artists decide to do shows is by talking to the artists next to them at the show that they’re at. ‘Where are you going next? Where have you been?’ Those conversations go on constantly between artists at shows, so the only way to get a good review from those folks is to put on a good show,” explained Mr. Wolf.
The camaraderie and pursuit of art by this event and the band of artists who participate is almost contradictory to the “normal” business/consumer experience. No one’s doing it solely for the money, and no one is producing anything that is a necessity (food, water or clothing). They are making art reflective of what inspires them and sharing it with those who appreciate it. “You’re not encouraged on any level to
chase art as a career by anybody, not even by your art teacher,”
said Mr. Wolf. But that’s exactly what the folks at Art in the Park are doing.
Local painter, Greg Hill, experienced this animosity towards artists when he was young. On a Saturday morning, as a young boy, the artist was getting ready to go to an art class at his local museum when a friend stopped by and asked him if he wanted to play football. Upon hearing the young artist’s refusal due to his art class, Mr. Hill’s friend called him a “sissy.” “So I bagged art for basically for 32 years,” he recalled. He pursued a career in engineering, a career he thought he ought to do, but not one he loved to do. Eventually, at the age of 40, he decided he needed more passion in his life, but he was having trouble figuring out what he was passionate about until he read a book called Wishcraft by Barbara Sher. The book said to think back to what you enjoyed when you were a kid to find where your passion lies. He remembered his love for art, and exercising his creative brain. So, he started learning how to paint. He took the same watercolor class at Coconino Community College over and over for five years, and met and learned from other artists practicing in Flagstaff. For eight years now, the artist has been a part of every Art in the Park and the watercolorist can be found in his booth painting and chatting with customers when they come by. When children talk to him about what he is creating, he tells them the story of his childhood exodus from art — encouraging them to follow their passions relentlessly.
“It [Art in the Park] creates an opportunity to see people living a different sort of life. You know a lot of people get a job rather than make a job, and if you’ve decided to sell your art you’ve made a job in a sense. You’ve decided that you’re going to try to live as an artist. They [patrons] get to meet somebody who’s chased a dream,” said Mr. Wolf.
For a few days during the summer Wheeler Park is turned into a better version of our world. No one is taken advantage of, people make the money they should and healthy competition produces astounding creativity. Every year it’s growing and influencing new people to become a part of something as simple as producing and selling art and something as large as an alternative ideology.
Art in the Park will be held at Wheeler Park, on the corner of Humphrey’s & Aspen Avenue in downtown Flagstaff, over Independence Day Weekend, July 3-4, 9AM to 6PM and July 5, 9AM-4PM and Labor Day weekend September 5-7. FlagstaffArtInThePark.com
| Caleb McClure does not necessarily get lost in the park. arts@thenoise.us
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