tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261340509073154473.post980292746348264680..comments2023-11-03T14:08:43.854-04:00Comments on Broken Turtle: Why We Should and How We Can Preserve Our Local Literatures (part 1)Phillip Bannowskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15635421147908549692noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261340509073154473.post-11254027123264641152010-01-02T11:38:14.305-05:002010-01-02T11:38:14.305-05:00Steven,
Thanks for the friendly and thought provo...Steven, <br />Thanks for the friendly and thought provoking<br />correspondance. <br /><br />Well, sure thing about the idea that artists are part of the social rubric that can show differential interest and support for artists,<br />and at times, out of apparent political or otherwise special interest agenda. <br />But I only ask for a fair assessment of the overall impact of the "chateau country" gentry on the overall art community in our Delaware area. Examine the list of founders, supporters, and servants of our many museums and thus. Perhaps, with regard to literature, a point can be surely be made of the sad fact, that without aquiring some Big House break, or aggressively championing one's own work through self-publication, all writers, embark on an advocation, that for the masses is barely noticed beyond the eyes of the folk art community. <br /><br />Ofcourse, thankfully, E.Jean, and some others you mentioned have made their work available so graciously at our local poetry reads and gatherings, and despite any obstacles, have found a way to warm, we the many local enthusiasts, with their fine work. <br /><br />Being a resident of the Brandywine Valley, living on a preserve founded by the DuPont family, in a home made available to the public for rent by<br />those of modest or average means, I can't help but see another side to things. I live with two other artists, one my daughter, a gifted painter, who recently rode up the street to the Brandywine River Museum,and was pleaseantly surprised to recieve a publicly opened tour that day by the daughter of Jamie Wyeth. I see many, many proud and shining examples of gracious support and stewardship by the duPont family, and those who have invested their resources in our Brandywine Valley and its rich artistic environment. <br /><br /> So, my point is, we need not, by insensitivity or near-sightedness, disregard the facts of the matter, to lend persuasion to the case that avenues need to be further opened for our artists to get their wares to "market". Otherwise, we will rightly appear reactionary to those who may otherwise lend a sympathetic ear, or purse to our efforts.<br /><br />We are on the same team, though, Steven. Having not met you as yet, I can say that your open candor to free discussion, and your connection to that clever minstrel of ours who came up through the hard knocks academy of auto assembly, likely suggests you to be a good fellow to catch on the circuit!<br /><br />Best wishes in 2010 (sure am glad we are done with the double ot decade)!<br />Tom Lillard<br />BTW,Steven check us out at The Lodge, a playgroup for artists and seekers<br /> http://www.meetup.com/TheLodge/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261340509073154473.post-12031317803628812202009-12-22T16:46:16.771-05:002009-12-22T16:46:16.771-05:00Thank you for your comment. I will allow the emine...Thank you for your comment. I will allow the eminent Delaware author Henry Seidel Canby, who founded the Saturday Review of Literature and who served as a judge for many years for the Book of the Month Club among other accomplishments, to speak for me in this regard. The quote is from Canby's book "The Age of Confidence," which was about Wilmington at the turn of the 20th century:<br /><br />"We had one real artist, Howard Pyle, and he, by some irony of circumstance, happened to be the first illustrator of his time in the English-speaking world, and the author of one of the few books of authentic romance published in America in his day; yet it was not for these reasons that he ranked with local bankers, but because he belonged to a respectable Quaker family, held ultra-conservative Republican opinions, and was known to earn an income which was considered fantastic in our town, considering what he did for a living."<br /><br />By the way, and in spite of what I might otherwise think of them, I really do like the art of Howard Pyle, Andrew Wyeth, and Frank Schoonover, but I also like the art of a number of other past artists from Delaware like Gayle Hoskins, Edward Grant, William D. White and Jefferson David Chalfant. Among living Delaware artists, I find the works of E. Jean Lanyon and Edward Loper profoundly moving. I would buy their art if I could afford it.Steven Leechhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01406656691074265661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261340509073154473.post-19363624643132546942009-12-22T07:55:02.382-05:002009-12-22T07:55:02.382-05:00interesting piece, that no doubt rallies the charg...interesting piece, that no doubt rallies the charge for the preservation and celebration of<br />local art. But the notion of safe and unsafe art, although raised, is not really deliniated, rather suggested. <br />We all know some artists fail to get popular notice; though the Brandywine tradiditon is nore than protectionism. It is a style of mainly visual art and art illustration that is grounded in realism, an appreciation for the mythic, and cultural material of our consciousness, imbedded in the back drop of one of the countries loveliest natural settings. The Brandywine River museum generally features artists in this tradition, clearly omitting much notice of the abstract artists. This is OK. Schools of style are OK to concentrate on what they like, without the need to justify their affiliation and taste asssociated with their artistic flavor.<br />Local artists rarely make it in school academic text books. This is actually the issue, in my perspective. They tend to be from large publishing houses with nationally targeted readers. The artists selected for <br />inclusion in these texts, will in this end, be one of more popular acclaim, thus more relevant to a national targeted readership.<br /><br />So, also the notion of what is "safe" in a particualar school of art is usually grounded in a concern for preserving the artisitc integrety of a the style, an observance of its tradition and place in the overall artisitc community.<br /><br />So, although I appreciate the rally to support local art, I do not appreciate the need to caste an unsavory light on our local Brandywine Valley artistic tradition that includes not only howard Pyle, but the Wyeths, some of the family, still busy painting and living in the Brandywine valley, and others. <br /><br />Also the reference to the "Chateau Country" association, is a bit unfair in my mind. It is the prosperous who buy art, support it with big money, and in the case of our local legacy in the Brandywine Valley, the du Pont family has singularly erected some of the best homes in the valley, donated the most to support our museums, and preserved the vast track of natural land that is the heart and soul of the present brandywine valley legacy. Sooo,<br />easy on the good-bad art influence assesment, or safe-unsafe political issue. People buy what they like, too. And celebrate their own chosen heroes of a particular style or regional interpretation. People with money buy the most and give the most to museums. A nice thing.<br />So in this article, I find it neat that an artis forgoten, was resurected in the above piece. But unfortunate that the a rather unfounded contempt is expressed for the Brandywine Tradition. <br /><br />Juz my opinion....<br />Tom LillardUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06174677586831317923noreply@blogger.com