This business of creativity is a tough one to write about. I would never have included this article in the Witter Springs Chronicles except for my research for a book I was writing. I mentioned in an earlier article that I had written a “History of Lake County.” My intention was to end the history with a part that told the reader how Lake County‘s machinery works; social services, law and order and all the other parts of our government that make us a good county and serves its people well. So I looked into the arts.
“Art” is a bigger subject than most of us think it is. It includes a lot more than painting pictures. It includes sculptors, musicians, actors, poets, writers and all the other creative work people do in our county. Fortunately for all of us the creative urge is not an ability parceled out to a favored few. Nearly everyone has it.
Last Tuesday afternoon I strolled into the art gallery on Lakeport’s Main Street. I was there to hold an interview with the Lights of the Lake County Arts Council, to find out what they were doing and what their plans were for Lake County’s art future. One thing I discovered was that this county has barrels of talent. A lot more is going on that I thought. The range of our artistic endeavors is broad and fine enough to put most counties and countries to shame.
As soon as I sat down I knew I was among friends. I was made to feel at home right off the bat. Shelby Posada, the executive director and her husband, Ed Posada, know their stuff. Betty Lou Surbur, their money person, looks like she was born to the job. Although she didn’t speak often, Pat Cox, a volunteer for the council, dressed up the gallery for charm. At the party in the gallery that evening Ed Posada showed me a box of one of the goodies that were served. The sight made my mouth water.
There are two parts to the art council’s free-spirited art conspiracy (said in the best possible sense). First off they have the Soper Reese Theatre, no slouch of a place. It is worthy of the finest theatrical productions anywhere. No less that “Jesus Christ Superstar” was produced the week before in that same theater. On the other side of the coin of the art council works are the painters, sculptors, weavers, poets and writers. I had a fine look of some of the magnificent Lake County’s artwork hanging about on the walls of the Lakeport Main Street gallery. I’m sure, if the rest of the world knew what they do in Lake County, the managers and directors of the world’s most renown art galleries and the producers of the best of the theater play and musicals would be driven to tears of envy.
The few that are determined to devote their lives to a particular form of artistic expression pay a heavy price. Yet, it is one they are willing to pay. Leszik Forzcik, a celebrated local painter, told me this story.
”After the Spanish Civil war Pablo Picasso was in his early 40s. He was asked a question by a Spanish soldier, who was studying Picasso’s painting of the tragedy and the turmoil of war, Pablo Picasso’s painting of Guernica. The ignorant soldier found it difficult to understand why anyone would spend his time daubing paint on a canvas in this way.
“Did you paint this?” the soldier asked at last.
“Yes,” Picasso admitted.
Continuing to study the painting, with open disdain, the soldier asked, “How long did it take to paint this?”
Thinking long and hard, Picasso finally replied, “It me took me 42 years, three months, four days and seven hours.”
When I asked Leszek what inspired his painting he said, “Color, light and darkness inspires me. Painting balances, purifies and strengthens the soul. Color holds mysteries and to learn its mysteries is a privilege.”
Like a dog with a good bone I can’t let go of this topic … at least not yet. Next week I’ll tell you about a bird and a chimpanzee that practiced their art appreciation with enthusiasm. Also some Lake County young people, who, one day soon, are going to shake the world of art with their accomplishments.
Gene Paleno is an author and illustrator living in Witter Springs.
