Local artists are a gift to a community, recording all the unimportant things that, in time, make life interesting. Before the bank tore down half a block of old buildings for a parking lot our local artist, Ruth van Sickle Ford, recorded these great old buildings with watercolors. She found them interesting long before they were slated for demolition. They inspired her with their character. In her own way she saved the heritage of our town long after her passing. Right now there is an effort to save the building next to my studio, and a developer is giving new life to this old building.
Oil painters, watercolorists, and photographers record our lives for generations to come, whether it is their intention or simply because it is their hobby.
A few years ago a large wearhouse was built just north of where I grew up. As they were leveling the land and bulldozing a small grove of trees, they turned up several coffins. They had no idea as to who was buried there. I had the answer for them because a couple dozen years before I did a painting of the old farm house, and as I sat there painting a passerby stopped to see what I was doing. He told me about Clark Smith, who lived there, and about the family's burial plot back among the trees. Kids had vandalized the headstones years before. So by shear accident, doing a painting of the farm and farm house, creating a chance meeting with that passerby, I was able to answer the question of who was buried there.
Artists around the world speak for their community through their art. An artist in Russia took the time to do a painting of goats in front of an old house. It told me so much about life in Russia. It could have been a painting done around here . A connection was made through that painting. With Ruth Van Sickle's art, people can make a connection to our local past. She recorded places she traveled to, painting scenes of local interest, treating those places she visited with her love of the ordinary. I love artist who are inspired by their home communities.
