Watching Violet and Eden Pryor sketch out on the patio cement an
impressive chalk picture of a blooming sunflower, I couldn’t help
but wonder what Pablo Picasso might think of the two 7-year-old
artists.
Watching Violet and Eden Pryor sketch out on the patio cement an impressive chalk picture of a blooming sunflower, I couldn’t help but wonder what Pablo Picasso might think of the two 7-year-old artists.
It was Easter Sunday in the backyard at Viv and Bill Medina’s Hollister home, and in addition to the sunflower, the twins drew fish, turtles and TV cartoon “PowerPuff Girls.” Yes indeed, Picasso would be proud. And so, too, would the Gilroy Arts Alliance.
The recently started group envisions building a “thriving arts community” in our South Valley region. It also wants to expands awareness and appreciation of the arts among the general public here.
I recently spoke with Sandra Marlowe, an alliance founder and board member, about the potential creative and business collaboration of artists in our area. In a world where most people get their entertainment from out of an electronic box showing amusements such as “American Idol” or “Desperate Housewives,” the Gilroy Arts Alliance has set itself an ambitious undertaking.
“The Gilroy Arts Alliance has a marketing plan to build the arts scene in Gilroy and the South Valley, to grow the demand for a performing arts and cultural center here,” Marlowe said. “We need to capture some of the spending of the public, to build support for an arts scene here.”
Like many other laudable activities, increasing artistic expression in the South Valley region will take cash. Even Renaissance masters such as Michelangelo and Leonardo di Vinci needed cold currency to create works that have inspired people throughout the ages.
“It’s not always about just writing donation checks and funding endowments, although many forms of arts through the ages have been singularly supported by patrons, thank God,” Marlowe said. “We also need to encourage the general public to spend more of their discretionary income on art in its myriad forms – and not just at the ‘celebrity’ level, but also at the local level.”
Many people have a narrow scope of what “the arts” actually are. They often define it as simply a pretty painting, a drawing or a sculpture they might find in a museum. Those visual arts, however, make up only a small segment of a much bigger picture. The arts also include other expressive disciplines such as music, theater, literature, dance, photography, motion pictures and architecture.
The arts are essentially any form of creative mastery that enhances the quality of life for the people of a community. That’s why the Gilroy Arts Alliance wants to promote all culturally enhancing artistic endeavors in our region.
The arts also stimulate fresh ways of looking at reality. And innovative thinking often leads to greater economic prosperity. Take note of the Medici family during the Italian Renaissance. Those great patrons of the arts understood that funding artists to create great works in the long run gave them more wealth, prestige and political power.
Marlowe and I discussed the proposed community arts and cultural center that many citizens of Gilroy want to see built downtown. With proper planning and marketing, this center might, in the long run, help downtown businesses out of their economic rut. It would make the downtown a much more dynamic place for local people and their guests to visit.
With a collaboration between artists, businesses and the city government, Gilroy’s downtown could easily become a destination for Bay Area people interested in enjoying fine food, followed by browsing through art galleries, seeing a play or drinking coffee in a cafe while listening to poetry readings by local writers. Gavilan College might also want to get involved by holding downtown seminars that will expand knowledge about the arts or art history.
As I chatted with Marlowe, I saw that the Gilroy Arts Alliance, working in collaboration with businesses and city officials, could help revitalize this long neglected area of the city. The arts could be the key to downtown Gilroy’s “renaissance.”
The alliance’s intention of promoting the arts in the South Valley will also improve the quality of life in other ways. The arts serve as a universal language that cuts across all racial, social, gender and economic barriers. They enhance greater appreciation and awareness of other cultures, thus reducing the cultural tensions that often lead violence.
The arts also have therapeutic benefit. They integrate body, mind and spirit, thus improving a person’s overall well-being.
The arts help kids have a happier time in school. Youngsters who are allowed to express themselves artistically develop a greater ability to use their whole mind.
Our South Valley region is now experiencing a resurgence – a “renaissance” if you will – in its arts scene. Morgan Hill, Hollister, San Juan Bautista and Gilroy all have various levels of artistic activity being achieved by their citizens. And if the intention of the Gilroy Arts Alliance succeeds, we’ll see even more creative expression by local artists.
Like Violet and Eden’s chalk sunflower, we’re on the verge of a South Valley artistic blooming that will raise the quality of life here. Pablo Picasso would be proud of what we want to create.
The Gilroy Arts Alliance will hold its inaugural membership meeting at Westside Grill, 8080 Santa Teresa Blvd., Gilroy, on Saturday, April 21. For more information, contact the group at Gi********@***il.com or call (408) 314-2663.
