Having Your Art & Eating It

A few thoughts today about living-art, art/horticulture, and the old chestnut, what makes ‘art’ art anyway?

Its part of a continuing focus for me, at what point does an artist (me) working in another context become something else? Because I am working for someone else and fulfilling their agenda, does that mean I lose my identity as an artist? When does socially engaged practice in education become teaching? When does ecological art become horticulture, forestry or environmental science?

It seems to me that a lot of the most exciting artwork runs the risk of being mis-identified and ignored by the art community, and that we as artists run the risk of limiting ourselves by worrying about going too far away from whats accepted as art and so losing acceptance or visibility. So artists scuttle back to the art world after a foray into education, ecology, etc, often failing to embed their practice within these sectors to promote permanent positive change.

When I’m talking about all this by the way, I’m including myself in it, and am exploring thoughts or ideas rather than making judgements.

I’m really interested in how artists can, and whether they need to, remain ‘artists’ whilst working within the social realm, and if they do, whether this re-inforces the idea of art being somehow separate from society, in a bubble of slight uselessness, optional and easy to put away again when funding gets tight. Or (and this is my preferred option), if it promotes and celebrates the idea of artists as positively fuctioning members of society with a key role to play within it.

I made some jam a couple of days ago, for the first time ever. I felt really excited to have gone for a walk, picked some damsons from a hedge (remaining trees from vanished orchards that used to cover the fields at the base of the downs), brought them home, and made jam.

I felt so inspired that I had followed a process that combined walking in and learning about landscape and nature, that I had done something practical and physical, that I had made use of a free and sustainable resource, and that at the end of the day I had ended up with a very tasty end product.

Now that combines most of my interests and passions, and I’m sure would make a great creative learning / foraging / cooking project, but is it art? Does it matter?

I guess it matters because I need to know where to talk about it, who might fund it, who else is doing similar work. Growing plants, foraging for wild food, and following fruit/vegetables from field to plate is a really valuable learning experience, and one that many people never experience.

I’ve planted trees with people, gone for walks with people, had conversations and danced with people, and that’s all been part of my art, so why not cooking, foraging, gardening and eating?

I guess what I’m looking for is a balance. I want to embed art within ecosystems and communities, but I want to hang on to an identity of being slightly separate. I want time to wander, make and think, to step outside of systems and then sneak back in again.

I guess I want to have my art and eat it (sometimes).

A couple of interesting links on artists & organisations working in the areas of art / horticulture / food…

EastFeast - http://www.eastfeast.co.uk

Avant Gardening - http://www.avantgardening.org

Any more you’d recommend having a look at? please add them as comments, thanks.

This entry was posted on 07/09/2010 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Learning/Teaching, other art, environmental issues, me & my work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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