The Importance of Local Art
Chloe Karpel
With the world at our fingertips and mainstream artistic platforms being so widespread and accessible, it’s difficult to see anything as local or community-driven and created. Social media and other online platforms have opened so many eyes to culture, music, art, and information not otherwise available. Worldliness has become such an easy trait to possess because of the unlimited access to widespread content. Overall, this is a very positive thing — with more access comes more opportunities for good.
However, there is a downside. Universality could also cause people to lose a sense of community, of locality. Especially when it comes to art.
Famous for its vibrant colors and intricate murals, Wynwood Walls in Miami is a booming tourist attraction that I, a native Floridian, found myself drawn to on multiple occasions. Though its contents are well known and global, people are shocked to learn that Wynwood Walls originated local Miami street art and the district once housed over 70 galleries, multiple art studios, museums, art fairs, and complexes. It comes as no surprise that it’s a tourist trap. The district was once big and beautiful and overflowing with local art. Unfortunately, the more popular it became, the more it attracted the attention of upper middle class business owners and developers. Gentrification has pushed out most of those local art centers.
However, around the Walls, there still remain some small art galleries and studios sprinkled around the popular, designated area. These galleries host numerous showcases and displays featuring local artists and their creations. The owners of these galleries recognize the importance of local art, and the need to keep these spaces intact and available. The Walls are beautiful, attractive, and inspiring. But these small galleries are what truly pulled me back to that area of Miami.
When influencers and motivational speakers talk about changing the world, they often say that change starts at home; in the house, in communities, in schools. The same thing goes for art. Art starts at home. Countless famous musicians have told of the family concerts they put on right in their living rooms and the cheap recording equipment set up in their bedrooms to write their first songs. Countless famous actors only walked into audition rooms and landed their first major roles because a high school drama teacher pushed them in the right direction.
Communities need art to thrive. Art gives them a sense of identity, a sense of personality, a sense of uniqueness. Art injects color and thoughtful, purposeful imagery into people’s everyday lives who can’t necessarily go to fancy art galleries or pay the entrance fee of famous museums. Sometimes, this art can be found sprayed onto a large unused wall, sometimes in a tiny, hole-in-the-wall studio, sometimes in the soulful notes floating up from a local basement.
Art, specifically local art, is vital. Art is not in the past, it is not dead. Art is, and will always be, alive — a vision of where we are, as well as where we were. It is the local continuance, the growth and progression, that gives life to art.
And yet, it’s disappearing. Schools are removing funding from creative and artistic programs; art buyers are looking for the most famous, the most expensive pieces; and theater-goers shun anything less than professional productions or Broadway shows. Local artists are being denied the support they need to continue. Which is why we need to do our best to let them know we see them. We appreciate them and all they create. We recognize their contributions to our communities, their heart and soul dripping from every creation.
Artists are all around us. Some join small creative writing groups and electives, some attend after school music lessons, some design lighting cues for local community theaters. Artists can be found in small venues on a poorly lit, barely raised stage singing their hearts out into grainy microphones with frayed wires.
It’s important that we give our artists the space they need to thrive, so that in turn, we can thrive. Our communities can thrive. Our schools, our homes, our neighborhoods can thrive. Thankfully, AJA gives artists that space. With multiple art classes, creative writing electives, music electives, a mini gallery hallway, and art lining the walls, AJA creates an environment that fosters artists and their talents and passions.
The Arts and Culture section of Palette has become another platform for sharing and expressing creativity. It will feature student written poetry, it will showcase art created in AJA’s art classes, and it will present reviews of literature, film, music, and theater, and interviews with prominent Jewish artists, who — like everyone — started locally.
Wynwood Walls may have drawn me into the Miami art scene, but what kept me there, and what gave me a lifelong appreciation for art, were the small, local galleries on its outskirts. Local art brings joy, thought, intellect, and emotion together in an accessible and community oriented way. We need to give spaces and platforms for our artists to shine and truly have the room to express themselves fully.
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