THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509140175
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 32 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Mary Ellen Riddle
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
Inherent in many small towns is the desire to stay the same.
Unfortunately, when things are maintained at a status quo, the community has to deal with the side effects of stagnation.
Stagnation is especially dangerous for the arts.
With little government support available, artists and appreciators are constantly looking for creative ways to stay afloat.
Complacency is fatal to creativity. It's one thing for an individual to want to stay the same and really quite another when change is stifled in others.
The Pasquotank Arts Council is facing some of these dilemmas. President Michelle Hatfield believes change is necessary for the council to maintain good health.
Already the arts council gallery has lost its paid, full-time director, Hatfield said. A schism between the council and gallery folk that occurred a few years ago, she said, caused the departure of a group of board members who had connections in the community.
Membership and contributions have since dwindled, Hatfield said. The council became ineligible for a state grant after they were forced to stop paying the director.
Hatfield wants to help. She's a mover and a shaker. Trouble is, small-town folks rarely like to be shaken.
Hatfield came to the council two years ago with a head full of ideas. She hit walls.
There is nothing off-the-wall about Hatfield herself. All she wants is more participation from the community and to foster tolerance of individual differences, both philosophical and artistic.
``I am still trying to get across these walls,'' Hatfield said. ``It's a matter of not giving up. I know that persistence pays.''
The Pasquotank Arts Council, with 300-plus members, has been serving the art community for 26 years. Yes, they are a small group and one of the only North Carolina councils of that size which have been able to keep their gallery doors open.
But Hatfield says only a small core of six people actually donate time to keep the gallery open. One artist told Hatfield, ``You can't expect us to help run the gallery and then have time to paint.''
Hatfield, a full-time basket weaver and stained glass artist, and a mother, finds time.
``I drive myself crazy trying to support everything I can that's involved with the arts,'' she said.
While Hatfield was discouraged when her idea to hold a fine art festival on Elizabeth City's beautiful waterfront was met with apprehension from the arts council board, she refused to give up on instigating change. An upcoming council event became a challenging avenue.
The club's major fund-raiser, the Landmark Competition, opens on the 18th.
Gallery viewers may be in for a surprise, and so may the artists themselves when they witness the show. Hatfield and her Landmark co-chair, Valerie Carpenter, another mover and shaker, chose ``Futuristic Visions'' as the topic for this year's show.
``We wanted to challenge the artists' minds, challenge their ability, challenge their thought process,'' Hatfield said. ``Wake them up.''
The theme upset a lot of artists.
``What we got was fear,'' Carpenter said.
``One person said, `But the future is doomsday,' '' Hatfield said.
Joyce Bax summed up the fears of many artists: ``If I paint something like that, nobody's gonna buy that.''
``But,'' Carpenter said, ``do you always create to sell?''
The thought-provoking ``Futuristic Visions'' topic was bestowed upon an artistic community, some of whom are careful folks known to investigate the judge closely before deciding what to enter in the show.
Does the preoccupation of winning cash, selling, or fitting in, make good art?
The majority of the works that usually hang in the gallery in revolving shows are realistic.
``Some do beautiful work,'' Hatfield said. ``I can understand why a lot of artists paint things that are appealing to the conservative side, because they can sell it. It fits in with the decor. And I feel a lot of artists are selling themselves short.''
A California transplant, Hatfield believes the Elizabeth City community could benefit from expanding its horizons.
``I've been to the galleries all along the West Coast, and I've seen what kind of people they can draw,'' Hatfield said. ``They're just not exposed to it yet.
``And why can't we expose them to it? We can keep beautiful, realistic work here and still have the avant garde side of it.''
The show's theme is not the only change in this year's Landmark Competition.
Until now, the competition was open only to two-dimensional artists. Sculptors, fabric artists, potters and the like have always been excluded. Hatfield thought this criteria discriminatory, and opened the show to 3-D artists.
Expect something different when you walk into the Pasquotank Arts Council gallery on East Main Street.
And try to remember, when you see works that pull you from your ``norm,'' that art is a personal journey. It is an exploration into the creative corridors of our beings, a communication about the world as we see it.
Art reflects life; life changes. That's the bottom line. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY ELLEN RIDDLE
Arts council president Michelle Hatfield says change is necessary
for the council to maintain good health.
by CNB