Funny how it seems using Government money for art is just considered
a total waste. Or not essential. It won't create jobs. It is
not stimulative spending. blah, blah, blah
Well.. To that I say Bullshit.
I will offer one example: Daniel Chester French..The man who
sculpted The Sitting Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial. Our current
Presidents favorite President. Mr French did quite well working for
the government, being an artist. He designed the Pulitzer, and the
George Washington Statue,along with too much to list here.
He left behind quite an estate, so it looks like financially
being an artist at a different time in history could yield you
a pretty good life style.
And how many people look up at the Sitting Lincoln with their
jaw agape. That is what art can do to a person. It can be a profound
experience.
You can't visit the Vietnam Memorial without crying, even if
you don't have relative, another commissioned piece, payed for
by the Government.The Artist won a cash prize of
$50.000 for their design.
Pretty much every Government Building has some sort of sculpture,
mural or building design, that some artist was payed money to
design.
I think it made perfect sense for money for the arts to be
included in the stimulus/spending package. Our souls need
food too, without art we are just animals stumbling about,
trying to fill our bellies, stay warm, and not kill each
other. I want more than that, I want beauty, and music,
and color....Give me art and bridges, and roads, and schools
and........