Judith Lacy's Jottings: Let's democratise art and ditch the elite nonsense

A 2007 Lynn Fletcher painting I bought at the Manawatū Art Expo, a Suzie Johnson work from 2008 and my own clay creation, circa 1984. A piece has broken off one of the leaves. Photo / Judith Lacy

OPINION:

It was yellow with a fringe. There were patterns, painted by yours truly. Yes, it was made from thick paper, but it was a waistcoat for our school play.

I was about 8 and my teacher Mrs Taylor, her with the pendant watch and black hair piled high on her head, was impressed. Mum was surprised. I kept that creation for years.

I still have the pottery tile I did when I was about 13. Parts of it I'm not sure what they are but I love the green seeds peeping out. I guess our brief was nature.

Kiwis recently haven't seen as much of nature as we're used to, but we perhaps are learning more about it. The increased focus on science communication in the past few years is paying dividends as we rely on science to fight Covid-19.

Like most disciplines science has its own terminology, but the skill is being able to mix that vocab with everyday examples non-scientists can relate to. Plus, of course, possess the basic tenets of public speaking such as eye contact, vocal variation and minimising the use of fillers. I've been known to turn RNZ National, which I love to bits, off when an interviewee is talking with as many fillers as content. "Umm, you know, there were six people, you know, hmm, you know, really, you know taking part."

In many ways, art is the antithesis of science. Art is subjective, science predominantly objective. Tui might love Jackson Pollock's Enchanted Forest, while Te Ariki thinks it looks like a crayon drawing his kid brought home last week. There is no right or wrong here, but it's likely Tui and Te Ariki will both agree six plus three equals nine.

But there's plenty of scope to communicate art techniques, art history and art critiques in a way the average tāne can understand. And that if you like a piece an art critic doesn't, that is no reflection on you.

I am a fan of throwing in the occasional big word in my writing but only one or two per piece and not littering a sentence with them. I can still remember when my seventh form English teacher thought it was a good idea I sit Scholarship English.

She gave me a pile of books to read over the summer and an essay written by none less than her daughter. One of the first words in it was ubiquitous. I had to look it up in the dictionary (no Google in those days). I never did read that pile of books and Scholarship English was not for me.

It's time to democratise art. Anyone can look at art, anyone can comment on art, anyone can buy art, even if it's from an op shop.

A good place to start is this weekend's Art Trail Manawatū. If, like me, you love looking at other people's houses and exploring new parts of our rohe, follow Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs in the form of the trail guide, and enjoy.

And before you just about trip over an easel at the price of some of the work, try doing a calculation of how many hours that work would take and what the artist's hourly rate would be. Plus there's the not insignificant cost of framing.

Let's ditch the over-long, over-wrought sentences that are swollen with earnestness about artworks and just enjoy.