CCFA Artist Residency in Corning Iowa
Corning Main Street Early Morning - 2014 William M Boot We have been resident in the American heartland for one week now and enjoying the experience! The trip from Korea via Chicago and Des Moines was a bit tiring and we had to sleep overnight in O'Hare airport due to numerous flight cancellations because of midwest storms. The director of the Corning Art Centre picked us up from Des Moines and took us the last leg of the trip to Corning. It's great being in small town USA at the north end of "Tornado alley" and i'm eager to see what new paintings come out of my thinking and experiences here. This residency will be a contrast to Denmark and culturally very different. The people of Corning, like those we met during our residency in Denmark (see earlier blogs) in March of this year have been so welcoming and helpful and we feel thankful to be here. The season is late summer with alternating warm and cool days and cooler nights. Everything is still a verdant summer green but i smell the autumn and feel the changing light and can't wait for the foliage to start changing colour.
There has always been a mystique for me about the American midwest and what life may consist of in a small town where everyone knows everyone else and people are still courteous and say "hello" on the street and wave when they drive past on the road. Ever since watching movies shot in small American towns when i was younger, i have retained a sort of fascination with them that is purely imaginative and poetic and maybe tinged with a touch of nostalgia for my teen years. While preparing to paint new work we have walked around the streets every day and mentally i have been absorbing all the sights like a sponge. These sensations filtered through memory and the imagination produce paintings that are highly residual in nature.
Rural towns present such a contrast to life in a large metropolis and this causes a disjuncture that is not unpleasant but rather dreamlike and maudlin at the same time. There is something very reminiscent of rural life Kansas as portrayed in the "Wizard of Oz," my first scary film as a kid so long ago and one that has shaped a certain absurd or irrational perception i have about life in the USA along with many others like "The Big Chill" and "Taxi Driver" to name only a few! This sense is also conveyed cleverly by John Mellencamp in his song, "I was born in a small town." These perceptions are black and white, distorted and exaggerated of course but strangely welcome at the same time. A bit like a fish out of water but i welcome this feeling of the unfamiliar expressed so aptly by Brene Brown when he said "Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change." It's like being a participant in a surreality, (one of many), understanding that it's mine to walk through and enjoy each of them for a short time ...
Rural towns present such a contrast to life in a large metropolis and this causes a disjuncture that is not unpleasant but rather dreamlike and maudlin at the same time. There is something very reminiscent of rural life Kansas as portrayed in the "Wizard of Oz," my first scary film as a kid so long ago and one that has shaped a certain absurd or irrational perception i have about life in the USA along with many others like "The Big Chill" and "Taxi Driver" to name only a few! This sense is also conveyed cleverly by John Mellencamp in his song, "I was born in a small town." These perceptions are black and white, distorted and exaggerated of course but strangely welcome at the same time. A bit like a fish out of water but i welcome this feeling of the unfamiliar expressed so aptly by Brene Brown when he said "Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change." It's like being a participant in a surreality, (one of many), understanding that it's mine to walk through and enjoy each of them for a short time ...
The Corning Centre for Fine Arts is a gathering place for all things cultural in this rural environment. There are a range of activities on offer for drawing, ceramics, various types of printmaking, photography and of course painting. CCFA has affiliations with the Bemis Centre for Contemporary Arts in Omaha Nebraska and other smaller art enclaves and organisations in the state of Iowa so there is a nice network of cultural groups. The centre consists of a large gallery space, studio and workshop areas and apartments for resident artists. There is a relaxed ambience to the whole operation making for a great place to be productive artistically. This arts organisation functions as a local "hub," a focal point giving everyone an opportunity to engage with art and learn more about it as well as meeting and learning from artists from divergent global regions further afield.
I'm inspired by new places and faces and looking forward to developing friendships and producing great paintings during my time here.
To read the Adams County Free Press article about William M Boot go to:
http://acfreepress.com/public_html/front-page-news/abstract-artist-uses-ancient-methods-during-ccfa-residency
For more information about a CCFA artist residency please click here or go
to: http://www.transartists.org/air/corning-center-fine-arts
To read the Adams County Free Press article about William M Boot go to:
http://acfreepress.com/public_html/front-page-news/abstract-artist-uses-ancient-methods-during-ccfa-residency
For more information about a CCFA artist residency please click here or go
to: http://www.transartists.org/air/corning-center-fine-arts
