By Dick Stewart
Like most folks, I am grateful for the benefits offered by Amazon, Google, Spotify, and similar services. I read how AI will allow vendors to know more about me and adjust their algorithm, so they present me with targeted choices.
That’s good business but it removes the possibility that we will like things that we don’t know exist. I am attracted to creative people and unique creations.
Beaufort was once listed as a top 100 small art towns in America. Maybe we still are. Please consider these quotes:
“Art acts as a vital conduit for the human spirit, serving as a medium for self-expression, emotional release, and spiritual connection throughout history. From ancient sacred rituals to modern abstract art, it connects humanity and provides a space for contemplation and personal growth.”
Source? Google AI!
“Cultural Significance: As a reflection of human experience, art is the ‘highest expression’ of the human spirit and a ‘cornerstone of civilization.’”
From a Facebook post.
Local art and culture
The great Pat Conroy wrote “Jonathan Green, an artist indigenous to Beaufort County is … painting the autobiography of his childhood. He paints what made him, the source he issued out of, the forms that inspired his rare sensibility. It is this singular, unshakable vision that gives his work its aura of astonishing originality. Each one of his paintings looks as though it were a commemorative stamp imagined out of the backcountry of Jonathan Green’s unconscious. He is the immaculate real thing, and his art is a cry of pure love for his community, his family, and the geography of the Carolina Sea Islands.”
Please read Pat’s complete forward to “Gullah Images:, The Art of Jonathan Green.” Watch for the opening of The Jonathan Green Maritime Center in partnership with USCB.
Muse?
A muse is a person, force or inspiration that sparks creativity and genius. Originating from the nine Greek goddesses of art and science.
Recently some nice folks asked me what they might do to understand this area. I suggested that they put aside their devices, go to a quiet spot along the marsh under a large live oak tree and just listen.
Listen to the sounds of the marsh, the oysters, the birds, the dolphins, the breezes in the trees. Watch the tide move in or out as it shapes us with its massive unrelenting flows.
I told them that when I sit and listen, the experience resonates within me in a way that is not intellectual. It’s almost spiritual. I theorize that we all carry within us an echo of the generations of humans that’s come before us, that have lived along these waterways under these trees. Their survival and humanity were shaped by this place.
Do you have that feeling? That experience acts a muse for me and inspires me. I know it inspires others.
Find your muse
Go to the wonderful “Chalk it Up” festival hosted by The Freedman Arts District in downtown Beaufort. The Beaufort Art Association Spring Show offers inspiration on display.
Bonnie Hargrove and her team at USCB consistently offer entertainment and creativity. Jonathan Greene’s generous decision to bring his Maritime Cultural Center to Beaufort is reason to celebrate.
Find your muse. Find those things that resonate in you. Challenge yourself to know yourself better. Create the you that you want to be.
A muse of a city
An artist friend inspired by the area suggested Beaufort is “a muse of a city.” What do you think?
I sit on a dock with my cup of coffee, the love of my life, and the richness of this place. I don’t know how to communicate that special feeling to my grandchildren or how I can share my gratitude for this life.
I’m hopeful that art, in some form — painting, photography, sculpture, dance, music, or food — will be the conduit that allows me to express this part of me to the people I care about. I’m not asking AI or any search engine to help me with this search. It’s my joy to search in person in the real world.
A relative newcomer to Beaufort suggested the spark of creativity is ready to burst into flame in Beaufort. I agree. Let the warming fire begin. Let’s see what you and our neighbors and friends create.
Thanks for reading.
Dick Stewart serves on several nonprofit boards, is a former member of Beaufort County Council and has invested in properties in Beaufort including properties along Waterfront Park. You can send your thoughts to Stewartthoughts@gmail.com