Yup. Who wants a jingle?. It's like the difference between the glossy little magazines the local chamber of commerce puts in motel lobbies and the free papers you see in cities that simultaneously write about the local toxic waste problems and the cool new play put on by a local theater group. The latter publication is closer to the truth, more useful and more interesting.

I agree on the 'scene,' being good in termsof nurture and artists of all shapes and such bouncing things off of each other as a good thing, (it can be a total gas,)
---it's just when you have people who can't stand on their own (and create merely as a byproduct of their existance,)
-that you gotta watch out...

Another big concern...
(how to say this, kinda alluded to,)

The artists of a region (or era,) have to have the license to address both good and bad issues, (othewise, again, it becomes marketing.)

To me it's not some 'artists are superior and unfettered from all social rules and graces,'
--but--

There has to be equal embrace and serious consideration for stuff that is 'golly gee' positive like Suzannes work (Finding Home,) (which I loved.)

as well as
films like

'The Carissa Project,' (hopefully accepted to 'Sundance,'
(about a very troubled young woman who grows up to be a UCLA biz/law grad, --who was a teen prostitute down on Blackstone...)
(which I can't wait to see, but I think is going to completely gut me as well...)

BOTH are important works, ---and BOTH have to be honest. (And the town has to be honest about it's truths
-cause all laundry (dirty or not,) is made dirty by wearing it in public,
---washing it is simply dealing with it...)

I think an artist has a deeper responsibility to that, (unless they're more into PR, ---which is fine, just call it that...)

I dunno...
I think it's a plot...
I think it's a set up...

I'm going to get all vulnerable and 'golly gee,' and then go see your band tonight, and right as I'm standing there, singing along, to some thing so complex and multi-layered even zappa would be like... 'dude,'
-and you're gonna then launch into a BonJovi tune just to screw with my head...

...germans.

(see ya at the crossroads..)

;)

PS: got a band for you (they're Israeli, actually,)

ROCKFOUR
(so far I have one album 'memories of the never happened.'

--key song?
'Goes Around,'
(also found on the Paste Sampler (track 2) the issue that has 'Iron and Wine' dude on the front cover...

Amazing Amazing, AMAZING multilayered, psychodelic, harmonic -just astounding stuff...
(don't feel bad if you've never heard of them...
John (DJ Proff,) hadn't either...

FrankD has HAD to heard of them, or he is no longer cool in my book... (and FrankD is all things cool...)

(They won studio time via David Gilmour at AbbyRoad Studios simply with their cover of 'Arnold Lane,'
-on Gilmours compilation CD in Tribute to Syd Barrett
(not released yet.)
--These guys are amazing,
---and right up yer alley. (and they sing in English on the last couple of CD's (big plus,)

-though I happen to like Hebrew too...

How are you gonna stand it Mr. Void? Two posts in two days that I've heartily agreed with (see the bit about Ms. Garner). Ha!

One of the things I agree with is the fact that an artist (whether in Toledo, Barstow or Akron) gets busy challenging themselves and their audience with the gifts they've been given and skills they've honed and not think that it's all about being seen and being in the with the 'in' crowd. "Who's cool" is fleeting, but quality remains.

Artsits do often work in seclusion and can in any far flung place on the globe.

But,

I do think that a 'scene' can be very useful. (I'll try not to step on any semantic landmines here---'scene' here being used as "community of creators and their audiences often overlapping in their roles/ fellow artists concentrated in an area who spur others on, help provide concentration of energy and events and thus create more audience and thus bring in more artists----kind of a self-supporting nice kind of 'vicious' circle.)

I'm finally digging into that book that folks around FresnoFamous and Mindhub have been going on and on about for a few years "the rise of the creative class" by richard florida. He sort of makes the case that young creative business-creators and artists choose where they wish to live based on such concentrations of energy.
This ends up being good for a town economically and in furthering fertile ground for more creativity. (think Florence circa 1466, Vienna 1766 or San Francisco circa 1966).

One of the factors that Fresno has going for it is the fact that folks CAN get involved via the portals that I described in my post a few inches above (Art Hop, et al).
It's not so big and 'important' that the walls have been effectively sealed by those seeking/protecting Money and Fame.

We do not (yet?) have the reputation amongst the 'general' public as a place where artists move *to*----though, this is, I believe something that we might change. Many out-of-towners/out-of-staters who visit
Fresno via such avenues as the Rogue Festival are happily surprised at the supportive Arts Community that we do have.
[Most artists at this point move 'to' Fresno by chance---they or their spouse got a job here for example.]
When I visit my pals in Los Angeles and tell them of some of the stuff we got going on, they have a bit of 'wow, maybe that's more fertile ground than here' glinting in their eyes.

But, yeah. Lots of this hinges on us being more inclusive----not snooty---and mixing it up with folks, whether they be
of a different color/economic background/or even live on the "north side".

The mix we could come up with would be pretty darn powerful.

So like, here's the deal.

I totally agree that 'the scene,' is not closed.
(...not that I'm involved with 'the scene,' nor care to be, but still, it appears to be healthy...)

THAT's why I responded initially as I did.

There are few things that piss me off quicker than snobbery about art, music, (etc. etc.)

I mean, I get all kind of choppy, and kind of want to wander over to whomever is making somebody feel slighted and seriously fight the urge to relieve myself on their leg... (hey, old performance artists do strange things.)

Part of it,
I suppose
is a necessary evil.
'...we're Fresno, we have an art scene, we're cool...'
Then a lot of (those,) folks bounce, (to Oregon, to other places, get on with their lives in other locations, whatever...)

-and folks are afraid to admit that they've relocated,
-or are about to do so,
(because they don't want the wrath of being called a 'quitter,' 'traitor,' somebody 'giving up on Fresno,' (etc. etc.)

Yeah...
some really great folks have boogied on.
(God Bless'm I hope they grow even further in their next level of life no matter where it is...)
-But they've moved on,
some return and visit,
and that's great.

They were 'part of a creative nexus,' (or whatever,) ---heck, they may have even 'started it.'

But the truth of the matter is?
Nobody has the market cornered.
And it was all started by the first (whoever/whatever,) who did something out here that somebody else was moved by, THOUSANDS of years ago...

Don't get me wrong,
there are some amazing artists who have chosen to go elsewhere (for whatever reason,)
---but there are also great artists still here (ala: FWW's statement,)
--And there are new folks coming up all the time.

Take, (for example,) Broadway Studios.
---yep, there are some folks who are no longer there. (some of their work remains.)
Are they missed?
Sure.
(To be honest, I never hung with Eatcho at his studio on ArtHop night. I always liked talking to him just 'in general,' (usually on a bike or something,) Way more casual a situation.)

But are other severely talented folks moving in and presenting.
---oh yeah...

There's a guy who does pastoral/landscape pieces who just plain rocks... (one of the better painters I've seen in terms of capturing mood and lighting using nothing more than a freakin fencepost or a line of vines, like EVER...

Was he there when the 'scene,' folks were?
I don't think so...
-But dude sure is there now...

There are others too.

Further?
I'm hearing that Broadway is kind of opening up walls and making the spaces larger, (rather than those tiny 'booth, bazaar, cell' sized work spaces,)
--and I heard a lot of artists (on the Oct. Art/Hop) comment that they had more room, could really spread out and actually work...
(important thing.)
So, yeah, an place intended as an artist' studio is making things better for the artists to be creative in... (kudos.)

---So, less folks per square foot (presenting?)
Sure, I guess...
-But those who are there are putting out hi-grade stuff.

And,,, To be honest?,
my feel of this past ArtHop was that it was maturing a bit, and not the 'full roar,' (or cacaphony,) that it was.

(Even read folks posting on it saying that it's dead and just a bunch of people standing around looking at stuff and talking, acting all stuffy...)

There's nothing wrong with that.

If you'll forgive the analogy, it's almost like what they say about people in their late teens and early twenties (even late twenties,) making love.

---When you're young? and so shocked and swept up by the experience? (and even that it's happening?,) you miss most of it...

-Get older?
(even as the relationship goes on?)
you relax more and learn more who you and the one you are with is, ---as you actually get to know them, and begin to know what you're doing.

No disrespect to the artists who have been here, or the ones who have left?,
--but it's not as much overload,
--it's not a massive crowded 'scene,'
and I don't feel like I'm at some alch./tobacco fueled rave so much anymore, (maybe crowds could be considered 'down,' but the quality of the experience is definitely up.

--The people who are participating in the event have a chance to really enjoy each other, the work, and it's less of a staccato social thing.

I hate to be the harbinger of some truth here,
----but for every 'excellent,' artist in this town,
---there may be one or two or seven the next town over that are just as good,
---it's just that nobody's heard of them...
---and two to three years, five to six to ten prior?
Same thing.

--And ten years from now?
There's going to be all new folks (for the most part,) each proclaiming hope
(or doom,)
on the Fresno 'Scene...'

(It's an endless cycle,
I was hoping that the arrogant stuffy bastards who put too much meaning into everything,
(the 30's-40's-50's types,)
were being supplanted by some optimistic 20's-30's types...
(at least that's what I was seeing in the work...)

Please, continue with this creative openness,
don't become 'exclusive,'
or
(part of it,) be afraid to deal with reality ('because it's going to further Fresno's bad rep.'
IE: 'all the artists left for Portland.')
yeesh.
Yeah, A bunch did,
(some refuse to admit to having done so...)

Which is sad, because beneath it all, and through it all, there needs to be an honesty about what's going on, (not:
'We need to make Fresno look cooler than it is,'
or
'We need to say Fresno sucks more than it does,'
or
'We need to hype or trash Portland (or wherever,) because we're loosing folks, (and our 'scene.')
--or even be afraid to tell folks 'that we're moving'
(to or from.)

Don't fall into that.
That's LYING.

If you're paid to market Fresno and/or it's your passion to do anything creative,
'but it's all about promoting the town, making it more appealing,'
(Etc. etc.) --and that's your JOB? okay, fine then, but realize that you're basically in PR and Marketing...

A genuine artist is genuine about what they see or feel, (even about the town that they're in,)
-and if you see good, show'em good,
-if you see bad? Show 'em bad...

-(Perhaps some more discussion needs to happen regarding why we need to be honest all the way around???)

Finally:
If an artist is worth anything as an artist, (or musician, actor, etc.)
---They can create stuff no matter where they are, ---and in so doing create their own 'scene,'

--If somebody needs others to create a 'scene,'
-so that they can be creative 'too,'
---ya really have to question if they're artists at all.
-Real artists can't help but to be creating, challanging, tearing down, and recreating stuff every day.
-and they don't create 'scenes,'
-and they don't exclude or pick and choose who's in and who's out of a 'scene,'
-they're too busy creating to get involved with all that poser nonsense.

Either way...
If Fresno's 'artists,' have left?
More will come behind them.

I do hope that Zukey does gets involved.
One of Fresno's great advantages, is that one can
become involved quite easily.

The 'scene' is not exclusive.

(Not using the word 'scene' in any sort of closed or snooty sense or in any sort of 'look at me, I'm in with the IN crowd' sense---using it in the 'things are going on, there's excitement to be shared, there's things to see, things to be involved in & people looking for collaborators' sense.)

Zukey:
Check the Rogue Festival.

www.roguefestival.com

Check Creative Fresno

www.creativefresno.org

Check a paper called The Undercurrent--they
seem to do features on local visual artists.

www.fresnoundercurrent.net

Go to Arthop(first thursday night of each month) and meet fellow visual artists.

Continue to hang here at FresnoFamous--there's
plenty of friendly folk.

There are several artists who have moved on to other
communities. We hope they do great and make us proud.
Others remain to work here, others are just now growing up and will hopefully benefit from the infrastructure for local arts set up by the people who came before them.
(including some of those things listed above.)

About all the artists who bounced. L

Let's not forget about the ones who are still here.

For instance: Adam Longatti who was one of the first inhabitants of the Pearl Building and who still has a space at Broadway Studio.

Also: Brandon Greer, who did metal-work sculpture for Broadway, the Pearl, Vaganbond Lofts and the new H Street Lofts. He lives at the Vagabond.

I'm sure y'all can come up with others, but you get the point.

..and at least one of the interviewed artists has moved on (half a year ago,) to Portland...
(I genuninely miss Eatcho,
he was always nice to me, seemed to be nice to anyone, actually,
is severely talented,
has a good heart,
and truly is a good egg.)

(...not sure if the other fellow bounced too or not...)

That means that there are possibly (2) two less artists who do murals (among others who have also booked,)

---and lo, this one individual now coming onto the scene, who wants to get involved. (..right on)

---Anybody out there who is doing murals who wants new blood involved?

(PLEASE) contact this ZUKEY person,
(heck, maybe throw some info up for the rest of us...?

(Sincrely:
-an active artis(an)
who is too busy working to be all worrying about the 'scene,' here...)

Creative Fresno. They have on-going mural projects.

this is three years old, July 2004... the process went and it's been done, they even had a reception for it... I'll guess your not a local or active artist in the scene here.

This article is 3 months old and I wonder how the process is going. I am also an artist and I would love to help out. please get in contact with me at z.u.k.e.y@hotmail.com