Each year VSA Arts has an art show featuring local artists with disabilities. It is one of my favorite events of the whole year! I love to see their creative art pieces framed and hung on the walls of the local recreation center. You can usually meet the proud artist standing underneath their work who will tell you all about their piece. I provide instrumental guitar music as a backdrop to the gathering of local artists, friends and family members who have come to support VSA.
When it's time for the speakers to come and say a few words about VSA and the participants, I am so struck with how proud I feel to be a part of this community. Some of these artists are people I have known since the early 1990s.
Music and art are what bring people together, sharing memories and creating more. When I see the news on TV and watch the presidential election coverage, I see how much negativity we have in our world now. Then when I look at the art that my friends have made and see their smiles and pride beaming, I am overcome with how grateful I feel to be a part of something that brings joy to others.
This night was a rainy night but that did not stop people from coming. I was standing with the two of my artist friends when a man came up to ask about the art show. I told him all about VSA and introduced them to my friends who proudly showed them their paintings. He brightened when he saw their works of art and when he saw they were for sale, he asked, "How can I go about purchasing these?" I led him to the desk where payments for the art were being made. Earlier, before this man came, I had just been talking the artists about what they planned to do with the money they made from the sale of their pieces. "Go to Outback for dinner!" one of them replied.
A delightful thing we have going here in my town and I'm so proud to be a part of it!
No comments:
Post a Comment