Art in Public Practice

Artist/Author/Activist Charleen Touchette Making Art in Public on New Mexico Railrunner Train in March 2009


Art in Public Practice

Making art is a practice that has disappeared from the public square.

Making anything is rarely seen in America today.
With outsourcing of labor, Americans also outsource the joy that making things brings human beings.

Santa Fe has long been known for its artists and art market. But it is rare to see local artists making art in town. The few artists painting plein air oils on easels or photographing on Canyon Road are participants in art programs offered to tourists.

So, a couple of times a week, I leave the solitude and beauty of my mountain studio and drive into town to make art in public.

My satchel contains a bag that holds a mini-studio with miniature paint bottles, brushes, colored pencils, watercolors, eraser, sharpener, a cup for water and a book size portfolio for works in progress and finished art.

For my multi-tasking practice, the bag also holds another cloth bag with yarns, knitting needles, crochet hooks, beads, needles, thread and LDK (Liesette Doesn’t Knit) Handknits in various stages of completion, as well as beadwork projects for our family in progress.

I seek out wireless cafes in Santa Fe and wherever we travel with friendly staffs, good light and a small table where I can work quietly with a cup of coffee or tea for the morning or afternoon either inside or outside if the weather permits. In warm weather, the Plaza, parks, riverside benches and picnic tables are ideal. Often I walk and knit in town or on hiking trails, which is a moving meditation that has roots in ancient practices worldwide. While traveling, I paint, knit and bead on trains, planes and in automobiles across America.

Painting and doing handwork in public has led to many inspiring and heart-warming interactions with people. It has also led to more people making art in public in the community.

It’s gratifying when people smile and share their stories of making art or handwork, but the best feeling is seeing other artists set up their watercolors or pencils and paint silently at a nearby table, or a young college student sit quietly crocheting a blanket and watching the practice of public art- making grow.

Some of the most moving moments are when a man said seeing me knitting made him think of his sister who knitted, and had died the year before from cancer. And the young grad student reading Greek philosophy who said seeing me paint made her smile and remember how happy painting made her feel so she decided to take out her watercolors when she returned home. The children whose eyes get bigger and bigger as they watch the colors appear on a painting or a hat grow from a ball of yarn are enough reason to make art in public. Several young girls and boys have come up to tell me that they too knit and the next time they bring their colorful scarves or headbands in progress to show me, then sit with their parents nearby knitting happily.

We are what we do. Practices of making art bring joy and a sense of accomplishment anyone can access. Making art and handwork gives the artist the opportunity to give away, the objects created and also the joyous experience of making art.

As a little girl, I was mesmerized by people who made things whether women doing handwork at home, or millworkers weaving textiles or pieceworkers sewing in clothing factories. They taught me the pleasure and dignity of making things despite the U.S. culture and economic system that denigrates labor.

My hope is that children and young people seeing me and other artists working in public will be inspired to discover whether making art in some way can enrich their lives.

by Charleen Touchette
www.TouchArt.net
www.OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com
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First three photos of Charleen Touchette Beading by participant of Santa Fe Photography Workshops.
Other Photos by Charleen Touchette 2009