Author: Deb Puretz (Grove)
Great art always asks the viewer to engage visually, emotionally, and intellectually. Some artists
like the idea that an artwork is completed by the viewer: that each of us brings ourselves to the
image to make it meaningful. Great Art thrives in Greenville.
Upstate SC is expanding rapidly, leaping forward as newcomers come for employment or
retirement. Global companies moving here, including more high tech companies bringing their
employees and cultures along with their robots, will enrich the southern landscape, making SC
more competitive and exciting for generations to come. Our lives are boosted by the creativity,
experimentation, and bravery of entrepreneurs daring to venture into new businesses. We learn
that from our contact with others: people from around the globe living and working right next
door to us in SC.
Naturally, different cultures create different art. Anthropology and art museum visitors have the
benefit of traveling through time and space when they are touched by art from around the world.
Do you like Inuit art? German expressionism? Mayan sculptures? Buddhist mandalas? All of
these open an aperture to the way people in those cultures think(thought) and respond(ed) to life.
When you walk past an inviting work of art on the wall, are you aware that you start to become
creative? Your mind is transported away from your immediate concerns and traverses into a new
world of possibilities.
Conceptual art requires more time to understand but the rewards can be higher in return. Just as
reading curatorial introductions and labels in museum exhibits offers us explanations and
context, conceptual art invites us to enter the mind of the artist the year that the artwork was
finished.
That is the beauty of conceptual art. We have to think about it. Our creative juices are
unleashed. What is the artist trying to say? How does this art affect my mood? Why is this image
significant and urgent? Does it touch an emotion or create a new line of thinking? Is it beautiful
in the way that a landscape, a portrait, or a still life most often appeals to me.
When I describe my new print images, explaining that each inked line is magnified 1,000 times
from its real life as a semiconductor fragment, people sometimes gasp. Their mind jumps around,
trying to imagine how tiny that line must be. Creative art in workspaces beckons us to expand
our thinking not just stick with that puzzling ‘gnarly problem’ facing us in the moment. Art on
walls is important.
After your workday and on weekends explore the work going on with local art studios at
https://artcentergreenville.org/exhibitions/ and https://www.getgoodart.co/events I promise you
will find at least one art image that sets your mind on a new journey of discovery.
Deb joined UI immediately upon arriving in the Upstate in 2021: it was the first community organization on her list because of her previous life as an expat. You can read more about her art here: https://www.purepuretz.com/
