Pittsburgh Visionary Arts Festival: September 2009

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Success!!

Dear visitors,
We are pleased to exclaim that the first Pitsburgh Visionary Arts Festival was a complete success!!!
We received much much great input and there was a generally awesome response from the public, media, artists and everyone involved. Work was sold, connections amongst cool people were made, and lots of new opportunities and initiatives have emerged.
Now we are working on building and organizing all the wonderful images and footage, and working towards being able to do this once more in 2011...
In the meantime, here are a couple of images to give a sense of how the VAF rolled. Soon, on our website, we will have more images and documentation of this very succesful first year, as well as information regarding the future of the VAF, as far as applications, lineup, concepts and ideas.

Photographs courtesy of Alberto Almarza, Mihnea Vasilescu and Sarah Habib. Video designed by Nicole Capozzi, Boxheart Expressions.

Also, an awesome document of HiTEC's book release and performance (or rather Uncert) on their first day at the VAF. Stay tuned for the next installments with footage of their other two performances, courtesy of tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE .
Infinite thanks to all of HiTEC for so generously donating their time to rock out the VAF!

General Info

The Pittsburgh Visionary Arts Festival (VAF) will occur in August 7th, 8th and 9th of 2009! It will entail 50 individual artist booths spread along the main lawn of Schenley Plaza in Oakland. Artists will display their work and be present in their booths to talk to people, from 12pm to 9pm. In addition, many artists will perform demonstrations, or will be at work during the VAF. Do not miss it! For more information visit:

www.pghvisionaryartsfestival.com

For directions and info about Schenley Plaza visit: http://www.pittsburghparks.org/schenleyplaza

Regarding the concept of "Visionary"

The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore says: "Visionary art is like love, you know it when you see it". The Pittsburgh Visionary Arts Festival could not agree more with this statement, adding to it that "the definition of visionary art itself is like love: elusive and tricky as can be!"

It is important to clarify that the VAF hopes to be as inclusive as possible while still maintaining a distinction between its definition and conventional notions of art. We want to be able to include artists and non-artists from all different backgrounds, not just those who would traditionally be considered self-taught or "outsider artists", so the definition of visionary art becomes even trickier.

The VAF is hosting a huge diversity of minds, ranging from well-established professional artists and university professors to self-taught creators who have never shown their work publicly, or have no interest in the art market whatsoever. I encourage open mindedness toward the idea of "visionary", since it will be clear that the term covers a wide range of possibilities.

We like to envision that, within the greatest umbrella of "visionary art", one could interpret many different subjects and categories that are not synonyms, and which welcome and include terms and notions such as: outsider art, raw art, self-taught art, primitive art, folk art, psychedelic art, mystical art, shamanic art, religious art, sacred art, cosmic art, anti art, kid's art!, spontaneous art, automatic art, etc. As many as these categories are, one can easily say that there are still many other forms of art that don't particularly qualify as visionary.

In general, the intent of the VAF is not to be exclusive of any specific art form or artist, instead hoping to be embracive by accepting and promoting all artwork, but especially that which may not be as easily and commonly approached, understood and appreciated by typical norms and standards. So in this sense the VAF will favor people who, in one way or another (and as a principle) question, expand or transcend the consensual norms and practices of art.

For now it is also important to clarify that, in order to select the artists, the VAF often leaned on a couple of parameters:
••The existence of a uniting vision is often a feature of visionary art. The work often has a mission, a purpose, or a dimension of reality that may have been overlooked by the status quo, or may seem of pressing importance to the artist. This notion of purpose or vision differs from artist to artist sometimes radically. While much visionary art is concerned with spiritual, mystical, shamanic and existential realities, oftentimes the work is also centered on social, cultural, political or environmental concerns. Many other times too, the work is not even mental or logical whatsoever, but the result of a spontaneous or intuitive mindset, brought to being by pure play. In this way, the spectrum of visionary art is wide ranging from very down to earth, visibly-functional approaches, to very ethereal and imaginative dimensions; its essence as diverse and malleable as the human soul.

••Devotion as a fundamental principle and driving force of the work is seen as evidence of a true and honest intent and practice in visionary art. The work is a clear physical outcome of uniquely arduous work, a very strong belief or passion, a conviction in a greater or important truth, an unbreakable commitment or some combination of the above. Devotion means that the artist makes it clear in the work itself, that he/she has a strong commitment and need to put a most delicate and persistent care into every second of the work. It also may mean that this work is to continue forever, or become fused with every other aspect of the artist’s life. This is not to say that devotion in visionary art cannot be manifested also as a subconscious or compulsive act, and may at times even seem completely detached or careless.

••Uniqueness, innovation and a general deviation from widely validated methods is also often a factor in aiding to identify visionary art. This is a very tricky matter since visionary art rarely intends to be different or purposefully go out of its way to appear original. The artist’s uniqueness is something that comes as a natural progression to the artist’s vision and not as a forced, ideated strategy. Visionary innovation is less a matter of attempting to do something new and more a manifestation of true passion and fearlessness from or disinterest in consensus agreement.

While not necessarily on purpose, visionary art is often innovative in at least one or many of these categories:
1) The artist’s use of materials, both in collection and implementation of mediums.
2) The artistic processes of creation, which are almost always artist-specific and are many times non-traditional, invented, ritualized, automatic or even accidental.
3) The artist’s concept or statement which may display unfamiliar, unknown, revolutionary, controversial or unpopular subject matters and concerns.

There are hundreds of artists (in Pittsburgh alone), who represent and engage in a visionary approach to art. It is the intent of the VAF to find and highlight these artists while praising the hard work and vision of ALL ARTISTS. The VAF would be the first to say that ALL ART IN ITSELF IS VISIONARY, as long as we continue promoting the liberation of ART from any and all forms of ties, cages or chains.

Finally, the VAF hopes to mature and improve, and will therefore always take risks, welcome new ideas and suggestions, and accept corrections, criticism and challenges.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Success!!

General Info

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Regarding the concept of "Visionary"

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