Father's Day may have been earlier this month but next month an art show will give them something that even the men-folk will get a kick out of.
The Arts Center has through July 31, a show of cars, trucks, tractors and any other part from a formerly drivable vehicle. No, there are no drivable cars on display, but bits and pieces from some are on display. So too are photos, sculptures, paintings, drawings and prints showing the mechanical horses of the 20th century.
The ingenious show has it all, except the whole, working, drivable vehicle.
It's one show for the men of Jamestown to bring their family to see. They will get ideas that during the winter may prompt them to get out the old welder and cut off some tractor, truck or car parts and spend the coldest months in the garage secretly making art.
Knowing how self-conscious most men are about appearing even slightly "culturally intelligent" or "artsy" to their buddies, this may give them an excuse to begin seeing themselves in a new light. And who knows? Maybe something really amazing will come from the winter of 2010-11 that qualifies as fine art. That's wonderful in my book.
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As a sculptor of bronze, clay and stone, and at one time a flower show judge and horticulturalist, I spent the first half of my life tearing down vehicles and then rearranging rotors, brake pads, front ends and joints, rocker arms and clutches into sculptures for either art shows or flower shows. One of my winning designs incorporated car springs and the float mechanism from the back of a toilet and all that was attached to a clutch component. I entered it in the "Nature, Art and Industry" classification that once was the bane of competitors but so up my alley that I won the NAI ribbon every year until the National Council of Flower Show Schools (the official accrediting organization that provides rules and ribbons for standard shows) removed that category from its standard shows. Some complained the category was too "junk yardy" but goodness how I loved it.
It was the only time in my 30-plus years in flower-show participation that I had adult men offer to buy my designs -- just to be able to show their buddies that a car part was used in a blue-ribbon winning "flower" arrangement. It was the most fun category of any flower show for me.
Not many women, however, would haunt junk yards or hide away their hubby's clutch assembly just to make it into a flower arrangement....so like dinosaurs of the modern age, the Nature, Art and Industry award went by the wayside in order that more "beauty" and less junk found its way into standard flower shows. But in my ribbon case I still display the most ribbons ever won in that category...the most to have been won during the NAI's short life in accredited national flower shows. And with a Tiger Wood's right arm air pump, I say it was my greatest days in making "flower arrangements." Car parts rule when making art!
In telling this story I'm explaining why, within the façade we humans present to the world, there may be a hidden auto-parts collector among the women of Jamestown, or there may be a man wanting to show his understanding of aesthetic beauty by mounting a rocker arm vertically and balancing it with some other engine part. If it's called "sculpture," then maybe the wife will let him bring it into the living room and display it next to his other creative assemblages in the trophy case.
An automobile-based art show is wonderful for anyone who loves tinkering with engines, or the pure love of a streamline chassis, a tractor loyalty or clunky old truck...whatever the catalyst for loving vehicles, people do love them. And the show at the Arts Center is featuring them in this show to the end of the month. Make it a point to drag the hubby or your best fella downtown to do a look-see. Then the next time you want to go to an art exhibit, he may be more cooperative...since he'd know then how manly art can be.
If anyone has an item for this column, please send information to Sharon Cox, PO Box 1559, Jamestown, ND 58402-1559.
