Last week I had the pleasure of going out to the Festival of the Arts in State College with a few friends whom I hadn't seen in some time. The afternoon, while hot, was tolerable and pleasant, both because of the company of friends as well as the fine craftsmanship on display. Humanity is endlessly creative, but not always in a good way. We're very creative in crafting intricate instruments of torture, of finding ways to cheat others out of money or property through byzantine financial schemes, and other such instances where human creativity is used to harm rather than to heal. But at the same time our creativity can make things of great talent and beauty, and it was this impulse to create that was on full display at the Festival.
I have been to craft shows before, from the Folk Festival in Kittanning to Crafter's Day at the end of Clarion's Autumn Leaf Festival, but nothing like this. The size and scope alone dwarfed these others, with artists not just from the State College area, or even Pennsylvania, but coming from as far away as New York, Florida, and California. The quality of the work, too, was high above many others that I've seen. There is a place for some of the rustic kitsch that is often at art festivals, but the work on display here was far superior. Artwork, paintings, pottery, jewelry, all occupying a space over several streets, including a long length of sidewalk on the Penn State campus. There was so much that one nearly became jaded and almost bored after seeing so much artwork. Almost.
There is something beautiful about human creativity in all its varied forms, from the woman who made ceramic mugs with animal faces, to the man who created hanging plant gardens, the woman who painted beautiful landscapes, to the man who captured life underwater in stunning photographs and the young woman who crafted fine jewelry incorporating a tree and other forms. Even in the darkest times of life, moments when we may be losing the hope that things will ever improve, this kind of work has the power to restore that hope, that the inner beauty of humanity can manifest itself as it did in State College. Somehow one feels that if people care enough to make these things of beauty, without great expectation of financial success for most, that there is yet hope. It is the feeling that, no matter the dysfunction of our politics, the hatreds expressed against those different from ourselves, and the struggles of our economy, the inner optimism of the human spirit has not yet been stamped out.
For this reason alone, it was worth the long drive out, and the long drive back in the evening, to experience something that reminded me forcefully of how creative humans are in so many different ways, how we long to express our creativity and share it with others through art or writing or music. In a sea of bad news in the past week, seeing that art restored a modicum of hope within.
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