The north country is full of artists and art groups, but despite a wide-ranging artist presence in Northern New York, the culture seems to be fragmented and disorganized.
But just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
After all, Vincent van Gogh — the quintessential misunderstood artist behind so many now-famous works of art — wasn’t well known during his lifetime. The artist who now lives in the public’s imagination as a romanticized ideal of the madness-and-creativity convergence only became so after his death.
So this seeming decline in artist presence doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t out there — they’re just hidden.
“Hidden in the woodwork,” as St. Lawrence County artist Mary G. Holland has said.
Mrs. Holland is a retired computer programmer who has been involved with a multitude of art hobbies for most of her life.
“In college, I started out as an art major but switched to computer science because I knew I could get a job,” she said. “I knew I could always come back to art one day.”
Since retiring, Mrs. Holland has painted, sculpted, sewed and practiced other art forms in her home studio in Colton.
Initially, though, her main focus was making high-fashion clothing pieces.
Because these pieces can sell for thousands of dollars, she didn’t find this business model sustainable.
“Everybody has devalued garments. Wearable art, I’ve learned, is a very fine niche,” Mrs. Holland said. “I made some really high-end, cool pieces, but nobody is going to pay $20,000 on an Etsy shop for something like that.”
After a while, Mrs. Holland said, artists generally settle on production items to keep their business afloat. Production items are often made inexpensively, quickly and efficiently.
“Ultimately, one of the things I learned is that every art business I know of, with very few exceptions, people settle in on a bread and butter product that’s almost manufactured. They’ll crank out a lot of them,” Mrs. Holland said. “For a lot of ceramic artists, it’s coffee mugs. For me, it ended up being hand-painted silk scarves.”
Although this idea of manufacturing production items has helped, it wasn’t the fiscal gain Mrs. Holland had hoped for.
“It’s been such a mixed bag on sales. There have been so many art galleries who operate for a couple of years and then they shut down,” she said. “I really believe we’re struggling here.”
A MULTITUDE OF CHALLENGES
Mrs. Holland said there are many reasons why artists are facing more challenges today than they did in past years. In addition to the low population density on a local level, she said, a major problem lies with the economy on a national level.
“My generation, the baby boomer generation, was into this whole period from the ‘80s and ‘90s where we were just acquiring stuff. The money was flowing, there were a lot of double-income couples and we bought a lot of stuff. Now our age group is hitting retirement and we’re downsizing,” Mrs. Holland said. “A lot of the young people now have had a hard time finding well-paying jobs and they aren’t so much into acquisition. They’re into recycling, reusing and repurposing and they don’t have the money to buy stuff anyway.”
The impacts these socioeconomic factors have had on the art community have many artists, including Mrs. Holland, worried.
“I don’t really know where things are going,” Mrs. Holland said. “Art never goes away, but it has to be patronized.”
Although some artists seek recognition, and often struggle throughout their entire careers like van Gogh did, others simply do what they do for the fun of it. They don’t mind if their work is never shown in a gallery, sold at an art show or displayed in someone else’s home, hence why some of them either stayed in or moved to the rural areas of Northern New York in the first place: for the quiet, the smaller and spread-out population and the peace.
And while those qualities of the north country attract certain types of artists to the area, others have complained the low population density makes it difficult to coalesce.
“The artists are everywhere from Tupper Lake to Waddington, Massena to Gouverneur,” said Mark Scott, owner of the Artworks Creperie in Waddington and member of the St. Lawrence County Arts Council board. “They’re spread out all over the place.”
A WADDINGTON ART CENTER?
An effort is being made to make Waddington a destination for the arts.
The Clark House Preservation project, led by Mr. Scott, is in the process of renovating a large, old inn on Main Street in Waddington to fit the needs of participating artists. Mr. Scott describes Main Street, which leads to the waterfront, as a potential destination site for artists and art aficionados.
He said the village is capable of hosting street fairs, markets and street-side open cafes.
“A bunch of us got together and wanted to see Main Street fixed up. We often talked about having a common theme in streetscape and I think it’s the arts,” Mr. Scott said. “I mean, it’s perfect. We’re right on the waterfront and we already have artists around. There’s quite a bit of talent around.”
The Clark House will potentially transform into gallery space, artist studios, temporary mini-condos for visiting artists and/or meeting space for artist organizations, although the project is still fluid and new ideas come to Mr. Scott frequently.
“Of all of the organizations, the arts council is the one I think that can bring everyone together,” Mr. Scott said. “Especially around here, nobody gets rich on this stuff monetarily, but it does enrich the lives of the people who are here.”
Sheetrock, electrical, plumbing and roof work is needed to complete the Clark House.
“Basically the inside needs to be finished, but structurally it’s sound,” Mr. Scott said. “It’s actually holding up some of the buildings around it, I think.”
Waddington is already home to The Gallery at Lake Saint Lawrence Arts, which opened in May with the help of Mr. Scott and Beverly J. Patchin, Lisbon; David R. Crowell, Pierrepont; Susan Riley, Waddington; Mary G. Holland, Colton, and Ken Maldonaldo, Madrid.
The juried artists’ space includes a gallery, a studio for two jewelry artists and a room in the back where classes and meetings are held. Artists pay $75 per month to join the cooperative gallery.
“Ultimately, with the gallery, it’s a business so (artists) have to pay rent and they have to help man the store, but they don’t have to do it on their own because it’s being operated cooperatively,” Mr. Scott said. “The risk is minimal.”
This wouldn’t be the first time Waddington was viewed as a destination for artists.
In December, the village hosted Christmas in Waddington, a month-long event where shoppers had the opportunity to find unique gifts and wares from more than 30 local vendors and artists.
Products included hand-sewn quilts, paintings, handmade jewelry, woodwork, photography, maple and Amish products, reclaimed furniture and more.
Other festive happenings during the month-long celebration included a holiday concert featuring the Potsdam Brass Quintet, a pancake breakfast with Santa Claus and several do-it-yourself workshops where participants made wreaths and Christmas ornaments.
According to Nicole T. Samolis — president of The Events Company, Syracuse, who planned the event — the multitude of vendors who popped up in two locations on Main Street made over $15,000 in the 12 days the event was open to the public.
Due to Christmas in Waddington’s success, vendors and business owners have already started to discuss potential similar events in the future. Ms. Samolis said she is planning pop-up events in the village during the summer months similar to Christmas in Waddington.
STILL STRUGGLING
For the most part, even with all of the efforts to create opportunities for artists in the area, career artists will confess it’s still hard to make ends meet at times.
And with funding for the arts on the current administration’s chopping block, it’s no wonder artists and artist organizations are scrambling for ways to find alternative sources of income.
“It’s a major issue in the north country right now. Nonprofit organizations are experiencing funding cuts,” said St. Lawrence County Arts Council Executive Director Suzy P. McBroom. “When you look at the economic crash in 2008, a lot of arts and cultural organizations closed down because they didn’t have the ability to continue. We did pretty well up here in regards to some surviving, adapting and changing.”
Now, she said, she’s seeing another round of cuts.
“They’re really starting to hurt,” Ms. McBroom said. “But people are restructuring. Overall, the arts are underfunded and financial struggles are always present for nonprofits, but the way they’re being successful is by adapting what they’re doing to fit the current needs.”
Sara E. Lynch, Potsdam, was able to quit her child-care job in pursuit of a full-time ceramic career a few years ago. She said she has worried about a consistent source of income and finding a balance between work and play since becoming self-employed.
“When I first quit, it was like, ‘okay, get clients, do the work.’ But I’d find myself a little short (on money), or not doing the work I want to or I’m not sleeping enough because I’m working too hard.”
Finding a niche, like Mrs. Holland did with her silk scarves, is an important part of establishing an artist career, according to Ms. Lynch, but her niche involves making ceramic pieces on commission. Ms. Lynch has a very active online presence and does most of her business through commissioned items for people all over the country.
“My biggest focus is high-price-point commissions because then I can get really weird with something,” Ms. Lynch said, while painting a large ceramic gnome to be shipped to a customer in California.
Ms. Lynch recently discovered, however, in order to sell items locally, she has to make a few production items for local art shops and art shows. She’s since begun making smaller items that cost less to produce, like small dishes and repurposed coffee mugs.
“Living up here, people can’t afford my work, even though they like it,” she said. “I started to do more production items, but that’s not my focus.”
GRANTS CAN HELP
Some artists, like Ms. Lynch, have found ways to fund their ideas and projects through grants.
The Teaching Artists’ Fund is a $300 to $5,000 grant available to artists working in partnership with public schools or community organizations to actively engage students in arts education and appreciation. In January, Ms. Lynch was awarded a grant to partner with Lawrence Avenue Elementary School, Potsdam, to bring hands-on art lessons to a fourth-grade social studies curriculum.
“We’ve got to bring more things together,” Ms. Lynch said. “If you want to make science more interesting and you want to make art relevant to people’s skills, then do an art and science lesson. It works on both of those levels.”
Disorganization has been targeted as one of the root problems of arts communities, according to Ms. Lynch. To address the disorganization, artists are now coming together in small groups in hopes to come up with solutions.
To help address the lack of a place for artists to meet that is centrally located, late last year Ms. Lynch worked with Ms. McBroom to organize monthly meetings of artists to talk about whatever they want — “North Country Maker’s Meetup” on Facebook. The group has over 40 members whose discussions pertain to online sales, comparing e-commerce platforms and upcoming events featuring artists.
“There is no agenda — people can talk about whatever they want to,” Ms. Lynch said. “There are different conversations happening. The ideas we’re testing have happened because of conversations we’ve had when we’re all together.”