By Brittney Hensman (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: April 2, 2014
“Being an editor of an anthology is a lose-lose situation,” Daniela Elza said to open the Louden Singletree’s 6th issue launch party.
The Louden’s editorial board worked long and hard in selecting the pieces for this journal, and Elza let us know that writing the rejection letters was probably the hardest part of the process.
“Don’t take rejection personally,” she told the crowd. Elza pointed out that there are a plethora of factors behind rejection and only one is personal taste. Don’t let rejection hinder you from submitting your art from critique — and remember, the more you submit, the smaller the percentage of rejection becomes, and the easier it is to handle.
These words were an encouragement to all the aspiring writers and visual artists in the room. AfterMath was packed with students and faculty who listened as each piece in the journal came alive with the voices of their original creators behind them. Poems were shared, visual art pieces were explained, and short anecdotes were read. People laughed, no one cried, and many ate and were merry!
Along with such talent, the evening was filled with nuggets of wisdom from many of the artists.
A painting of a voluptuous nude woman in blue acrylic on canvas was displayed. Radiance Dream, the artist of the piece, said she was inspired to paint the common curvaceous form of a woman because this body type is not often desired by the media, and yet it is beautiful.
Another student, Sandra Moulton, who is graduating from the graphic and digital design program, explained where her work comes from.
“Struggle — it’s a journey and it is not ending,” she said, as the feet in her painting took one step over the barren rocks that stretched out into a vast unknown abyss.
Julia Dovey split our sides with her witty play enacted in the spontaneity of the moment by Elza and Rajnish Dhawan. The skit was inspired when Dovey, at a loss for what to write, recalled the words of a former professor who said, “write what you know.”
When art can bring people together with reality, beauty is achieved. Life is hard and full of myriad challenges, and people ultimately want to know that they can relate to other humans in their struggles.
Status updates and pictures on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter do a fabulous job at telling everyone how perfect your life is, but they fail to portray your bad hair day or the disheartening conversation you had with a loved one about something they challenged you on. No one’s life is or ever will be perfect, and Thursday evening proved just that — not in the sense that it was a night full of mediocre art, but because it was a night full of normal people who have spent a lot of time and hard work honing their skills and passions to share a beautiful message with humanity through their art.
Stories and art have a powerful way of making people feel normal, and each of the Louden Singletree’s contributors played their part in achieving that reality. Artists, never forget your purpose and your goal — don’t carry the attitude of an elitist in your work. Bring your art to the level of your audience, and help it speak if they cannot understand. That way they can share what you have to offer them to the fullest.
