There’s plenty of talent in the Valley
As exhaustively repetitive as it is to be reminded about adapting to these changing times, it is a necessary evil.
As history has shown us, survival is often packaged in a trial by fire. If the test is passed, you’re gifted with an entire new skill set and mental fortitude to face life.
As I’ve discussed before, during any period of history, you can view a piece of art or creativity that was spawned in the face of adversity. This period of time is no exception.
I feel for all the bands and artists who are forced to change how they release their work this year. However, I’m fascinated in how people come up with a plan to move forward. The most recent example is the virtual art shows curated by WAC-ARTS — Short for We Are Community ARTS (formerly We Are Cedar), this is a grassroots art coalition based in our Valley, with the goal of providing showcases for local, cre
ative people to present their music and art.
After the COVID-19 restrictions put a halt to traditional in-person events, they have transitioned to the virtual stage in a unique way.
Under normal circumstances, WAC-ARTS shows take place at the Antelope Valley Art Gallery in Palmdale. Each showcase focuses on a interesting theme or concept. Right as the lockdown happened, their showcase entitled “The Self ” was postponed. On May 30, the show was reformatted to a livestream and also uploaded to their Vimeo page.
Pulled from the WACARTS website, the description of the event was: “How do you see yourself ? How do you think others see you? If you were art, what would you look like? Twenty-one art pieces, twenty-one different answers to these questions. This collection of art will be showcased in a special premiere of ‘The Virtual Self.’ Our original show, ‘The Self,’ was meant to be an inside- and-out self-portrait. After over two months of state-issued stay-at-home orders, our ‘self ’ might have changed within this period of self-reflection. How is your virtual self different from your physical self ?”
This has become a recurring theme during this bizarre socially distant time and also, a breath of fresh air. On July 4, “Futurvision” debuted. The theme is: The “seismic shifts occurring both literally and figuratively in our new 2020 future. ‘Futurvision’ aims to glimpse at what lies ahead from a few of our favorite local artists.”
Among many talented artists, the video begins with a performance with by “Snakepit” Eddie Edwards and his band performing on a San Francisco-based TV Show in 1979. With a blend of synthesizers, Miles Davis-like Fusion-Jazz, this sets the tone for blasting through the cosmos into the future. Their most recent show which debuted on Aug. 1 and was titled “Dark Arts.”
It’s a clever play on words which asks the simple yet complex question, “What do you see, hear or feel in the dark?”
The best aspect of these virtual shows is the execution of the idea. In viewing them, I’ve come to appreciate this format more than a traditional showcase. In any of these video presentations, there may be fascinating animations or graphics, various film pieces and great high resolution close-ups of various paintings or visual art.
Local music, field recordings or soundscapes provide audio to complement the visual. No medium of art appears to be excluded for consideration. It just shows that in any creative scene, it’s better to live together and mix it up instead of shunning ourselves from what we feel is unrelatable.
So far, the length of these events has fallen in the 16 to 30-minute range, which is a reasonable amount of time to consume them.
If you can binge watch Netflix during quarantine, you can certainly catch up on the season of art taking place right now. Whether you are an art lover or simply curious about what wide range of talent we have in the Valley, its worth the watch. For more information, visit wacartsav.org