This
is a sentiment I’ve heard several times over the years. The first time was in
the 80’s. …..Al Gilmore telling 8 students in Montana why they should all jump
in a pickup truck, with camping gear and drive thru sleet and snow to get here!
OK,
really?
Last
year was the last time, when Danielle James used it as the title of her 4-part
blog about her Yuma Symposium virgin voyage on the CraftHaus website.
Hilarious. (Link below)
Let
me digress a bit. I was just back in Springfield, Ohio for homecoming at my
alma mater. It’s been at least 40 years since I’ve seen the leaves turn. The
Wittenberg campus looked gorgeous.
I
did a little homework before I left, going thru the one yearbook I still had. I
also got in touch with some folks I wanted to see. I got a late start, so not
many could make the late plans to come, but many I remembered were there.
Forty+ years is a long time to look back. Looking at those faces and trying to
see the face I knew years ago was easy for some, who haven’t changed much, but
really eye-opening for the ones whose lives have altered their appearance
beyond what I could recognize. What really impressed me was how friendly
everyone was, old friends or new.
It’s
been over a week since I’ve been back and I am looking at people my age in a
new way…..That lady moves like a crazy dancer….. or……That guy was probably the
funniest character in his class.
The
same thing happens during the Yuma Symposium. For many it has turned into a
huge annual Homecoming. I’ve watched friends age physically, seen them mature
artistically and been proud of their successes. People talk to me like we are
long lost friends. Some names I remember, some I don’t. I’m bad with names, so
that’s my excuse.
Having
been involved since before we started counting makes it around 40 years. Let me
digress one more time. When Pete Jagoda and George and me first moved here in
the early 70’s, we were fresh out of grad school with MFA’s that would surely
help us set the art world on fire. Soon, we started to miss our artist friends
and wondered what they were doing. Pete and George started inviting them to
Yuma to share them with our new Yuma art community. This took the form of
weekend workshops at Arizona Western College. Those workshops, born out of the
need to reach into the outside art world and pull it here to Yuma, have grown
into what we have today.
The
next symposium marks 36 years since we’ve been counting. So what brings people
back year after year?
Quotes
from the campfire:
You
can be yourself here. It is a safe place.
Nobody
thinks you’re obsessed with art. Nobody judges.
The
stage is set for networking.
Everyone
is so friendly, sharing and knowledgeable.
I
get to see what my peers are doing.
For
you Yuma Symposium virgins, invite a friend to join you. Start your tradition
of coming to this unique total immersion art weekend. Make new friends that you
will stay in touch with all year long? What will make you want to come back
year after year?
--Neely Tomkins
executive director for the Yuma Arts Symposium
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