I will be leaving my role as PNWS President in about a month or so. Six consecutive years on the PNWS Board is the term limit set by or organization’s bylaws. Transitioning away from the direct leadership of PNWS is a strange process, but I’m making the best of it, savoring unexpected decisions, like what to write in my last posts for the PNWS newsletter. While thinking about Pacific Northwest Sculptors, I’ve been cycling back to my core goals of outreach and the integration of PNWS’ membership. We are about one hundred exceptionally strange and talented, far flung people with sculpture in common. What has inspired me in attaining these goals is the limitless potential of bringing together bizarrely gifted people, and recognizing how rare this Community is. I’ve approached this effort as crafting a whole body made of what each of us brings to PNWS. Community as art stands as a diametric opposite to art as commodity.
PNWS is an alternative to counteract the bias of a market based art world, and being radically inclusive is an essential part of that. I believe the core of our mission is creating connections for the Membership, leaving the content, style or professionalism of their art to them. Quality of artwork is extraordinarily subjective. My hope is that anyone can join PNWS, wherever they’re at aesthetically, and use our network to improve by their own standards. As long as the Members of PNWS keep showing up with curiosity and generosity, our differences will be our strength, looking beyond distinctions like professional/amateur, schooled/unschooled, just as you wouldn’t judge another sculptor’s cultural background or choice of medium.
Stepping down as PNWS President means I may discontinue writing these explanatory, motivational essays. Given this may be my last chance to speak with that authority, my parting message is, Stay open to the strangeness in your art and other artists. Cherish the absurdity, and don’t fear the inevitable confusion of these interesting times.
—Andy Kennedy (above sculptures are ceramic, with found hat)
Featured image: Sphinx of Sellwood, steel re-enforced concrete, glass, driftwood created circa 2004