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Should I Stay or Should I Go?

By Jack Cantey

Fort Wayne Reader

2006-11-21

Each time an artwork by a young, local artist excites me, the same two conflicting thoughts pop into my head: “I'm glad they're in Fort Wayne, but I hope they leave soon.”

These thoughts came to me as I recently enjoyed the opening night for an exhibit at Artlink, Seven Young Contemporaries, which featured an unusually strong and consistent range of works by twenty-something artists. I found myself wondering how many of the vibrant “young contemporaries” (both exhibitors and viewers) in the gallery that night would be around Fort Wayne in five or ten years? Hell, how many would still be in town next year?

I wanted to find out more about the dilemma that young artists face in Fort Wayne: whether to stay in their comfortable and affordable hometown or to pursue a career in a competitive and expensive cultural Mecca?

To get closer to the heart of this issue, I sat down for a discussion with four artists, ranging in age from 21 to 33 years old. Nathan Abels, Alan Kitchen, Dan Swartz, and Eric Tarr all were born and raised in Fort Wayne, or spent the majority of their childhood here. They have all exhibited widely in town and have had to face the decision of whether or not to leave for greener cultural pastures. Swartz moved to New York City one month ago. Abels, currently a professor at St. Francis, earned his degree in Savannah and is moving to Denver in the coming months. Kitchen has plans to move to the east coast next year, while Tarr plans to stay in Fort Wayne.

We talked about the advantages and challenges that Fort Wayne presents to emerging artists, as well as the pragmatic concerns that force young artists out of similar mid-sized cities.

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Fort Wayne Reader: What is the greatest advantage Fort Wayne offers to young artists?

Nathan Abels: Probably being a big fish in a small pond.

Dan Swartz: Yeah, a lack of competition.

Alan Kitchen: You can make it your own, which is really nice.

Eric Tarr: You get to know everybody. I don't have anything to compare it to. A large city would have so many more artists, so much more going on, that you couldn't experience all that it has to offer. In Fort Wayne, you can see everything.

FWR: The big fish in a small pond – couldn't that also be a negative, deluding you into thinking you're better than you really are?

Abels: That's very true.

Tarr: I don't have any delusions of grandeur. At this point, I don't fancy myself going and making it somewhere else.

Swartz: One good pro would be the art community for the size of our town. Fort Wayne is always going to be bottom-heavy in the art hierarchy with artists as compared to critics and curators... I think that it's a good place to grow as an artist.

Tarr: We do have enough of a community to learn from each other and develop.

Swartz: And there's enough [of a community] where there's no one dominant fashion.

Abels: Because we're always ten years behind the times.

FWR: What's the greatest con to being a young artist here?

Kitchen: I would say that the “being ten years behind” thing can be frustrating. You look at catalogs or books and see a pretty awesome show, and find out it was six years ago. You may be a trend setter here, but I'm 23, and I want to see what's out there.

Swartz: It's really a Fort Wayne thing to say, “Oh, I want to be the best thing ever, but I could just hang out for a while.”

Tarr: That's a pro-con thing, because you do develop the communal aspect that way, but you might step back and realize you've become stagnant.

Abels: For me, the biggest con is the market. I know, for certain, that there a lot of people around here with money. What we found out [at the opening] is that the only way people are going to buy art is if they can spend the same amount on dinner. That's what we saw... the only stuff selling was under 50 bucks. That, to me, is what Fort Wayne has gotten itself into. It's the artist's fault and the market's. If I were to price my work that I could get other places, it won't sell. So we keep showing, but not selling, and we get frustrated. “Fine, if I make it 50 or 100 bucks, maybe it will sell then.” It does, and it starts that loop over again.

Swartz: And you're stuck because you've undervalued yourself and you can't move up into a larger market.

FWR: What is one thing that could improve the art market in Fort Wayne?

Abels: I think we need to just lift the bar somehow. I'm a part of this fold, too. I had $25 paintings [at the opening], but I did that on purpose. We've all done that, right? I called them my “Target” audience pieces. I wouldn't do those other places because I could get more for a better piece.

Kitchen: You read about big city galleries and they're really salesmen there.

Swartz: That's why Mee Shim is so awesome, because she runs through the gallery and says, “You're going to buy my piece,” and they do.

Tarr: I see my art as something that I do that is therapeutic to myself. I don't really view it as something that is marketable or worry about a career or finding my audience. I'm settled here. If I do leave, it will be for something else and my art will go along with me.

Abels: That's not the case for us, though. Art is the reason we're moving.

Kitchen: It's really a collection of things. First of all, adventure. My mom and dad are blue collar, and they ask, “Are you sure?” If I fail, I can always come back.

FWR: So, Dan, is New York all it's cracked up to be?

Swartz: Yeah, so far, I'm loving it. I live in Harlem, and in this last month, I've been to 24 openings and have seen over 100 shows. I'm working for five artists, also, so I see their studios and who they know, and all the weird connections and how small the New York art scene is, actually. It's a lot of the same people and they all know each other. It's like Fort Wayne, that way, only larger, of course.

FWR: Have you had time to still work on your art?

Swartz: Well, you just make the time. I don't sleep anymore and I've lost ten pounds in a month. I've felt more creative than ever before and I'm doing a lot of work.

FWR: What's driving your move to Denver, Nathan?

Abels: I'm thinking that a move to any bigger city is going to be better for my artwork. I found out in Savannah, which is about the same size as Fort Wayne, how much of a difference a healthy market makes. I still sell work in Savannah for twice the price I sell it here. The exact same piece. To me, that doesn't make sense. Like WalMart will send its jobs overseas, it's business. What would anyone else do?

FWR: Do any of you feel any guilt in leaving? If you leave, who's going to get some of these things done?

All: No.

Swartz: I've never been out of Fort Wayne, so that's why I had to leave.

Abels: At least for me, since I'm teaching, I'm hopefully getting some of these new students thinking that way. I'd like to think that maybe four years from now, they'll be the ones with the art openings.

Swartz: They'll be us.

Abels: We're talking about seeing change coming. We're seeing some of the old standby's retiring and seeing the art community being brought into the twenty-first century.

Tarr: Hopefully, when one leaves, there can be two to fill their place.