is art the privilege of the powerful?

this was the topic of conversation in my liberation art class last night. do you have to be exposed to art to make art? do you have to be able to afford the supplies, the energy, the time and the mental space to make art?

i said no. i am not sure i was understood. i do not think that art is the domain of the powerful, the privileged. the art world IS the domain of the powerful and the privileged, but that is a very different conversation. yes, art schools are full of people who can afford to be there and can afford to risk being educated in a field where they may not make any money. yes, art supplies are expensive. yes, studio space is expensive. yes, it helps to have been formally exposed to art making.

BUT...

examples of the poor, the disenfranchised finding ways to make art abound. even many of the canonized great white men of art were on the margins when they were making art. van gogh heard voices, gave up a career as a successful lawyer to paint, and cut off his ear. we all know what his neighbors were probably saying about him behind his back. yes, his painting was made possible by the financial support of his brother, but his mental illness still marginalized him. jacob lawrence painted with tempera because that is what he could afford. he painted the stories of his people because he needed to tell the stories. now we look at those paintings in museums, reminiscing about the greatness of the harlem renaissance, forgetting the reality of the struggle of that time. we buy fair trade products, made by artists, and forget about the creative energy poured into them buy people trying to make a living. lonnie holly, a artist i met in college, makes art from what he finds because he cannot afford anything else, but he still makes art. the women of gee's bend made quilts to keep warm from the only fabric scraps that were available, and these quilts became a national museum phenomenon, drawing huge crowds in all of the cities where they were displayed--while these women are still alive.

yes, art comes from the top. yes, paintings are being sold for millions of dollars. yes, the culture of the art world is restricted to the upper class (even most of us in the middle class have little real access to impacting the art world). but that does not mean that art does not happen on the margins, outside the centers of power. and in fact, all the art worlds that do exist in these places are perhaps more real, more creative, and more essential to survival.