Virgil Delegard – painter
I’ve been observing an interesting Baby Boomer trend developing: rebirth of the arts. As we boomers retire, more and more of us are finding the freedom to turn or return to activities that give voice to our creative nature.
One example is Virgil Delegard, a friend and neighbor. When in college he majored in mathematics and minored in the fine arts. After he graduated the only avenue open to steady work, just like today, were business oriented professions. He tried his hand at architecture and then gravitated into software engineering. For thirty-some years he put aside his fine arts skills and channeled his creativity into the binary logic of software.
A couple of years ago Virgil retired and the long-buried drawing and painting habits resurfaced. He found himself taking life drawing classes to reawaken his eye-hand coordination. He then expanded his vision by taking classes in watercolor painting. These studio classes have provided him with the opportunity to develop his creative vision. At this time he spends nearly two full days working in a studio and then more time at home.
Samples of his efforts follow:
For me this painting evokes Goya and Spain.
And this one is my favorite. Its me!
Virgil is the tip of an iceberg of retired or unemployed workers that are taking new paths of self-expression that lead to self discovery and personal reward. I know others who are working in a variety of mediums: oils, sculpture in wood and stone and metal, mixed media, music, photography, and video. Not to mention dance and performance art.
We are witnessing the democratization of the arts, where almost everyone has the ability to display their creative efforts to a world-wide audience: a renaissance of personal expression. This trend has been building for some time but now with Boomers having the time to become involved it is escalating.
Once prohibitively expensive technologies for the preparation and distribution of all media have been replaced with free or inexpensive digital tools. With a smartphone camera, free photo editing apps, a free artist’s website – such as www.mnartists.org, and accounts in Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Linked it is possible to make your creations available to 7 billion human beings. More people are living now than have lived since the beginning of humanity.
There is a down side to this. If, like me, the goal is to make a modest living from art, it is much more difficult. The competition is fierce with many talented people displaying their work. In addition, the perceived value of thoughtful, well conceived art is diminished because the common wisdom is that, “I can take a picture with my phone, so therefore I am a photographer,” or “I have a blog, thus I am writer.” It is difficult for quality to be recognized because of the torrent of content flooding the world.
A long time ago, in a writing class, at Ohio State University, in Columbus, the instructor told us, “Writing is communication and communication requires at least two people. Writing only for yourself is mental masturbation. To hone your craft you must write for at least one other person so that you can enter into a dialog.”
In this new creative world the challenge is to find an audience to participate in your efforts. The potential is vast. Finding your audience is becoming part of the creative experience.
Virgil’s work is copyrighted and he must give permission for its reproduction or use in any form.