The Purpose of Art: Part II
Buzz / Guest Writer Series
Editors Note: “The Purpose of Art” is a three-part series by a Buzz Blog guest writer that we will be publishing over the next few weeks. Dan Lake, the author of the blogs, is one of our Ohanga Creatives who specializes in impressionist oil paintings. To read more about Dan, check out his Ohanga profile here.
The Purpose of Art series explores the different impacts art can have on us physically, emotionally, and mentally outside of just aesthetic pleasure. The second blog in my series as a guest writer for Ohanga follows the story of my father-in-law—a World War II veteran—and the photo collection I revived for him to help preserve the memories and experiences of his youth.
Project TWO: A World War II Memories Project
Image of Seabees April 1945, U.S.S. Basilan in Ulithi Atoll
Rudy Slazyk is of a generation that is rapidly disappearing. He is also my father-in-law and is leaving behind him the remnants of an adventurous life, the remnants of which lie in picture albums and collected artifacts that can only tell a little piece of the much larger puzzle.
But the memories are fading as fast as the artifacts. His war experiences were shared through a large album of small black and white photographs taken on his tour of duty in the Pacific in 1944-45. The album accompanied his wife, Helen, as she moved into our home in 2010. It was stored in a closet with many other family items. Many of you probably have similar albums stored deeply in the recesses of your closets and basements.
Finding the album one day, I noticed three things: The album was falling apart, the pictures were fading, and the names and identifiers of the many sailors in the album were missing. Who were these men and why no names? A review of his letters said much… the information was gathered during a war and details were not shared openly, censorship was necessary to ensure protection.
It was difficult to realize that Rudy’s memories and the sacrifices of much of his generation were fading and quite literally deteriorating. I wondered how to bring his legacy to the generations to follow: to share some of what he left behind and perhaps to encourage others to look into their closets too.
I decided to enlarge and paint those pictures showing his fellow sailors as he saw them, which was difficult since the original images were small and faded. They were also black and white and not particularly aesthetic in composition. Despite these setbacks, I still wanted to take on this challenge for the benefits I knew the result would bring. I decided to paint the images loosely in softer, sepia tones and enlarge them as much as possible.
The project turned into a collection of six paintings, which have been shown in various and vastly different contexts: from traditional exhibits to a reunion of Seabees at Quonset, Rhode Island. Some were included as part of an exhibit for the Art Guild of Rhode Island called “To Protect and Defend.” Another is currently on display at Wickford Art Association in a show called “Journeys Onward.”
Art has power. In this case, the power to bring life back to memories, document history, and preserve legacies.
Author: Daniel Lake
We envision a world in which creatives can grow and share their passions unburdened from the complexity of business management; a world where a community can easily access art for sale as well as celebrate and engage with their local artists.
Find more information about Dan and our other Ohanga creatives here.
For more Rhode Island art news, read Etch as an online magazine.
Find us at our Newport art store, Ohanga Newport.