Putting the 'Art' in an Arts Discussion

As I stood examining David Hasbury's dynamic flow chart-esque illustrations today, it brought back memories of doodling during an over-sized lecture in my early university years. The main difference between the method to my madness and his: a message. While I scribbled flowers or misshapen hearts, David's work truly encompasses all of the effort, passion and energy that has gone into this conference so far. Watching him take in each detail of the speeches this morning and translate them into words, images and connections was art, right before our eyes.

Similarly, Greg Frankson's rapportage inspired that same sense of taking all the information and ideas throughout the day and giving them a pulse, a voice. When I spoke with Greg he mentioned that this was his first stab at impromptu poetry of this nature -- not that anyone could tell. His words offered a human approach to a distinctively human subject.

Both of these artistic offerings helped to bring us all back to the abundant amount of discussion flooding the day and get a feel for the most talked about and memorable elements. We were able to re-examine the issues through carefully created, yet spontaneously spun words and images of exactly what we're all fighting for -- art.