Support - the Word with
Heather Rene Dunaway
September 2026
Support. It’s more than just a gel shoe insert, or the tech guy on the other end of the line when your computer is acting up.
It’s community. It’s a learning experience.
Part of being involved in the arts network we have here in the CSRA is showing up for one another when you can. Now, that doesn’t mean showing up at every single event. Sometimes it looks like sharing an event post of your friend, buying event tickets from your favorite venue as a gift for your brother, tagging your artsy pal in an art opportunity you think they’d be down for, or signing up for a free newsletter because, what’s another email?
I try to be physically present at what arts happenings I can A. have time for, and B. have money for. Most recently, I attended the artist talk of a friend, Alex Foltz, at the Morris Museum of Art. His work is in the Education Gallery right now, you should check it out. Alex is super talented, but I was more interested in hearing what he had to say about the making of his work than seeing his work. The thing with artists is, we like to know the nuts and bolts.
I’ll find myself in gallery spaces and museums getting up close to artwork to see how it was hung, how the artist handled their mediums, what kind of frame an artist used. This probably comes from years of hanging other peoples artwork and always looking for better methods. I do this with public art now too. It’s a form of nerding out, I suppose.
I had seen Alex’s work a bunch, but I had never heard him talk in length about his process and his inspiration. I also had my own talk coming up, so I considered this a good way to warm up.
Alex did something very interesting, though. He painted while he gave his talk and it was more of an open forum than a structured talk. Sure, he talked about portraiture being his forte but nature scenes being a challenge and thus – more enticing. But he also answered questions we all had- like “How do you pick your pallet,” “what’s your favorite canvas to paint on,” “What do you have the most difficulty doing?” All the questions only other artists would ask.
So, in supporting my friend and a fellow arts organization, I had a little learning experience.
I decided to make my talk more casual and allow folks to ask questions instead of me preaching at them and getting the questions later (if they remembered what they wanted to ask in the first place). I thought it went pretty well and it was definitely way less nerve racking. I also got some great questions out of it.
Which, in my opinion, is all the more reason to go out and support your friends and fellow creatives.
Come out to Arts in the Heart and explore the Fine arts and Crafts Market and Emerging Local Artists Alley, visit a performance on one of the 5 stages, browse a local authors collection, eat some delicious food. The festival is basically a one stop shop of creatives to support and inspiration to be had.
So, give and get. Support and gain some insights on what you can be doing differently as an artist.
That’s the word.
-Heather