James Kearns, Resident Artist Lecture 1961

James Kearns gives a lecture talking about his experiences over the years being an artist. Kearns explains to the participants that art is a search for positive values to predicate what will be their next act in an artistic practice. He urges them to reject indifference, stating that it is a negative force in art, and instead cultivate love which will always be a positive force in art. Kearns states that art from any period of time is not the work of one man or attitude but rather the character of the time, which is the sum total of many artists working in a variety of ways; often contradictory, often merely differently, and often alike. Kearns also believes that responsible freedom and personal commitment are necessary for an artist to succeed, as creating art is a lonely affair. Kearns ends his lecture telling the participants that art is vitally important as a practice. It will allow them to always interpret reality, and that it takes many styles working in various ways-often contradictory- to vitally and effectively interpret today’s reality.