Only
through art," said Marcel Prouse, "can we get outside
ourselves and know another's view of the universe..." In September
1994, we posted a brief note in our By the Way column asking for
news of Rotarians who were artists. We expected to hear from a dozen
or so readers. Instead, we were deluged with letters and fax messages
from Rotarian artists eager to share with us their own particular
views of the universe.
Over the course
of six or seven months, we heard from more than 50 painters, sculptors,
print makers, potters, weavers, fabric artists, architects, billboard
designers, and musicians -- even a few poets. Correspondents told
us how they contributed artwork to their clubs or districts for
fundraising events, organized art shows, or gave demonstrations
of their skills as club programs.
We ended up
with more than enough material to create a "gallery" of
our own, and the following pages provide a brief glimpse of it.
The artists selected represent a much larger group of creative men
and women from around the world whose work we will try to showcase
in other ways, at other times.
"Thanks
to art", noted Proust, "instead of seeing a single world,
our own, we see it multiply until we have before us as many worlds
as there are original artists".
Welcome to our
gallery, enjoy your view of other worlds.
- CHARLES W.
PRATT, FOR THE EDITORS
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James
Rice of Naples, Florida, describes himself as a professional
potter whose goal is to produce functional artwork. Although
he is known across the US for his distinctive hand-painted
fish plates and platters, Jim has also created vases, tiles,
furniture, murals, and fountains. As owner of The Clay Place,
he crafts clay into "beautiful objects that can be part
of people's daily lives." Jim opens up his studio to
Scout troops and student field trips. The studio has become
a public resource, he says.
A group
study Exchange team member to Sweden in 1982, he lead a GSE
team from Florida to South Africa in 1990. The Paul Harris
Fellow and Rotary Foundation Benefactor is a 10-year board
member of his Rotary Club of Naples-Pelican Bay. Jim has served
as the District 6960 GSE chairman for seven years.
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