By Sheilagh Casey
This is my first post on Monmouth Voice. I’ve been asked to edit, or oversee, the arts topic.
My name is Sheilagh Casey (pronounced as if the “gh” at the end of my first name didn’t exist). For many years I was a newspaper journalist and editor. This began with writing about visual art in the 1980s, which was Post-Modern as all get out. Nowadays, the biggest art movement eludes me, unless it’s Mammonism. According to me, Mammonists care only about how much a work of art fetches on the market. I don’t care about that much, but I could sell you a few of my paintings. They cost a lot less than a dedicated Mammonist’s would! Mammonists, who worship the idea of riches and wealth, seek to monetize everything.
If you’re not aware of what’s going on with the arts in Monmouth County (and everywhere), then you probably don’t realize how pervasive all the creative arts are in our lives. Every song you hear, every movie or TV show you watch, every designed thing that surrounds you—your clothes, furniture, car, cell phone, even the letter shapes that appear before you now—is an artistic creation.
Fine arts and performing arts are a little trickier. But they’re not as foreign to everyday life as many people seem to believe. Indeed, they’re more accessible than ever around here. Theater, live performances of all kinds, galleries of visual art abound. You need no passport to enjoy them. You seldom need much money, either.
My emphasis is on visual art, because that’s where I’m at. This might actually be the cheapest interest on the beat. You don’t have to pay a penny to walk into a gallery and look, whether that’s an artist-run gallery or a commercial one. Nobody expects you to buy anything until and unless you bring it up. This is unlike going to a store. In a store, they’re just waiting to sell you things. In a gallery, they want you to look at things until you love them enough to ask to buy it. And during receptions, they’ll feed you snacks to keep you around, chatting maybe, looking, enjoying the scene. Best free entertainment available.
In Red Bank, performances are free all summer long with the Visitor’s Center’s Street Life program, and plenty of other events around the year. (Disclaimer: I’m the secretary of the Red Bank Visitor’s Center board.) The same is true in Long Branch, Asbury Park, and in our county, state, federal, and municipal parks. Then there are the hotels, restaurants, and bars that provide entertainment, and often show local artists’ work. Swing by the Oyster Point for a drink sometime. Great food, often entertainment, and the public spaces are full of artwork thanks to hard-working local curator Ellen Martin. Right now, you can see the work of Michael Malpass. He’s a local artist who died too young in 1989, deserving of an international reputation. I contributed Humdinger, the book his son put together on his life and work.
The theaters, who have managed to stay alive through the pandemic, largely thanks to dedicated patrons, are keeping performance and performers alive. I love the theater and don’t go often enough. But I will tell you that I saw Sean Penn {and many other equally popular performers}, live on stage before they hit the big time.
Art makes life worth living. It means a lot, to everyone, whether we’re aware of it or not. Let’s keep talking about it. Let’s love it all, whether it’s our taste or someone else’s. Let’s keep art alive in Monmouth. Let’s keep it free, in every sense. But please, share the wealth! Artists need to eat, too.
