Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Figment07, it looks like I posted in that thread early on. I lived in NYC, and worked Upstate in Albany. I had to travel the entire State for about 5 of those years, and got to know much of NYS.
Yup, some interesting artist communities in the Upstate regions. I see some newer posts that I enjoyed reading.
Many many thanks for bringing it up--and all those towns mentioned are basically rural!---to once more bring us back to topic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Figment 07
Ontheroad, have you seen this thread about artsy towns in upstate New York (closer to daughter and new grandchild)?
I'm not sure that my preference fits neatly into a City, Suburban or Rural category. Small town living appeals to me more and more. In fact, if I didn't love my life in Atlanta so much, I might be looking at an older home to restore on a shady street just off a picturesque town square somewhere in Georgia or Alabama.
Last edited by Figment 07; 03-26-2007 at 02:49 PM..
I've been to Eureka, AR and Asheville, NC. I loved Eureka in the mountains and did an art book submission whilst visiting another artist in Asheville. I don't think I gave Asheville much of a chance as we mostly worked to meet a deadline. I don't think I made it to Hot Springs, AR, and have never been to Alabama. Boone is the hometown of Cheap Joe's art suppliers. They have some of the most wonderful workshops and Joe is a terrific guy.
I, too, would prefer, small town within easy reach to all my needs. Recently, one of my friends in Taos told me that I am high maintenance ala Sally from "When Harry meets Sally." All I could do was laugh!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Figment 07
For more towns (albeit smallish ones) with an emphasis on the arts, try a search for John Villani's books. Just perusing the reviews of The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America on Amazon.com, I see that Eureka Springs and Hot Springs, Arkansas; Northport, Alabama; Boone and Asheville, North Carolina are mentioned.
I'm not sure that my preference fits neatly into a City, Suburban or Rural category. Small town living appeals to me more and more. In fact, if I didn't love my life in Atlanta so much, I might be looking at an older home to restore on a shady street off just a picturesque town square somewhere in Georgia or Alabama.
Good to hear from you Ontheroad! You're welcome,
still waiting for my kids to get married, let alone have kids of their own. :-(
the oldest is 28 and just lately some of his friends are getting married.
maybe it will rub off! lol
I've never been to Maine, but I hear its a great state for artists.
Lots of open spaces and rocky seashores./. sounds like a still life dream.
Always good to hear from you. I also heard from stormweary. I think I'll send him a PM and ask him to see the new thread started on artist towns. I think he is looking at CT.
Come over to the other thread, if you have a mind.
And I think my youngest didn't get married until about 28--how can I have forgotten.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iriegirl
Good to hear from you Ontheroad! You're welcome,
still waiting for my kids to get married, let alone have kids of their own. :-(
the oldest is 28 and just lately some of his friends are getting married.
maybe it will rub off! lol
I've never been to Maine, but I hear its a great state for artists.
Lots of open spaces and rocky seashores./. sounds like a still life dream.
Jane here, where's Dick? I grew up in the suburbs except for two years when my parents rented a house from a farmer, it was a highlight of my youth but whether I could live rural now, I'm not sure. Probably not without a partner and it would need to be near a small town with something going on in the arts. I tried to get an internship to try it out for the summer at a rural sustainable community but they told me I was too old :-)
I think suburbs and malls have ruined any sense of community. As part of my college education, I did a mini-ethnographic study of a mall. What a difference between people in a mall and people walking the downtown local path outside around the lake or just sitting at the lake. Another student observed that when trying to study at the lake, everyone kept saying "hi." Sitting on a bench in a mall, she was invisible. She attempted a hi to a few people and they looked at her startled. Same town. Suburbs are similiar--create a sense of isolation making people anonymous. There is little opportunity for small talk that use to happen when people lived closer together. Suburbs make me shudder. Give me a mid-size town or rural (although rural is very bad for the environment if you have to commute.)
I picked up a book for my son called Ecocities, that is the way we need to head if we are going to save this planet. Stop driving cars. Somehow find a way to make living in cities work. I wonder if there are towns implementing any of this book's ideas?
Rural is the best for those who like freedom. The cities are for people who don't like to do things for themselves. The suburbs take big city attitude and spread it out over a wider area. I pick rural
The cities are for people who don't like to do things for themselves.
Excuse me??? I've lived in Chicago proper pretty much all of my adult life (and some of my teenage life) and I certainly know how to do things for myself ... and my grandfather grew up in the freakin' Bronx and was about as self-sufficient as they got (climbing up from poverty, getting a medal of honor for his service on the front lines in WWII, buying a house, helping his granddaughter go to college, etc), so that is quite an assertion you are making there bud!
Now if you define "doing things for yourself" as knowing how to plant a field, sure, you've got me there, but I hardly think that is how one would define 'doing things for myself'.
im just jumping in here, but i think tallrick may be speaking of self-sustainability, yes, as in planting your own fields, but not quite.
i have bordered between total rural and urban sprawl all my life. one pendulum shift to the other. both serve different functions.
as a rural dweller i have learned to work on my own vehicle as i need it for transportation, takin care of animals/livestock/agriculture as for my food and trading, and rebuilt my own home for comfort and sustainability.
as an urban dweller i have taken public transportation, eaten foods produced extensively by others, and complained to the landlord about my housing.
neither is better. they are different. all humans are capable doing things for themselves regardless of the environment.
these discussed differences are only demographical.
that includes waging war on others for a medal or spending money (which is the root of evil mind you) to buy a house.
we are all contained by this system.
abstain, contribute, transform, or rebuke.
this seems to be about a conflict in the definition of "self-sufficient."
Last edited by griffininsight; 06-09-2007 at 02:09 AM..
Reason: mis-spelling
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
