The Importance of Art
The Obstacle is the Path, Union Hall’s 5 Year Anniversary exhibition — and largest group show to date — opened a few days ago. Curated by Union Hall’s Chief Curator, Esther Hernandez, and inspired by the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, who famously said, "What stands in the way becomes the way," the exhibition commemorates Union Hall's fifth anniversary by delving into this timeless concept through the lens of ten local and national artists. I had the pleasure of interviewing three of the featured artists: Sarah McCormick, Jenna Annunziato, and Nadiya Jackson, about their work, and dove into why art spaces — particularly nonprofit art spaces — are important for artists, art appreciators, and a city’s cultural development.
Sarah McCormick is a sculptor and educator in the Denver area. Sarah co-curated and had artwork in the 2019 Union Hall exhibition in land, in body.
Can you share what 'the obstacle is the path’ means to you?
I have, so far in my creative practice — and I think in an ongoing sense — experienced these opportunities for leaning into discomfort, and for me that discomfort is an obstacle that I can choose to engage or not. I can choose to push my practice in a direction that makes me confront my own history, my own personal experiences, or I can kind of settle into comfortable practice and process. When I choose to engage those obstacles I think that it really pushes me as an artist and is an opportunity for really profound growth.
What is one of the biggest obstacles or barriers you have faced, and how did you overcome it?
In my creative practice, one of the biggest obstacles that I have engaged is intuitive making. Throughout my academic career I was really trying to plan out every single element of my work before starting. Not only every single detail of the process, and the construction and fabrication, but also trying to answer every single question before it was even asked to me. I think that’s something that a lot of academic creatives struggle wit because we are hammered with questions by our faculty and we want to be able to answer the questions. The moment that I started opening myself up to asking questions that I didn’t have answers to, my work suddenly became more interesting. That was a profoundly difficult thing to overcome and something that I still fight with to this day with almost every work that I make.
Why do you believe nonprofits are important to support?
So much of our urban spaces are structured around commercialization with fabricated and false messages. I think nonprofits are important to support for much the same reason that art space are important to continue to support in urban landscapes. Nonprofits are very often open-ended spaces, they are opportunities for evolution and for a non-commercialized agenda. I think that we are so monopolized by capitalism in everyday society ad by the agenda of economic growth in the businesses that we frequent. To continue the culture of encouraging nonprofits within our everyday lives of ushering in these spaces and supporting them, we continue to support spaces that we actively collaborate in building, in inventing, and re-inventing. That’s what’s beautiful about nonprofits - that redirection from a capitalistic agenda.
Jenna Annunziato is a visual artist primarily working with oil paint and based in Denver. Jenna was a part of the 2023 Rough Gems exhibition, Sacrum.
What part of returning to Union Hall are you most excited about?
I was really excited to be included in the fifth anniversary show for a few reasons. One of them being that Union Hall has worked with so many really talented local artists and does a good job of showcasing Denver’s art scene, and to be a part of that was really special for me. One of the other things Union Hall does really well is center artists at the forefront of what they’re doing. That was very much my experience with Rough Gems, as an artists I felt very supported and that’s a very special thing that Union Hall does really well.
What is one of the biggest obstacles or barriers you have faced, and how did you overcome it?
The idea of obstacles has been on my mind a lot. One of my biggest struggles as an artist is the way in which I put myself down by comparison or having high expectations of what my work and the presentation of it should be. One of the ways to combat the expectations you put on yourself is to stay grounded in why you do it in the first place. Why I make art is because sometimes it feels like a need. I very much use my work as a lens to to which I’m responding to the world and that ends up being very cathartic. Working through the barriers you put up for yourself is a really important skill that you need as an artist to just be resilient and face your own barriers head-on and work through it.
Do you think that art spaces have a responsibility to help foster an artist’s resilience?
I do think so. Having spaces to foster resilience is important because sometimes you need to see your work out in the world to know it’s working. It’s important to have work in these spaces because it shows artists that it does have an impact outside of your studio space. It’s important to see how the public reacts and how people respond do your work. In terms of resilience, not everyone is going to respond positively, but you can pick and choose what critiques work for you.
Nadiya Jackson is an artist living in Denver. Nadiya co-curated the 2023 Rough Gems exhibition, The Ultimate Boon.
What does it mean to you to have had the Rough Gems curatorial experience and now return to Union Hall as an artist?
I think it’s really spectacular to have a relationship with a gallery in Denver that bestows trust, grace, and opportunity to new artists and curators. I knew it was always a dream of mine to curate and I thought it was something I would have to do five, ten years down the road. That opportunity organically came to me with my co-curator Florence Blackwell. To come here and curate a show and foster relationship with artists and now come back to Union Hall as an artist myself is a really full circle moment.
How do you think art can enrich someone’s life?
Art can impact and influence people in many ways; in ways that they don’t realize it’s impacting them. Not everyone likes to go to galleries; not everyone like to go to museums. People watch TV, they’re on their phones so in a way they are consuming art - think about graphic design. Think about music, music fosters friendships - you go to a concert and make a friend because you share the same interest in a musician that you both paid to go see. Art has the ability to create relationships, it helps the economy, and I can speak for myself, it makes you feel like you’re not alone. It creates a space of shared experiences and we have something tangible that can direct us to that experience to give us “oh, yeah that’s exactly the same wave of emotions that I felt,” because you looked at something, you listening to something, you immersed yourself in something. It’s so corny and cliche but “without art the earth is eh.” In many ways, subtle and big.
Why do you believe nonprofit art spaces are important to support?
Because it’s for the people, by the people. Think about it - if someone has a cause that they want to dedicate themselves to and they’re not seeking to commodify it, that should be telling of where their heart is. Specifically for Union Hall I see that their heart is for uplifting artists and curators new and emerging and even people established. Let’s be truthful not all nonprofits are transparent with what their mission is, but when you find those nonprofits that are transparent, that are following through there mission statement with action is somewhere where you should, you know — go ahead — put your money where their mouth is, do it! It’s for a good cause.