Brandon League of Fine Arts

For centuries, artists have gathered to share ideas, pool resources, explore exhibit opportunities and create side by side. Some, like the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood or the Impressionists, gathered in rebellion against rigid academic standards.

​

Others were bound by a shared subject, like the artists of the Ashcan School who captured the gritty realities of everyday NYC life. Later, London’s Independent Group laid the groundwork for Pop Art by meeting to challenge mass culture and rethink objects as art.

​

For many, the simple social connection was the strongest draw. The Bloomsbury Group of the early 1900s shared ideas spanning art, literature, and philosophy, relying on one another for both personal support and creative inspiration. Decades later in New York, proximity brought SoHo artists and musicians together to build collaborative spaces and host events that fueled their collective work.

 

Today, over 100,000 arts organizations exist across the United States. While most won’t make the history textbooks, they offer something vital to every artist’s life: fellowship.

​

I mentioned in a previous message that fellowship was the primary reason

I joined the BLFA, and I know I’m not alone. As one member recently shared

with me, the combination of tech and post-pandemic isolation has caused many

artists to “cocoon” too much. We need direct interaction with fellow creatives.

We’ve navigated significant changes over the past year, and more lie ahead.

Yet through it all, our fellowship endures. We may not be starting a rebellion or

launching a new art movement, but we are building a vibrant community... and

that matters just as much.

​

Charlotte DeMolay | BLFA President