Artist Capacity

Capacity is a Word that gets thrown around the offices of OYE a lot. We have programs of capacity building and all of our students have incredible capacity, but what does this capacity mean to the people that have it?

I attended a drawing class, part of our new Arte La Calle program, and not only did I receive a great lesson in drawing, but I also had the opportunity to talk with some of the OYE students about capacity. We talked about what it was, and what it means.

By the end of the lesson I realized that its true OYE students have incredible capacity. They described to me what this word means, and according to our scholars, capacity is the potential a person has to do something. Moreover, it is the ability to apply ones self to acquire the knowledge necessary to do that thing.

After talking for a while we came to the conclusion that, while everyone has some capacity, we are not necessarily endowed with the same type of capacity. In this vein, the program of art that I attended today is a perfect example. Gerald, the OYE scholar that was instructing us has an incredible capacity for making and teaching art. When he looks at an object he sees it through the eyes of an artistic and can reproduce its slightest shadow. He can look at an image and see how to draw it with a mind for the shadows and reflections. As a teacher he demonstrates a tremendous capacity of patience with his raucous students. When all was said and done, those of us that participated in his class produced some nice works of art, even if they could not rival those of Gerald. We all had the capacity to produce art, but we might not have realized it without the guidance of Gerald.

This is the type of capacity and capacity building OYE is talking about. Capacity is simply the ability to learn to do. Capacity is nothing without the desire to act, and it is amplified when a helping hand or guidance is lent to another. As we hope to create a village of socially engaged artists through our art program, we hope to create a community of socially conscious and responsible citizens through our capacity classes.