Joni was asked to speak about art education at the Canadian Conference for the Arts in Edmonton in 1993. The conference was called "We're Gonna Make Van Goughs!" and was in reference to "raising up" Canadian artists who would eventually become world-famous. They then proceeded to honour a Czechoslovakian artist for his work...
Joni (the famous artist who was supposed to be idolized) basically slammed the whole idea and spoke about how her education at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary was unsatisfactory to her and how she learned much more for Mr. Kratzman at the Queen Elizabeth School. The next day all of the papers dismissed Joni as some rich rock star who didn't know anything about art anyway so why should she be taken seriously? As Joni tells it, she went home to L.A. and got serious. So, the song, Turbulent Indigo, has some very interesting references to that conference. I always thought when she said "You wanna make Van Goughs" she was referring to the style of painting with Eskimos and women, if we please, as the subject matter. But the Eskimos and the women are the Van Goughs themselves, fostered like sheep on a farm and harvested for what they can produce. I found that story very enlightening. It's courtesy of the "Voices" book from Joni's Mendel art exhibit in Saskatoon. -Andrew Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/
