0.37 James surls, b. 1943  (Page 3/3)

Creative risk

Consider the Museum of Fine Arts. The public really [doesn’t] want them to goof. They cost too much. They’re too big. They spend too much money for failure. It’s like having NASA fail: You don’t want failures of that magnitude. They don’t want to do a show and have the public say it’s a dog. They want to do shows the public [says]are great! Well, can you imagine where Dow Chemical would be without their laboratory? I mean—think about it—they have to have that lab. Lawndale was a lab. That’s basically what it was. There were some things being tested over there. There was also a very significant failure rate. You know, regardless of how much I appreciated something or liked doing everything we did over there, they didn’t all work. Some were bombs. I think you have to be able to do that. You have to have a place where you can take chances and run risks and if the test tube blows up, you simply say, “Shit. We learned.”

Art as curriculum

I think art should be one third of the curriculum in public schools. That’s a major statement, not a lightweight thing. I don’t say that offhand. Art, philosophy and science: That’s what we should be teaching. Art is the ugly stepchild to universities. We just are. And the reason that music is elevated is that they have their symphony hall. The reason that theater can be successful is they have their [venue]. Is it a good one? Damn right it’s a good one. Architecture, hey, they go and get Philip Johnson to build them a grandiose thing. Artists at one time had some kind of place. There was a place for them in the community and in society—and I don’t necessarily know where or what that is anymore. When the University did not embrace Lawndale to the point that they kept it and used it and developed it, I thought that was a tragic mistake. On their part, as far as I’m concerned, they goofed. That’s a big goof.

The road not taken is as important as the road taken. The reality is that Lawndale ultimately got kind of shoved to the streets. The students were the lifeblood. The Art Guys

Then and now

[My wife] Charmaine and I came to Houston together in 1976 in a red Ford one-ton truck with two pink suitcases. I’d taught [previously]at SMU for seven years. We stayed at John and Wanda Alexander’s

James Harithas

You can live as far out on the edge as you want to go, but it’s not really necessarily fair to take your family out on the edge with you. You can’t take your kids out there and turn them loose because now all of a sudden two worlds have to survive side-by-side, simultaneously. They have to coexist. I spent a lot of money [at Lawndale]. I didn’t go around telling people that, or complaining. I did it because I wanted to do it. I liked doing it. I thought it was important…to me and to the community. I think one of the things that made [Lawndale]successful back then was the fact that artists took responsibility for their own actions. They were willing to do things. They were willing to take responsibility for their own actions, and suffer the consequences. That’s what responsibility means.

As best I can tell, [today] there may be a bit more “laying in wait.” Kind of saying, “I can’t do this because…” or “I can’t do that because….” There are too many reasons why they can’t do something—and mostly they’re self-imposed. You’re not really supposed to consider what’s out there in terms of what you can and cannot do. You just do it and let the chips fall. If they do, you may get hurt. There’s a possibility you might get wounded—that’s what entrepreneurialism is, to tell you the truth. And guys who can—I mean, Texas, for goodness sake! Is this the wildcat state or what? Are we risk takers, or what? Are we willing to go out on a limb? There have been more rises and falls and busts in this state than probably anywhere in the world, and some guys do itand come back and do it two, or three or four more times. That’s not happening [in the visual arts] now—but it did.

James Surls was interviewed on August 29, 1997. You can listen to the interview here .