"What does heritage have to do with my art?" is a rhetorical question asked by North American Indian artist Kay Walking Stick, "it is who I am. Art is a portrait of the artist, at least of the artist's thought processes, sense of self, sense of place in the world. If you see art as that, then my identity as an Indian artist is crucial".

My community encompasses those who share a sense of artistic purpose. Those whose art is more than art for art's sake, who use art as a leanguage (which it is), as a language should be used. That is, as a medium to say things, a medium for message and memory. Art with content and relevance for (or at least is about) the communities to which the artist belongs. This should not confine the work to its own community however, unlike a spoken language, visual art need have no borders, such work is accessible to a wider audience. As David Alston, former Keeper of Art at the National Museum and Galleries of Wales says in his essay for the book Certain Welsh Artists:
It appears to me that in matters of style and content in present day Wales an artist can now work both indigenously and internationally.

Rhaid i ni fod o hyd yn ymwybodol o faint y dylanwad sydd arnom gan symbolegau eraill. I me, roedd gwaith yr artistiaid hyn yn fwy buddiol fel rhywbeth i ddilysu achos - yr 'estheteg gwarcheidiol' hwn a ganiatâl i mi ail-ddarganfod eiconograffi gan ddefnyddio rhannau a thameidiau o draddodiadau, trosiadau, ystrydebau, chewdlau a storiau o'm diwylliant i fy hun.

Fel y rhan fwyaf o waith artistiaid, mae fy mhaentiadu, cydosodiadau a'm mur ddarnau innau - yr amlygiadau hyn o syniadau - yn ddatnagiadau personol. Ac yn bwysicath na hynny, mae a wnelont â chymuned y teimlaf fy mod yn perthyn iddi. Ffurfir y gymuned hon gan yr hyn a eilw Raymond Williams yn "lefelau o deimladau", gan ragdybiaethau cyffredin a chronfa gyffredin o gof a diwylliant. Rwyf felly'n teimlo'r cyswyllt rhyngof â'r artistiaid hynny sy'n creu gwaith mewn amgylchiadu tebyg, a chyda lefelau tebyg o deimladau, mewn rhannau eraill o'r byd.

Offrymau + Ailddyfeisiadau - t63
Offering + Inventions - p63