By Bev Jackson Cotter

Bev Jackson Cotter is a member of The Albert Lea Art Center, 226 W. Clark St. in Albert Lea.

Why do we do art?

Is it an entertaining way to spend a few hours? Does it satisfy an inner desire to make something fun, beautiful, interesting or healing? Does it challenge your ability to make something from nothing? Do we learn from it? Check one of the above or check all of the above.

Art is soul satisfying. You never know what you will discover when you look at the color an artist puts on a canvas, the composition of a beautiful photograph or a sculptor’s creation.

The new exhibition at The Albert Lea Art Center is a great example of that individual discovery.

Visitors will be surprised at the positive energy created by the seemingly simple art on display.

How many ways can you paint a heart? What is the meaning behind that simple daisy design?

How many colors can you arrange, brush, scrape or plop over each other? Why do you smile when you enter the room and wander from piece to piece?

Randi Siu graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1972. She is an enthusiastic visual artist, image consultant and inspirational speaker with studios near Boston and Flat Head Valley, Montana. Her exhibition is called “Hearts and Flowers,” and she uses hidden words and symbols in her art to connect with the viewer. Each piece has its own story, its own rhythm.

It is an interesting, colorful and delightful display of positive energy, extraordinary in its appeal.

Can art also be ordinary? There is a fascinating story in the January/February issue of Archaeology magazine. Along with the interesting articles about Japanese fish hooks made from shell 23,000 years ago and a 5,000-year-old snow shoe made of birch and twine found on a glacier in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, there was an article named “Seeing beauty in the mundane.”

It is the story of James Castle who was born in 1899 in the mountains north of Boise, Idaho. He was profoundly deaf and despite five years in a special school, his communication skills never developed fully or comfortably. Thus, during the Depression when his family moved into a small home in Boise, he decided to use a 12’x 2’ shed/chicken coop in the back yard as his home and art studio.

For 40 years he lived and worked in that building, making art of found objects, cardboard, string, his siblings school papers, wire, discarded envelopes, scrap wood and even vanilla ice cream containers. He filled books with sketches, letters and symbols — obviously fascinated with the visual examples of language. For ink he used his own spit combined with soot, and he squeezed wet colored paper for colors. He had an incredible grasp of perspective and his drawings of buildings, room interiors and farm scenes all were the recipients of his artistic energy.

His story is remarkable, not only in his creativity, but in the unique recognition he is receiving in the art community. His works are in the collections of major museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago and New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art. His art has been the subject of dozens of exhibitions around the world, including the Venice biennale in 2013.

So, what does his art have to do with archeology? In 2015, the city of Boise purchased the original homestead — including his shed/studio — and then drafted a plan to restore the buildings as an art center.

As a part of the planning, they contacted the University of Idaho archaeologist, Mark Warner, asking him to lead an excavation on the site. In doing so, they discovered fabric used for applying his homemade inks, hand-carved drawing tools and even a circular lens he may have used for seeing the world in a more abstract way.

Why did James Castle do art? Why is his unusual life being honored? Why do we do art, view art, preserve art? Is it for fun, beauty, learning, interest or healing? Or to use our creative energy? Check one of the above or all.