Anyone who has completed the basic fine arts requirement can begin to explain — engage perhaps — Oscar Wilde’s proposition that, “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.”
Regardless of personal interpretation of Aristotelian mimesis, fact is that this weekend provides an ideal opportunity for community interaction through art.
Double Decker, among other events, offers Oxford natives and lovers alike the chance to interact with one another through the arts.
Environmentally, the state of Mississippi offers a unique, varied canvas. As residents, we must take care to appreciate our cultural heritage through supporting our artists.
As a Jacksonian, I have a number of great memories of visiting the symphony and area museums with both of my parents — I appreciated these concerts and venues, yes, but uniquely esteem the annual evening spent on the Reservoir at Pepsi Pops.
For anyone who is not familiar, the event is relatively simple.
We pray for clear skies, bathe in DEET and join some hundreds of other families both in the water and on grass to hear the first of the Mississippi Symphony’s summer concert season.
The music is good, yes, but the profound experience is in the number and variety of viewers present.
With relative certainty, I know that I do not have everything in common with all that I have shared these viewings with. However, the occasion provided an opportunity of convergence that should be appreciated.
Community as a concept works only when those who belong to a place realize what they have in common. Shared cultural experiences offer a chance to access social capitol through perspective.
It matters far less that we develop preferences as consumers of art toward what we individually enjoy than it is important that we as a community can confirm art’s inherent value.
This weekend, then, is to be enjoyed because it is shared.
Engaging visitors, residents, family and friends through an event that supports the people and crafts that make both Oxford and our state unique bolsters the local economy and encourages all of us to become more appreciative of the cultural contributions of art.
The more we enjoy communally, the more we can promote the future success of both our city and residents. Relationships made in arable space such as this allow for later cultivation, even when all we may have in common is that we both enjoy something beautiful.
I write not to encourage explication. Art, Double Decker and most of life does not need to be over-thought — merely appreciated, ideally in common.
Grant Beebe is a sophomore business administration major from Jackson.
