By Alliance President Terry Gips and Alliance Communications Coordinator Amy Durr
A chance visit to The Collective, a local handcrafted goods store in Cincinnati owned by Aly Stacy, led to a magical journey through the profound, prolific and whimsical Art of Seth.
As you’ll discover, this extraordinary human is transforming our understanding of ourselves and the possibilities of who we can be from his rural Appalachian mountaintop community in West Virginia. Wild and Hungry is just one of our many favorites and speaks to the depths of despair so many of us feel and shows us the path to hope.
Walking the Line: An Introduction to Seth
“I like to deal with concepts that are far-reaching and relatable at the same time. A lot of the really important issues in our lives are things that we deal with all our lives regardless of our place in society, our upbringing or our age,” says Seth.
“Kids at 7 years old and folks at 50 have a lot in common when you get down to what they’re really seeking from this life or pondering from day to day. For this reason, I really like to walk the line between a children’s story and good book of poetry. Most of the really meaningful revelations that I’ve come to in my life are, at once, deeply profound, oddly silly, and simple.”
“I put a lot of value in the belief that no matter how many years we add to our time here, we’re still imbued with childlike-wonder should we take the time to recognize it. I attempt to emulate this quality in my work and remind myself and others of that aspect of ourselves,” Seth tells Canvas Rebel.
Seth’s Interesting Journey to Visual Art
“Seth is self taught, didn’t go to art school, and couldn’t draw a shoe very well when he was young. In fact, he spent the majority of his youth believing that he was not an artist at all. While he still cannot draw a show very well, he is happy to have come to the conclusion that the ability to do so has no consequence on whether or not one should be making art,” according to the Andersonville Galleria, where you can find Seth’s work for sale.
“The majority of Seth’s work tends to huddle around small magic and the things humanity finds camaraderie in,” they continue, and we couldn’t agree more!
Find Seth on Instagram @theartofseth and Facebook
Wild and Hungry
By The Art of Seth
go out there
go out to where the grass turns into a tarnished gold
and the last tree stands languishing and weary
with the weight of itself
go to where the meadow ends
and the living things are nearly gone
and where there seems nowhere else left to go
and then
keep going
just a little beyond the last
trace of a trail
keep going
just a little further than
it makes sense to
keep going
just a little past
that place you had decided was the farthest
you could
go.
and then
watch
as your unfathomably inextinguishable hope
rises , hungry and wild,
once more.