 The
Gazette
(gazette.net)
Art has its place
by JoAnn Grbach
Staff Writer
Mar. 22, 2000
Oakes says it's Germantown
A 17-year-old Germantown group dedicated to the arts is drawing people
from communities such as Bethesda and Takoma Park. And Lynne Oakes has
had a great deal to do with that success.
The Art League of Germantown is one of Germantown's oldest community
groups and one of its largest with 43 members. Oakes, 61, who admits she
founded the group only because she was lonely and wanted to meet people
who had similar interests, said it is now filling a need in Germantown.
"This is a group where any level of artist can join and have a
chance to show their work," Oakes said. "The encouragement is
there to get better."
The group's goals are fairly simple, for both personal enhancement and
community enhancement.
Oakes, who only took over as president of the group this past year,
said she could have easily joined the Gaithersburg art group 17 years
ago. Germantown was new and not many people lived in the area. But she
also said because Gaithersburg was a different community than Germantown,
she wanted her community to build its own arts group.
Oakes said she was able to get two of her art students to join, and
then placed an advertisement in the newspaper and had 13 people attend
the first meeting. The group still continues to welcome new people.
"It must be meeting a need," she said.
The art league holds monthly meetings where various artists discuss
their genre and then demonstrate how to do it. The league also hosts two
shows annually and has a scholarship fund.
The shows are not juried, where a qualified artist is hired to judge
the work. Oakes likes the idea that novice artists are in the same show
as professionals.
Oakes is also a volunteer with the BlackRock Center for the Arts, a
cultural arts center that will be built in Germantown Town Center. Oakes
hopes the league and the center will have a close connection once it opens.
"I think that how the art league and BlackRock will interact remains
to be seen because of things still in progress in terms of BlackRock,"
she said.
But the art league will help with choosing programs for the new art
center when it opens in 2001, Oakes said. And, the league may also get
some space there.
Oakes is also involved with the Art Council of Montgomery County. "I
think that there is a coming of age of the arts in this county,"
she said.
But Oakes is also giving to the community in other ways and sees a place
for arts in various areas of community life.
Oakes is a member of the board of directors for the Germantown Alliance,
a civic group.
"One of the elements of the Alliance that is in development has
to do with the cultural life of the community," she said. "I
have a lot of interest for the cultural well-being of a community."
Oakes, who has recently begin teaching art at seniors' programs in Germantown
and Mount Airy, is also focused on what is available to senior citizens
in the community. And she also sees an importance to the history of a
community since "history is culture," she said.
Oakes believes the art league will continue to grow and get involved
in the community. She hopes the group can continue with the goals it has
worked toward the last 17 years.
And, to Oakes, the art league is an important group because art has
an important role.
"The creative part is to me what it's all about," she said.
"You cannot do art and be automatic."
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