Dale Phurrough’s Art

I, Dale Phurrough, am personally driven to bring creativity…the possibility of creativity…to the world. Everything else falls from there. My intention within art is to strengthen the relationships between one another through that art; to build social capital.

I create art that causes people to become more related!

I’ve experienced firsthand a decline in our society; a decline in the sum of human connection that holds a society together. That intangible yet so important thing is called social capital. This is a term that Robert Putnam used in his book Bowling Alone.

In that book, Putnam demonstrated with detailed analysis that social capital has been in a decline in America for some time. People don’t attend club meetings anymore. Families don’t have dinner together much anymore. And fewer people “invite their friends over.” These are not just academic things. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. It was easy to see that many people didn’t have strong social support networks which could sustain them through the crisis. Contrast this against the people that crossed the American frontier hundreds of years ago and how they supported each other through winters and crises. It didn’t matter if they were family of each other’s or not. We are a very different country now. This is not isolated to an individual’s situation or behavior. This is a societal trend.

My intention is to reverse this trend. I create art which engages participants collaboratively such that their experience is a shared one; building social capital. I engage them in a physical way; more than just sight is involved. I start off with an intention to engage all five senses and only prune as the project matures and gains focus. I do not create art that is experienced through proxy. My art is not fully realized or expressed until the participation occurs. I do not create art of a silent gallery where you are afraid to touch. I do not isolate.

I create art FOR the people; INCLUDING the people.
My art creates an environment for interaction.
It facilitates building community; building a village.
Who I am is the possibility of creativity in the world and being more related to each other.

With all my heart,
—Dale Phurrough