Painters John Sasnett and Daniel Chow, and jewelry artist Jen-rung Lai are showing some of their works at a local tea cafe, Cups & Chairs, in the Queen Village district of Philadelphia. The owner of the cafe has invited a musician, Adam Rivera, to perform. Fingers crossed for opening night on 4 November 2011.

While hanging the paintings for the show, a lady whispered to her partner, “they’re so academic.” I guess she pretended to be whispering, and indeed I heard her quite clearly. I always have a come-back in response to most comments, but, alas, not without some lag time which by the time the lady would be gone beyond earshot.

No offense was taken, because her observation was correct. Nevertheless, in response to her observation I say, “no my fair lady, not just academic, they’re academic and beautiful.” Hence I’m titling this show in Italian, “Accademico e Bella!”

I think when some laypersons use the term, academic, they most probably mean amateurs, beginners, or “within-the-box”. It’s sometimes used in the context of putting down something or someone.

In the fine arts, when art works are described as academic, it means that the artist is demonstrating in his (or her) works the accumulated knowledge and technical skills he has acquired through schooling, or through his own experiences. As with writing, you also must be able to demonstrate the mastery of your language—the knowledge of your language and the techniques for proper usage. This also applies to music, cooking, or baking.

When I worked for Alan Kelly, CEO of Applied Communications, a technology public relations firm in San Francisco, he said to me that if you don’t have a passion for what you do, it will show through your work. My friend’s mother said something similar: make all the cookies you want, but if you don’t put the love in them, they won’t taste as good as when made with love.

Have you followed a recipe to the letter, and you and everyone else seem to feel that something was still missing in the final product? that something that was still missing was Love or Passion.

It’s too bad that some people use the term academic as a put-down, but there is nothing lowly about academic works. If your work was done with dedication and passion for the vocation of your choice, they will show through in your work no matter how academic—your work will intrinsically be beautiful.

If you don’t have the love or passion for it, an academic work, or any other work, is just that, just another academic work.

Please join us on opening night of Accademico e Bella! for music and art by John Sasnett, Daniel Chow, Jen-rung Lai, and Adam Rivera at Cups & Chairs Tea Cafe on 4 Novermber 2011, 8pm through 10pm!

(Daniel majored in Anthropology at San Francisco State University, and then took a detour to try a career in internet technology. He worked as an internet technology administrator for a public relations firm in San Francisco for three years, and later discovered his passion for painting and photography in Asheville, North Carolina. You can view some of his work at www.danielwkchow.com, or follow his blog at studio13.tumblr.com.)