Friday, January 09, 2009

To be an artist and the teacher of artists

The following is from William L. Price, 1903 architect, craftsman and the founder of the Rose Valley Shops
The things of truth always lie with the minority. Emerson said: "One with God is a majority." In your hands, in the hands of the teachers who are working along your line, whether they be manual training teachers or kindergarten teachers, lies a power out of all proportion to your numbers. The work that you do in the schools is the work that draws and that interests and rivets the attention of the students in the schools. Is not that true? You have no trouble to get your children interested in their manual work; therefore your influence with them is tremendous. Now, as an artsman, as one who desires to extend this into life, I have to ask you to go on, not only in your work but in impressing on these people, these young people who when they come into your hands are so plastic, that school is not enough: that it is very well to go out into the world and make beautiful things; that it is very well to go out into the world and make useful things; but that to be worth while in the world they must be makers, they must be creators.

1 comment: