Wissenschaft und kenntnis...

I had been to an art opening in which I had a piece or two of my work and in an adjoining gallery were a whole collection of works done in ceramics by another artist. As I walked among her works, I found them to be unusual, but of no particular meaning to me. I could barely relate. Then I attended a brief lecture by the artist in which she attempted to explain her work. Following her lecture, she asked the audience for a show of hands. Did the explanation help viewers to understand her work at a greater depth? We all, without exception raised our hands.

And there you have outlined the proper relationship between wissenschaft and kenntnis. Wissenschaft is the explanation as conveyed by others through books or lecture. Kenntnis is the experience of the object or subject.

I am limited to typing on one hand with the most important letters on the qwerty keyboard inaccessible to my left hand. I am grateful that this is a temporary infirmity. So, this will be brief.

Imagine the artist's explanation of the show and its parts without the viewer having the opportunity to actually observe the real works. There you have American education in a nutshell. Finding the proper balance between wissenschaft and kenntnis is the secret to effective education. Too much in the books and not enough in the hands is a formula for educational disaster of epic proportions.

Elliot Washor sent me this link to a video on the trades that features Mike Rose: Making an Art of Work. The trailer is shown above.

Make, fix und create...