Monday, May 20, 2013

asking...

What impacts do aesthetic qualities have on the quality of our lives and creative experiences? Architect Will Price, founder of the Rose Valley art colony in suburban Philadelphia said,
"Not so many things, but better, must be the cry of the consumer, and things good enough to be a joy in the making must be the demand of the worker, and until these demands become peremptory we shall hope in vain for a civilization that shall be worth while."
Today in the Clear Spring School wood shop, we'll be finishing last projects for the school year and cleaning. In fact, we will be cleaning all week so the classroom will be ready for wood working classes with the Eureka Springs School of the Arts.

I have been reading a book by Eileen Boris published in 1986 on the relationship between the arts and crafts movement, Ruskin and Morris on labor, organized labor, socialism, and the development of an American aesthetic. Sadly, In an American culture dominated by a complete capitulation to capitalism, such things are no longer discussed. The book is Art and Labor, Ruskin, Morris and the Craftsman Ideal in America. It reminds me that most of what I think has been thought of and discussed before. And yet, still, there is an inescapable human compulsion to –

Make, fix and create...

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous4:43 AM

    Not a comment to above.
    Yesterday, I was listening to the radio in my country (Belgium, Europe). It was a debate about the merit/necessity of learning handwriting. There is no project to suppress handwriting from the curriculum in Belgium (as far as I know). In fact the debate was triggered by the incredible news that 45 States of USA have decided to make handwriting learning optional.
    Isn't this a good subject for your web site?

    Sylvain

    ReplyDelete