New woodshop design

Last night I attended the reception/exhibit for Plein Air Painters with the ESPA Fest sponsored by the Eureka Springs School of the Arts and the Plein Air Painters of Eureka Springs. Most of the painters had done a painting a day during their visit to Eureka Springs. I was amazed at their accomplishments and the beauty of their work. The festival and exhibit were an overwhelming success.

Last night I also attended a science and music program (Still on the Hill) about the hog farm near the Buffalo River that has been proven to pollute the nation's first national river.

I am reminded of the close relationship between the arts, and historic preservation and natural conservation. The arts form a bulwark against senseless waste and destruction.

The issues are complex. For example, beauty within a community is often nourished by those who care for much more than money, and is wasted and destroyed by greed. On the Buffalo River, the huge hog farm which raises hogs under inhumane conditions, feeds liquefied hog waste directly into groundwater through confinement lagoons, built over karst terraine. The regulatory agency that gave the permit for the hog farm claims there is no evidence of karst, even though the entire area consists of eroded limestone rock that is plainly visible in every direction. Greed closes eyes to the obvious, and the arts are useful to pry them open.

There is always an uneasy relationship between arts and economy. We are often presented with the choice of either making money or doing meaningful things. For instance, most of the Plein Air painters were not in Eureka Springs to make money, but to see and paint beauty. And yet for many or most to pursue their passion, some monetary return must come.

On the subject of hogs, we were visited again last night by feral swine that once again roto-tilled through some of our garden beds. If you choose bacon as part of your diet, please choose your pork carefully to make certain it does not come from the hog farm that pollutes the Buffalo National River in Arkansas. Eat free-ranging hogs if you must and remember that hen it comes to greed, the stupidity of governmental agencies knows no limits.

We are in the process of designing the new wood studio for ESSA shown in the image above by architect David McKee. Perhaps if people learn to love wood and woodworking, they will begin to understand and cherish the forests from which wood comes and understand their role in protecting it.

Make, fix, create and extend toward others the likelihood of learning likewise.