a city that artists built

Back in the 1980’s in Eureka Springs, local artists Louis Freund and Don Kennett regularly attended Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce meetings, attempting to give voice to the artists of our community in the shaping of our local economy. Their point was that the arts might become recognized as the driving force for a more prosperous future. Their vision fell upon rather stony ground, while in the meantime, Eureka Springs artists, selling their wares at craft shows throughout the US and in galleries downtown were busily promoting an understanding in the world at large that we are first and foremost, an arts community. 

We do, after-all, have far more professional artists and serious non-professional artists per capita than almost any other small town in America. And even from the earliest days of Eureka Springs, that has been the case. Artists were originally drawn here by the beauty of this place, and were compelled to linger by the support and encouragement we’ve been able to provide each other. During harder times, it was noted that friends will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no friends. 

Alice Walton has told how her visits to Eureka Springs galleries with her mother were an inspiration guiding her vision of what Northwest Arkansas would become. And so, while they’re busily building a community of the arts next door, is it not time that we all fully acknowledge who and what we are? 

We are a “city that water built” but we are equally and at the very same time, a city built by the arts and by artists. As we watch what Alice Walton and members of her family are doing, and as it was influenced by what Eureka Springs galleries and artists had done, let’s now take a lesson from her and them (but also from ourselves at the same time). 

 This being May 1, and the launch of yet another May Fine Arts Festival in Eureka Springs, let’s all contemplate the many ways that we can infuse the arts in our lives year round. I urge the Chamber and the CAPC as well as each and every business in the city to invest more time and dollars in the promotion of the arts and in the artists who call this place home.

Make, fix and create...

Fine Woodworking

My publisher placed an ad for my new book in Fine Woodworking as you see here. 

In my wood shop I've been inlaying box lids, a thing I expect I'll be doing even in my 80s. 

Make, fix and create...

We're not the only ones

The Eliot School in Jamaica Plain, MA has been working with the J.F. Kennedy Elementary School in their town to provide woodworking lessons to all the kindergarten kids. It's a joyous experience that all schools should offer. The screen shot shows a kindergarten class in action. You can read about it here: https://mailchi.mp/eliotschool/read-the-november-eliot-school-newsletter-today-671181

Make, fix and create...

wooden boats

Yesterday in the woodshop at the Clear Spring School, my Kindergarten students, our "Rainbow Group," made toy boats. They loved the project, as did I. The level of enthusiasm they bring to the woodshop is an amazing thing.

Make, fix and create...

Bunny

During WWII, a friend of my father, Lovell Lawrence, Jr. was called in as a consultant to solve a problem with de-icing on the B-25 bomber. Mechanical engineers wanted to solve the problem mechanically, Electrical engineers wanted to solve the problem electrically, and hydraulic engineers wanted to solve the problem hydraulically. And so the problem engineers faced was one easy for Lovell Lawrence to solve. It required asking engineers of various kinds to step out of their disciplines to work together.

Lovell Lawrence, known to my Dad and friends as "Bunny"settled things by telling the various engineers which portion of the project was theirs to do. Portions of it needed to be solved electrically, portions mechanically and portions hydraulically. Bunny who had dropped out of college, his own thinking being far advanced of his professors in various disciplines, later became president of Reaction Motors, Inc., won the Goddard award for rocket engineering, and was head of the Lunar Landing project for Chrysler.

Bunny's story is one of knowing how to think outside the box. I met Bunny and his wife when I was a very small child and they were visiting my parents in Memphis, TN. Today I was reminded of Bunny's story by a letter to the editor written to our local paper by our local librarian, April Griffith. Her letter concerns an essay written by the head of our local Electric Coop that supplies electricity throughout many parts of rural Arkansas. Rob Boaz was insisting that subsidies be restored to fossil fuels like coal and gas and that subsidies be removed from various forms of renewable energy. In other words, you can be an engineer in a narrow subset of ideas and be the CEO of a billion dollar organization and still be dumb as a post when it comes to a more holistic view of reality. The saddest thing is that there are numerous folks in Arkansas that could be influenced to agree with him, while Mr. Boaz needs to get out more.

Bunny, when he was visiting my folks in Memphis, offered my dad a job in the fledgling Reaction Motors, Inc. and I'll note that my own life would have been far different if he had taken it.

Today in the woodshop my students made their own rulers using the widths of their own thumbs to lay out the "inch" marks. With an interest in helping them understand measuring at a deeper level, we then laid out half inch and quarter inch marks, each being found half-way between the previous marks. The point of course, was to go from the concrete into the  abstract and what could be more concrete than the use of our own thumbs.

Make, fix and create...

Pop Wood

Popular Woodworking has published an excerpt from my new book in their June issue. Subscribers should watch for it arriving in their mail very soon if it's not gotten to you already. 

In the wood shop today at the Clear Spring School we began a new unit by exploring the relationship between the thumbs and the development of a system of measure. Tomorrow we'll go deeper in exploring the inch. How many know that the inch is actually derived from the width of a man's thumb? Or that  our own hands might be useful as a method of measure? 

In class my student used their own thumbs to plan and measure the length of simple pivot lid wooden boxes. I want my students to become masters of measuring before the block is completed, and making small wooden boxes will be a good way to propel us toward that goal.

Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.

book review

Becca Martin-Brown reviewed my new book in the Northwest Arkansas edition of today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The paper to watch for is April 24, 2022. You can read the text of the article here:  

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2022/apr/24/woodworker-muses-on-how-to-craft-a-happy-meaningful-life-in-new-book/

Today I've been sanding and assembling small maple drawers, and planning for a new block to begin at school in the morning.

Make, fix and create...

small drawers

In my home woodshop I've been attempting to finish old projects that have languished for some reason or another. These trial assembled drawers are for two small jewelry chests that I'd begun years ago. 

They are made from maple and are made with simple  mortise and tenon joints. I'll show photos of the finished jewelry chests at a much later date.

Another project is to finish a silk wood box made using round Vertex hinges. The walnut pull resting on top is left over from a much earlier project and will be fitted to the front of the lid

Make, fix and create...

play with blocks

The kids at Clear Spring School set up the big Froebel blocks as a playfield and obstacle course as you can see. Every school should provide kids the opportunity to design their own playground experiences, including the structures themselves.

Make, fix and create...

Wooden Boat

Yesterday i addition to helping my students making boxes and turn on the lathe, I received my copy of Wooden Boat Magazine containing Joe Youcha's review of "The Wisdom of Our Hands." It is a good review. Joe wrote of the book—

"I read it in two big gulps, and as I did, I identified with the book’s message so much that I began making a list of everyone I thought should read it. By the time I finished, that list included anyone studying at a craft school, all the people I work with, and all the people I’ve ever taught. I especially wish I could buy copies for all the people who taught me, and who are no longer here. I actually want to buy it for everyone I know."

Joe Youcha, a graduate of Columbia University, but no stranger to handwork, is the founder of Building to Teach, a former director of the Alexandrea Seaport, and well known and respected in the Wooden Boat community. He is also the designer of the wooden boats we made at the Clear Spring School. Wherever there's enough water to float a boat, kids and adult mentors should be making them. Joe is the guide for that and more.

The photos show our students building a Bevin's skiff of Joe's design.

Make, fix and create...

 

When things work out.

Today in woodshop I did an experiment in preparing an elm log for turning on the lathe. What I wanted to do was to simply take a slice off each side so that the short firewood-length log could be mounted on the lath chuck. Woodturning is nearly always experimental and of course that's part of its appeal. We wonder, "can I do that?" and "how?"And then are pleasantly surprised when things work out.

Normally in cutting a log on the bandsaw, that it is round causes difficulties as it passes through the cut. If it twists even the slightest amount, the blade can bind and the flat surface desired will not result. What's needed is a way to hold it steady without twisting as it passes through the cut. 

There are of course, more complicated processes and jigs for this. With an interest in keeping things as simple as possible, I decided to screw a piece of plywood to the side of the log, positioning the screws where they do not interfere either with the cut, or in what's planned as the finished bowl.

It worked, and the technique will be published as a tip to American Woodturner Magazine. More photos will be taken from various angles tomorrow. The masking tape provides a guide for making the freehand cut.

In the meantime, as I observe sales on Amazon, the new book is near the top in three categories among the millions of books they sell. More important to me, however, is the glowing review of the book I received in email this morning from Hans Thorbjörnsson in Sweden. He was my early mentor as I gained an understanding of Educational Sloyd and to hear his praise means a great deal.

Make, fix and create...

Easy to read

I got a nice email this morning from a reader related to my new book, Wisdom of Our Hands. He said the book was "easy to read and enjoyable," those being two of the goals I'd set for myself. There are many books of note on the subject of the hands and crafts that rely on second and third hand information, leaving them somewhat abstract. My own goal was to make it personal, meaning that I would tell my own story as well as invite my readers to explore their own experiences to bring the message home. 

I hope this simple strategy—moving from the concrete to the abstract helps my book to enter a popular market. Good sales are good, the message is important.

Make, fix and create...

Dual awareness

I have this belief that we are connected with each other in unseen ways, and if we are attempting to find clarity, those ways are gradually revealed. Sometimes suddenly that is the case. It's called enlightment.

 

There’s a phenomenon described in Nuclear Physics called “quantum entanglement” according to which, if two particles are introduced to each other and then thrust apart to the furthest reaches of the universe, what’s done to one is known to the other. Perhaps our own beings are too complex and too distracted to register and make conscious to ourselves the myriad connections between us. We spend endless hours spinning outwards toward greater complexity without seeking that which lies within.

Friedrich Froebel, the inventor of Kindergarten, saw the purpose of education as being the discovery of our interconnectedness within the frameworks of family, community, and nature. But that’s not 

what most of us were taught in school. We were taught and encouraged to attempt to stand apart and ahead as separated from each other and to seek recognition in inconsequential things. The centrifugal force. 

And yet, there’s growth that comes from recognizing and accepting that which lies within. This can require that we circle back towards simplicity, attempting to occupy an abandoned space within. The conscious engagement of the hands can be a part of the process. What we see and like, we must then touch and ascertain.

Yesterday I got my second covid-19 booster shot, not because I'm frightened of the disease, but because it's important that we protect others. Recognizing that we are indeed interconnected, we do such things.

Artists are taught to look at both positive and negative space. The positive space is contained within the outlines of the object. Negative space is that space that lies between. Negative space is not empty space like that to be found at the furthest corners of the universe. It is filled with strings and streams of entanglement—the interconnectedness that can be found by turning within.

As the world launched itself into the beginnings of WWI Carl Jung began his exploration of cosmic consciousness called the Red Book. As we sit once again on a precipice of World War, and as Putin threatens the use of nuclear weapons, as he's threatened in the past, we all have the need of finding places of peace within. Jung used his angst at the onset of WWI to attempt to engineer his own understanding of human consciousness.

Years ago a group of us from Eureka Springs would go each Sunday afternoon to a mediation group led by a retired engineer named Guy Loyd. Guy's theory of things was based on a concept he called "dual awareness." The idea of dual awareness was to bring ourselves in balance by holding a focus on oneness and interconnectedness as we went through our daily complications. It was like an artist holding an awareness of positive and negative space at the same time.

In the meantime, I'm given joy by observing joy as Goldendoodle Rosie chews a stick while also holding a favorite toy tightly in her paws.

Make, fix and create...

A sad day...

Yesterday my wife and I learned we'd lost an old friend in a tragic accident the night before. Lin Welford was the co-founder with my wife of the Books-in-Bloom Literary Festival here in Eureka Springs, an avid environmentalist, and library supporter. She was also the author of a whole series of books about painting on rocks, and a whole lot more than that.

She played a very important transformational role in my life. In about 1994 or so, and as a best selling author for F&W Publications, she invited David Lewis to come to Eureka Springs to meet various artisans who might be interested in writing a book for them. David's trip to Eureka Springs led to my being invited to write my first book, Creating Beautiful Boxes with Inlay Techniques. Now, after 14 books, I still have Lin to thank.

Lin's death reminds us that life is precious and can hang in the balance. Her life reminds us that we are connected with each other through serial effect—as things are set in motion in each other's lives. We are deeply and lastingly connected through the effects we have on each other, and had Jean and I not had Lin in our lives, our own lives would not be the same. 

We tend to think of ourselves as distinct individuals. We are not. We are profoundly and intricately connected to each other, and will remain so.

Make, fix and create...

a review

A reader identified as "Avid Woodworker" left a review of my new book, "The Wisdom of Our Hands" on Amazon as follows: 

"I have been a hobbyist woodworker for over 60 years. Although this book is NOT a "how to do it" book it is proving to be the most effective book for improving my woodworking skills that I have ever read. Reading Doug's book is improving my use of the two most useful tools in my shop, my mind and my attitude."

https://smile.amazon.com/Wisdom-Our-Hands-Crafting-Life/dp/1610355016/ 

Today in the woodshop at the Clear Spring School, I helped high school student Henry build a box for his chess set. It's nearing completion, and I'll have photos to show at a later date.

Make, fix and create... 

boxes of blocks

Today my Kindergarten students (the Rainbow Group) will be finishing the Froebel blocks they're making and building boxes to keep them in. The finished sets will look like those made by my high school students yesterday, but will likely not appear so well made.

Make, fix and create... Build your life upon these notions.

24 boxes

My students at ESSA finished 24 boxes  (3 apiece) in our three day class. In the photo I'm the old guy on the left. 

It was a very good class with all the students helping each other,  and for me, it is a rewarding and invigorating experience.

Folks, noticing that I teach both adults and  kids, ask "what's the difference between the two?" Learning at its best is always a matter of play. 

That's why Kindergarten is important, even today. It utilized the natural interest and engagement of the kids, doing real things and could serve as a model for the reinvigoration of all schooling.  

At ESSA. The tools are real, the materials are real. All the senses are engaged, and compare that to public school classrooms where kids are watching the clock, hoping to hear the bell and get the hell out.

Make, fix and create...

box making day 2

Yesterday my students in the wood shop at ESSA began making two boxes. A third box will be started today. The photo shows cutting finger joints using a dedicated ringer joint router set up. I have 8 students and the class is going well!

Make, fix and create...

box making...

Today I have 8 students for a three day box making class at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts. I'll attempt to take a few photos during my very busy days.

Yesterday I arrived on the Clear Spring School campus to find our giant Froebel blocks, sets 3 and 4 arranged as a stage complete with seating and a cut up tractor tire for good measure.

Every small school in the country should have such cool blocks on their playgrounds. Even without administrators understanding Froebel or the true value of Kindergarten students would know how to learn from the blocks. The blocks and benches were made in the Clear Spring School wood shop.

Make, fix and create...

Kindergarten Woodworking

We had a very nice book signing at the Crescent Hotel last weekend and this week I've been back to work in the wood shop at the Clear Spring School. Today, my Kindergarten class began making sets of wooden Froebel blocks. When the blocks are finished and sanded, we'll make boxes to hold them so they can be kept and shared with the younger children in their families.

Last night I did a zoom presentation for the Northwest Corner Woodworker's Association and I was telling them of the joy that's to be found in teaching woodworking, particularly to the younger kids who show such enthusiasm for the work.

At this point I've done about all that I can do to promote my new book without being obnoxious. I hope others will take up the cause and assist and that the book takes on a life of its own. 

This week it will be reviewed in the Sunday edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and very soon, reviews will be published in Popular Woodworking, Wooden Boat Magazine, and Quercus, a magazine in the UK that's distributed in the US. If it takes on the life that the hands deserve, it will likely be because you've helped me to promote it.

Make, fix and create...

A big day...

At 9 AM Central Time the local NPR Affiliate KUAF will broadcast a longer version of my radio interview with Kyle Kellams on "Ozarks-atLarge." Then this afternoon I have my book signing at the Crescent Hotel from 2-4 PM. I'll do a short talk, a short reading and be available for questions as well as signing copies of my new book, "The Wisdom of Our Hands: Crafting, A Life."

You can listen to the KUAF broadcast on any smart-speaker devise. Ask Alexa or Google to "play KUAF radio" at 9 AM if you are in the central time zone.

Make, fix and create...

If you missed

If you missed my interview on Ozarks-at-Large, you can find it here: https://www.kuaf.com/show/ozarks-at-large/2022-03-29/doug-stowes-why-to-along-with-some-how-to

In the meantime, I've been getting some one-of-a-kind boxes finished, as shown below.

Make, fix and create...

Ozarks-at-Large

Our local NPR affiliate station, KUAF will air an interview by Kyle Kellams about my new book at noon and at 7 PM today on Ozarks-at-Large. If outside the area you can listen through any radio streaming service. A longer version will be aired on the Sunday weekend show at 9AM Central Time.

Ask Alexa or Google, "Play KUAF."

Make, fix and create...

American Woodturner Review

The American Woodturner Review of "the Wisdom of Our Hands: Crafting, A Life" arrived in my mail box today. In it David Heim notes 

Readers of this journal already understand the value of one’s hands and the wisdom they possess. The Wisdom of Our Hands explains it for everyone else. Stowe’s book presents important lessons, taught with patience and grace. It merits everyone’s attention.

Make, fix and create... 

Happy Birthday Comenius

If John Amos Comenius were alive today he'd be 430 years old, and he being called the "Father of Modern Education" one would hope we'd have learned a few things, particularly about how learning works.

Jimi Hendrix had a song that asked the question, "Are you experienced?" And while Jimi may have been referring to either sex or drug use, Comenius asked the same in his request that schooling rely on actual experience as the basis of learning.

"The ground of this business is, that sensual (sensuous) objects be rightly presented to the senses for fear that they not be received. I say, and say it again aloud, that this is the foundation of all the rest; because we can neither act nor speak wisely, unless we first rightly understand all the things which are to be done and whereof we have to speak. Now there is nothing in the understanding which was not before in the senses. And therefore to exercise the senses well about the right perceiving of the differences of things will be to lay the grounds for wisdom and all wise discourse, and all discreet actions in one's course of life, which, because it is commonly neglected in schools, and the things that are to be learned are offered to scholars without their being understood or being rightly presented to the senses, it cometh to pass that the work of teaching and learning goeth heavily onward and offereth little benefit."

Make, fix and create... 

FDMC

The book review written by Will Sampson has appeared in FDMC magazine that's delivered to folks in the  woodworking business. In case you missed it, you can read the review online here: 

https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/opinion/book-review-wisdom-our-hands/

Make, fix and create...

Measuring growth (and other things)

When my daughter was small we would mark with a pencil on the inside of a door frame how tall she had grown. It was a ritual in which she found pleasure, comparing how tall she was now, in comparison to how tall she was then. The early marks were painted over years ago when we neglected to tell the painter, not to paint in that spot. But the ritual of marking resumed and now there are marks for the growth of our niece Olivia when she comes to visit as well as Lucy's markings into her adult years.

Measuring growth is a good thing. Standardized testing is not. It doesn't measure the things that matter most—the ability and inclination to be of service to others. And the measurement should not be in some kind of abstract form, decipherable only to those with a certain level of expertise.

Last week  I thought I would present an example of finer workmanship to lead the students to attend more deeply to the quality of their work... On the lathe you can take wood to a very fine finish and polish, so I made a cane handle, and polished it a bit more toward perfection. I was hoping to inspire and persuade my students to take their workmanship to a higher level. But they asked, "How did you make it feel like plastic?" 

It's odd that feeling like plastic would be considered a compliment or that it might be considered a good thing, but it points out how little experience the students have in handling real wood outside the shop and how little experience the students have with the levels to which work can be taken. It also suggests that wood is a material that can be appreciated without reaching a level of finish emulating plastic. There are too many things made from plastic already, and things made from real wood may have characteristics and values beyond those expressed through modern manufacturing techniques.

The photos are of Wednesday's work in the Clear Spring School wood shop. Kindergarten students finished making their wooden treasure boxes and the outdoor studies class made bird sculptures, having so much fun that they want to resume the project next week.

Make, fix and create...

Tuesday was the day

My new book, The Wisdom of Our Hands: Crafting, a Life was released yesterday. If you pre-ordered it watch for it in the mail. The book was 20 years in the planning and writing and a long wait for me as the publisher and I worked to edit it, and promote it and the concepts it presents. What comes next is up to you. Will you buy it? Will you enjoy it? Will you find it useful? Will you share your enthusiasm for it to encourage others to read it also?

Working with a small press I do not have access to the same level of promotion that's offered to the big names. So at this point, if it has a large impact, it will be because you've helped to make it so. The most valuable thing you can do besides buying it and offering reviews is to tell other folks to read it and share with them why you think it might be useful.

This is the first of my books that will not require to to have any tools other than your own hands.

This morning my kindergarten students finished making boxes and my outdoor study science group made bird sculptures in red cedar.

Our local book signing will be held at the Crescent Hotel on April 3.

Make, fix and create...

All hands in

 This is my guest editorial from today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper.

Rex Nelson

Rex Nelson is truly a friend of the creative arts and has done a great review of my new book in yesterday's edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/mar/19/working-with-our-hands/

Make, fix and create...

What happens next.

We're inching toward the release date for The Wisdom of  Our Hands, Tuesday March 22. Yesterday it was mentioned in a podcast from the Arkansas Times and discussed by editor Lindsey Millar with whom I had a Q and A interview last week. 

Many fine things are being said about the book, and I'll share a few links, while also attempting to keep my ego in check. Yesterday Amazon had it listed as #1 in "new project books," and while that may seem cool, it's not a "new project book" and its wider ranking among books being sold is currently higher than 30 Thousand. And that too is likely a blip on the high side due to the ad placed in the Fine Woodworking newsletter.

In the meantime, our hands deserve all the attention they get and I particularly appreciate this comment from a fellow woodworker/educator/writer, Will Sampson.

"What is the value of doing things with our hands in a modern automated world? Woodworker and educator Doug Stowe argues that there is a huge value in tangible work that goes far beyond the product of the work itself. We’re not talking here about just some touchy-feely peon to the magnificence of hand work. We’re talking fundamentally about how human beings learn and create."—Will Sampson, Editor, FDMC and woodworkingnetwork.com

Yesterday my wife, Jean and I got books out of boxes so that I could sign them to be ready for our book signing event at the Crescent Hotel on April 3, 2022. A great delight is to relax with Rosie. What do you say? Is she too big for a lap? Of course not.

Make, fix and create.

Sales begin on Tuesday

If you have preordered my new book on Amazon it will be delivered this Tuesday, March 22. It officially goes on sale on that date and we'll hold a local book signing to benefit the Eureka Springs Library on April 3, not very many day away. 

The Wisdom of Our Hands was advertised in the Fine Woodworking newsletter this morning that goes out to thousands of woodworkers around the world and the ad will also be placed in the next print edition of the magazine. You can also order direct from Linden Publishing.

I have been working on an essay explaining the cultural values of working with our hands that I hope will be published in the New Atlantis.

Make, fix and create...

Fixing it.

There's a good saying, "If you break it, fix it." Unfortunately most folks don't know how to fix things anymore so we assume the things we've bought or in some way forced to be surrendered into our hands can be thrown away when our misadventures are complete.

But what if what you've attempted to take is a whole nation and your insistence on taking over wreaks destruction that will surely last generations. What I have to say to Putin (and the Russian people), is that "What you're breaking each day, you will be required to fix." It's called reparations. And if Putin and the Russian people he's bankrupting think they can skate back to Moscow when it's all over, they should think again.

During WWII, Finland had sided with Nazi Germany in the war as a way to protect themselves from Soviet aggression. It was not a good choice, and when the war was over, Finland was forced to pay reparations to the Soviet Union, with the Finnish people paying a serious price for standing by as the Nazi's invaded Russia. 

The Russians wanted their reparations paid in goods that the Finns were required to build or surrender. The Finns built a number of ice-breaker ships for the Soviets, and surrendered miles of cobblestone streets with the cobblestones being loaded up and shipped to places like Tallin, Estonia and St. Petersburg where they were used to replace cobblestone streets damaged by war.

What will the Russians be forced to pay? Will they put Ukraine back to rights? Certainly, Putin is not solely to blame. People may think they have no choice but to follow evil despots into damnation. But that is not always the case.

In the meantime, Fine Woodworking has a new book-a-zine coming out this spring. Two of my boxes are featured on the cover, and I'm hoping that I was also a contributor to instruction on the inside.

Make, fix and create...

foreword reviews interview

My interview with foreword reviews came out today and can be read online. 

https://www.forewordreviews.com/articles/article/reviewer-sarah-white-interviews-doug-stowe-author-of-the-wisdom-of-our-hands-crafting-a-life/

I thank Sarah White for an excellent review and for her thoughtful questions. In her introduction to the interview, Sarah notes the following:

This week is all about hands so look down and ask yours if they’re happy.

What, you don’t know?

Well, do you let them play at things? Are they skilled at chopping vegetables or knitting quilts or throwing pots on a wheel or landscape watercolors or working gold and silver into innovative jewelry? Hands like to do things, with our brain’s inquisitive help. We’re not in the Jurassic anymore, Martha, note your thumbs.

Today in the wood shop students made cutting boards and worked on the lathe.

Make, fix and create...

Garry Knox Bennett on Education

I have an interview today with Kyle Kellams from Ozarks-at-Large, a radio program with our local NPR affiliate station. It will be aired sometime closer to the release date of my new book, and the interview will be held at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts, giving Kyle a chance to visit the ESSA campus.

Then later in the afternoon I'll participate in a zoom call podcast with WoodworkingNetwork.com. The site, woodworkingNetwork.com is one that will certainly interest other woodworkers as it has useful features and reports including  a remembrance of Garry Knox Bennett in the current edition. 

https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/remembering-garry-knox-bennett

The annual Spring Fling fundraiser for the Clear Spring School is now live on-line for you to view auction items for sale in support of the school. Please attend. 

https://www.clearspringschool.org/events

The video above is of Garry Knox Bennett talking honestly about education.

Make, fix and create...

a lovely day in the woodshop

Yesterday my Rainbow group (kindergarten) finished work with gluing blocks. They loved it and were proud of the various things they made. Later we installed bluebird houses on campus where they can be monitored and maintained. 

Of greatest excitement for the students was finding an old wheel barrow tire and rim buried in the muck in the ditch that separates our hands-on learning center from the field where the birdhouses have gone up. 

The students dug the wheel and tire out of the dirt (a thing that took some effort and strategy), and decided it should also become an instrument for their study of birds. It is now being converted to a bird feeder. This tells the story of how a bit of youthful imagination (and allowance for it) can facilitate learning.

Make, fix and create... assist others in learning likewise.

woodworking network

My new book, "the Wisdom of Our Hands," has received a glowing review on WoodworkingNetwork.com  

https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/opinion/book-review-wisdom-our-hands 

It is an incredibly thoughtful review written by editor, Will Sampson. Woodworkers in general have a deep appreciation of what the hands provide to learning. Perhaps we can lead the way to a renewal of American education.

Thanks, Bob, for alerting me to the publication of the review.

Make, fix and create...

The soul of the craftsman.

They used to say that politics ends at the water's edge, which meant that when faced with crises that are international in scope, folks would suspend criticism of leadership to present a united stance. That is no longer the case, as some Republicans and talking heads on one of our major networks attempt to use the crisis in Ukraine to sew discord among us and undermine our leadership in the international response. What can I say, but shame, shame, we know your names and will deal with you later.

In the meantime, a friend of mine has been selected to make the keynote address to the Hand Society, on the subject, "the Soul of a Craftsman." He asked me to offer a few reflections on the subject.

I don’t know that all buy the idea that there is a soul, but if there is indeed a soul connected with each of us, or that connects each of us with each other at some deep barely detectable level (and I suspect there is), the soul of a craftsman tends to be deep and wide. For some folks, the soul, if it could be found, it might be nothing more than a shriveled up raisin of what it might have become. For the craftsman, the soul is reflected in our deep engagement in the materials of our choice. It’s also deep  and wide in that we’ve chosen such means to connect with others that demands the cultivation of skill and taking personal risk. 

There’s a great quote from Chaucer that I used in my new book around p. 42. It’s about the development of craftsmanship and discusses the challenge of it. "The lyf so short, the craft so long to learn, the' assay so hard, so sharp the conquerying." In that is the soul developed and portrayed. I do not believe soul is something that’s developed in a vacuum, but is something exercised in real life and in the challenges we face. 

What is meant by Chaucer's "assay so hard?" The word assay refers to the analysis of things, like of an ore from which other minerals may be extracted. And so it is with the soul. We can try to extract it, and perhaps to no avail. But we do see it in action. At this moment I'm thinking of the courageous men and women of Ukraine and their president... There is of course, some courage on the other side, on the wrong side, on the evil side, on the inhumane side. May Putin and those Americans who support him please come to their senses.

I got a lovely card in the mail from my friend Bob Ebendorf, an internationally known jeweler/teacher/craftsman. His postcards are his preferred means of communication, and each is hand made from recycled stuff. This one celebrates the coming release of my new book and he found a picture of me in a pensive state to paste on the front. The picture is from an article I did in Fine Woodworking a few years back.

Make, fix and create. Help the people of Ukraine to stand firm and with heart.

The Moscow Finger

In Riga, Latvia, the Soviets built a highly controversial "Victory Monument" to honor their defeat of Nazi Germany. The Latvians call it the "Moscow Finger," as it juts 76 meters in the air and serves them as a reminder of years of Soviet imposed trauma that followed WWII. The Latvian people hate that thing.

There have been efforts over the years to have it demolished, even though about 25% of Latvian citizens are of Russian origin and use the Russian language. Folks generally want to get along with each other. It has been kept standing on a slim margin.

I suspect that now they will actually get around to tearing the thing down. The Latvian people must be reeling as they watch the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As are others in Estonia and Finland.

I read that both Finland and Sweden are now interested in joining NATO, having seen up close what a tyrant Putin has become.

I'm grateful for those Russians who have demonstrated against Putin's war. It takes courage to stand up against a powerful totalitarian state.

In the meantime, here in the US, some members of the Republican Party and television hosts on Fox News are trying to give aid and comfort to Putin by attacking president Joe Biden. It was once believed that politics ended at the water's edge. That seems to no longer be the case. Giving Biden the "Moscow finger" is apparently what  some have in mind. The photo is from our visit to Riga in 2018.

Now Russia is threatening Sweden and Finland with severe military consequences if they join NATO. It makes great sense for them to join now.

Putin

About 3 1/2 years ago my wife and I visited in Helsinki, Estonia and Latvia, and it is with great sadness that we witness the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ugliness of Russian dominion over neighbors is tragic. The pattern among oligarchs is to strip assets from their own people and to then launder their ill-gotten gains and invest them abroad for their further enrichment, so we hope that sanctions will have some affect.

In Latvia we visited the KGB museum in a building that actually served as the headquarters of the KGB, the network of Soviet secret Police that were used to bring the Latvian populace under Russian control. Their remembrance of KGB horrors remains vivid. And we can know Putin by knowing the KGB. The KGB provided the platform for his ascent to power. In the short term, things are unlikely to go well for Ukraine. In the long term, people will remember who Putin is and with luck will hold him personally accountable.

Entering the KGB museum you are met by a Russian guard (a living history actor who had actually served as a Russian prison guard, during the Soviet occupation of Riga). His harsh demeanor toward all guests as he matter of factly describes what went on within the walls of the former KGB headquarters leaves a strong taste of what it was actually like. The photos and video interviews with victims of the KGB and the visit to the killing spot where Latvian citizens were executed will leave you chilled, as will the prison room where more than a hundred victims were confined naked, crowded in to the point where they lay massed in filth.

Authorities in Latvia and Estonia have called for the NATO article 4 to be discussed. Article 4 requires that when one NATO nation is attacked all others must come to its aid.

If you want to know more about what Ukraine is facing in areas that the Russians occupy a visit to the KGB museum would be informative. The image shows our (former) Russian guard in the area where Latvian patriots and common citizens were murdered by the KGB. 

Garden of Children

Friends Scott, Jay and John are doing a kickstarter campaign to assist them in furthering their Kindergarten documentary series. I made a contribution because it's a vital view into the workings of childhood and might assist in a much needed reform of education. You can contribute here: 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/froebel/garden-of-children-documentary-series-on-education

The video series shows some of our students and contains interviews with over 100 educational experts pointing the way toward meaningful reform of education.

You can find trailers on youtube or view this extended trailer for a small rental fee here:

https://www.froebelusa.com/offers/HhkL8RDX/checkout

Make, fix and create.  Assist others in learning likewise.

American Craft Book Review

The Spring 2022 edition of American Craft Magazine, p. 18 has a review of my new book as shown. The text reads as follows: 

"Educator and craftsman Doug Stowe has long been exploring what it means to be a maker. In a collection of thoughtful, self-reflective essays, Stowe delves into the important lessons that working with our hands can teach us and the deeper meaning that brings to our lives."

Make, fix and create... Assist others in living likewise. 

algebra anyone?

All too often, the perceived value of an object is based on market demand rather than on the qualities the making of it offers the maker. The photo above is an example of my mother's craft work from when she was a teen. The quality of her work may not have been at the level of work done by her mother or grandmother, but as stated by Otto Salomon, the value of the student's work is not in the work, but in the student. To make such an object imparts qualities to the maker... a fact neglected in modern American education.

The making of such objects is part of the process of development of character and intelligence, and as we have become a nation of consumers rather than makers, we have grown more and more out of touch.

The piece shown above is an example of a needlework technique called crochet. Another form for making lace patterns is tatting. Both were part of the compulsory school curriculum for women in Finland, and as shown in the photo below, the University of Helsinki still has a room dedicated to their collection of student work which I visited in 2008.

Each drawer on the wall in the background is filled with amazing works of student craftsmanship, the intellectual content of each piece leaving the viewer in awe.

It is interesting how much emphasis is placed on instruction in algebra, a thing most students will not use following graduation, even in college unless they're judged deficient and placed in remedial classes.

I'll go out on a limb here to suggest that the value of fine lacework may be of equal or greater value in the construction of a solid mind than balancing algebraic equations, and of equal value to algebra in mathematics through the building of spatial sense. Spatial sense is a factor in mathematics that is useful in all occupations, and even helps in doing algebra.

Make, fix and create...

my new book arrived

A copy of my new book arrived today. The release date through Amazon.com and other outlets is planned for March 22, 2022, and we have a book signing planned for Eureka Springs on April 3.

Yesterday I did an interview with Foreword Reviews that will be posted online near the time of the book's release.

Make, fix and create...

Bluebird houses and 16 bit kits.

Yesterday in wood shop, students and I finished 10 bluebird houses as part of their outdoor studies class. Six of the bird houses are being sold to supporters of the school, and one or two will be installed on campus for students to tend and observe. Left-overs will be sold at a Clear Spring School event near the end of the school year.

Also yesterday, my Rainbow Group (kindergarten) tested our 16 bit building kits. The sixteen bit building kit is one that our small business studies class will be taking by appointment to demonstrate to big business giant Walmart next week.

While many woodworking kits designed by adults lack the opportunity for child creativity to emerge, the sixteen bit kits each contain 16 blocks of wood, a glue stick and sanding strip that allow the kids to design and make whatever they want. In a test with 7 kindergarten aged students, each came up with their own unique project. 

The students in the small business class have been designing the packaging for four project kits. One contains parts for making tops. One contains parts for making flip cars. One contains the parts for building a Soma cube puzzle, and the last is the 16 bit kit. The students are also working on their sales pitches that will be offered to a Walmart product specialist. The point is to get pointers on product sales and design.

Make, fix and create...

Putting a child on the bus...

On Friday I had  an interesting conversation with professor Bart Kahr, from NYU who is a crystallographer and an enthusiast for Froebel's Kindergarten. I had wanted to contact Dr. Kahr because of comments he'd made about his son's first day of school, in the Kindergarten Documentary Film Series.

As Dr. Kahr described, he took his son to the bus after having spent years in which he had kept his son constantly in sight. He watched his son climb onto the bus and noted that upon delivering his own precious son to the state, he didn't even get a receipt. His comments so perfectly mirror what all parents feel, and perhaps might help us to understand the angst that so many parents feel about education. Are loving parents ever fully ready to simply surrender our children to the arms of the state? We must do a lot more to build trust.

In our conversation Dr. Kahr described what came next after he watched his son climb onto the bus. He was living in Seattle at the time, and feeling confused and out of sorts, he walked to the nearest coffee shop and then to the book store where he found a stack of Norm Brosterman's book Inventing Kindergarten for sale. Had he not just put his son onto the bus for his first day of Kindergarten, he would not have found the book, nor would he likely have been interested in the book, nor would he have discovered in it the intense relationship between Kindergarten and crystallography, his own field of scientific study. https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/bart-kahr.html

Froebel had been an assistant to Christian Samuel Weiss  and was influenced by his study of crystals in his development of his gifts and perhaps also in his understanding of how children grow from a pattern inherent from within if provided the right circumstances for their growth. For Dr. Kahr, discovery of Froebel's Kindergarten had an important affect on  the direction of his work as a crystallographer, even to the point of growing crystals with kindergarten kids, a thing we can do with kids at the Clear Spring School. Dr. Kahr's work includes growing crystals in color, which he also suggests we can do as shown in this video. https://youtu.be/wBs1LqHZgiw The image shown above is from that video.

Make, fix and create...

Ozarks Watch online

The Ozarks Watch video filmed at ESSSA about hands-on learning can now be viewed online at your convenience.

https://video.optv.org/video/hands-on-education-p5fsiw/

Today in the Clear Spring School wood shop we'll be working on bird houses and bird feeders. 

Kindergarten students will be making boxes.

Make, fix and create...

Harbor Freight Fellows

Harbor Freight Fellows continues to repost some of my blog/facebook posts on occasion as they did today.

It's a reminder that we're all in this together and there are many hands working on educational reform.

https://www.harborfreightfellows.org/post/wisdom-of-the-hands-serial-position-effect

Make, fix and create...

perfect for radio...

Yesterday I watched myself on the Ozarks Watch video production, and have decided TV does not put me in my best light. I've gotten a bit too old for that kind of spotlight. The old joke, "you look perfect for radio comes to mind."

In any case, however, I did manage to tell my tale and get some word out about our Eureka Springs School of the Arts and about the need for hands on learning. The crew took some nice video of my boxes and of the school and I thank them sincerely for their interest in my career and their kindness during the production of the show.

Pre-orders of the new book are going well with over 1200 copies being ordered so far.

Make, fix and create...

putting education on fresh path.

Today, February 6, 2022, Ozark Public Television's program Ozarks Watch features an interview with me recorded at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts. Locally or on local satellite, look for channel 21. The program airs from 1:30 to 2:30 with my segment being the second half.

News around the country is that being an educator is an endangered profession. Teachers are disrespected and undervalued and are leaving the profession in droves. Teachers with a masters degree in education often leave the profession in their first five years. This is in part due to the unreasonable expectations placed upon teachers—too large class sizes, the rigid expectation of teaching exactly by the book, and the use of standardized testing to measure student and teacher performance, while neglecting the fact that each student and each teacher is unique.

Let's go back to one of the basic principles of educational sloyd, that of moving from the concrete to the abstract. If you want to  become a teacher at one of the diminishing number of colleges and universities that offer that course of study, you'll spend hours and hours of class time and reading to prepare for your final year in which you'll do student teacher, in school training under the watchful eye of a licensed professional teacher. 

If you recognize the value of moving from the concrete to the abstract, you might notice that teacher training is backwards. To enter the teaching profession the educationally sound manner would be to serve in schools as a teaching aide while concurrently being taught the fundamental theories and history of education in college coursework. A program like I'm proposing should be set up in every neighborhood in the US.

There are some significant values in the reversal I propose. The first is that while teachers are working on their degrees they'd be earning salaries as teacher's aides instead of amounting debt. Secondly they would be given a view of what they were getting into long before having invested years in a career that they so quickly abandon. The third value is that with almost all students and teachers in the US suffering from too large classes and too little classroom help, a massive investment in new teachers aides, each working toward full credentials, would completely re-energized schooling. One of the areas of education needing the most help is in integration of the arts to build science thinking. We need to enlist scores of young artists to help as aides for these reasons: 

“The discoveries of science, the works of art are explorations — more, are explosions, of a hidden likeness. The discoverer or the artist presents in them two aspects of nature and fuses them into one. This is the act of creation, in which an original thought is born, and it is the same act in original science and original art.” —Jacob Bronowski

Those are just my thoughts on this sunny February day a it warms in Arkansas and snow melts.

Make, fix and create...

Ozarks Watch

Last night at 9 Ozarks Public Television broadcast an interview with me and I forgot it was being aired. It will be rebroadcast on Sunday February 6 at 1:30 PM in case you missed it as I did. Later it will be made available on the network website. I'll share the address when its available to me. 

Make, fix and create...

An article link

This is a link to the article in Independent School if you want to read it online and pass it along for others to read. NAIS - School News: Two Decades of Woodshop Class.

Today we're out of school due to a serious winter storm watch. Hopefully as the temperature is dropping below freezing we'll avoid the worst effects of ice accumulation that breaks trees and power lines.

I'm working on promotion of my new book by writing op-ed pieces to submit to various newspapers and magazines. It is fun to reflect on the various benefits of woodworking education. 

In the wood shop at School this week my students helped me by whittling pens and allowing me to take photos of them as they worked. The photo shows a simple jig for drilling the holes where the nibs fit. The kids were able to drill their own pen making stock.

Make, fix and create...

independent school

An article about the Wisdom of the Hands program at the Clear Spring School is in the Winter 2022 issue of "Independent Schools Magazine" that's published by the National Association of Independent Schools. 

The article tells that we are celebrating our twentieth year of a program designed to bring the hands to greater focus and attention in schools. Over the years we've had a number of articles about the program in various woodworking magazines, and mention in the New York Times and Boston Globe. This is the second article about our Wisdom of the Hands program in "Independent Schools Magazine."

Yesterday in class we whittled  writing pens to allow me to take a few photos for a magazine article. The kids enjoyed it and tested their work using real ink.

Make, fix and create.