As you read this chapter pay attention to the history lesson at the beginning of the chapter. Try to go back into time and sense what it was like in the early 1900's. It is easiest for me to read the chapter slowly, allowing my imagination meander, making short notes (on the edge of the page or on a 3x5 card), then I go back and re-read to fill in what I have lingering questions about.
Of special note for me is the work of the Saturday Evening Pottery girls. My former mother in law collected this work because as a high school adviser she loved the idea of using art as a means to keep young women "off the streets".
Again, you have till the 13th to respond to the writings from the first chapter. I know most of you have responded already but in case someone is still catching up, I will check both sites.
Enjoy!
You are right Future the history o this period is so important! So far I am impressed with the small groups of crafters/artists working for architects or furniture makers. The piece of furniture that is my favorite is Charles Rohlfs Desk on page 47, all of the compartments, base swivels so you can sit in one place and get to all of the drawers.
ReplyDeleteI am in love with the Berry Gamble house! After seeing Frank Loyd Wrights architecture in a New Hampshire house (furniture and all) I can not get enough of him. I think I want to do something in art this week that represents the Greene brothers lines in his stair case of this house.
Kim, I googled that house as well! I am ready to go to Pasadena.
ReplyDeleteKim, Have you seen Frank Lloyd Wright's House in Pennsylvania?I think it is called "Falling Water"It is sublime.One with Nature for sure....The Robbie house in Hyde Park,Chicago,where I grew up.... is more of a very quiet simple home as comparison.
ReplyDeleteI think Y'all are very lucky to have seen his work - I think reading about him frustrated me - wasn't sure if he was a sincere person or caught up in his own "genius". Especially when he seemed so into lecturing about the use of machines in creating for the future , his thought was embracing the mass production or reorder all of society. (p48) Yet his own work was done in a design house producing inventory for one house at a time....maybe it was because his clients demanded it! What I do appreciate about his houses is that he captured the aesthetic essence of where he built his houses! That to me is part of my definition of craft, emphasis on local character or regionalism (p. 51, used in def. of pottery)
DeleteI wanted to share a blog site from Selveged Mag (England) on Conversations on Craft. This is a story about a weaver in the factory setting weavers in 1967 England...thought it interesting her experience to the "craft" movement from that era.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.selvedge.org/blog/?p=17809
I especially like how she described it as a "hard life" working in those conditions - it was a different view point than I expected!
That was very interesting! Such a shame to be pushed so hard with no time or energy to enjoy the beauty of one's creation.
DeleteOne of the issues that it brings up for me is the difference between "cottage" industries or studios...I am thinking of our friends at Salado Glass, with all the joy they share in their creativity and the horrible conditions of a factory where the creativity is limited to only the one designer. I believe it is not the time or the intensity of the repetition (brush strokes are the same movement thousands of times on one canvas) but the lack of input /intention/creative decision making that make this work hard on the soul.
DeleteI think you are so right Future - I would be totally frustrated with the lack of input while making something perhaps that explains why my grandfather and uncle turned down opportunities to work as an artist - finding more satisfaction with it as their hobby!
DeleteThanks for sharing that Gail. I read the article and was taken away by how laborious the job was. The long hours, the repetition... so many details go into that work as well. Nicely written
ReplyDeleteCeramic section I love Van Briggle's work page 53 that shows his health issues or it came out in his work.
ReplyDeleteI want to challenge everyone to look up Marblehead pottery. This pottery is so simple but elegant. I am not a potter,but I was wanting to try to do one like these.
Tile work I am impressed with the unconventional sizes of the tile that the Mooravian Tileworks made. The artpiece was more original to me. Mercer "graduated from Harvard supposing that he would become a lawyer. Instead he became an archaeologist, a museum curator, and antiquauian, a folklorist, and a collector of an astonishing variety of artifacts from historical everyday life, which now make up the collection of the Mercer Museum." pg.54 More and more highly educated people from the this book moved in art is astonishing!
Kim, Marblehead pottery - really liked the design - simple and elegant!
DeleteBeautiful pottery. Interesting how it started in 1905 for women with nervous disorders. Isn't that any woman without an artistic outlet?
DeleteHaha Paige, yes!!!
DeleteReally appreciate the abstract lines in the Marblehead Pottery
DeleteLoving this pottery section. The difference between throwing the vessel and being the decorator of the surface. Some women, Mary Chase Perry, Adelaide Alsop Robineau, were involved in the entire process. Then there was Newcomb, a women's college for crying out loud, where a man, Joseph Meyer, threw the pots that the women decorated. And, the head of the department (a man) would not let a woman be a ceramic technician!
ReplyDeleteI love George Ohr's work, the mad potter of Biloxi!! I have always been drawn to altered thrown work, probably because mine do that but not purposely! I like his theory of the form first for his vessels. Being a larger than life personality helps with the package.
How times have changed. At the beginning of chapter it was hard for me to imagine how they US was mostly all immigrants by now today, we are fighting over the issue of the immigrants coming into our country. Separate but equal yet we still have issues with race and sexism with wages. Does not surprise me that men saw woman as the 'decorator' but not the maker. Glad to see how many woman are potters and artists in today's world but wonder if that was differnet in the past how much more art we would have today and what the changes would be through time with their influence
DeleteGeorge Ohr was such a riot. Looking forward to reading more about him. Found a biography of him geared for 7-11 year olds called The Mad Potter: George Ohr, Eccentric Genius. I think it would be great to introduce him to my elementary students to show them an extreme case that not all artists are the "conventional, dry" type. I think kiddos sometimes need to see that not all people back then were stiff, boring and rule followers. And when I say "back then" I'm actually referring to little kid time reference which means anything earlier than 1980. I think Ohr would pique their interest and get them excited to learn more about art history.
DeleteDoes anyone have any other recommendations of kookie artists similar to Ohr's personality?
What interests me and what I take with me about this chapter is how its creating foundations for my personal definition of craft. I have enjoyed reading all of these artists historical accounts of their trials and tribulations during their management of craft. I loved the statement about Japanese arts and craft, that it embodied the principles of the honest use of material, revealed construction and inspiration from nature. (p ). Another attribute of craft that jumped out at me was the emphasis of object is on handcraft and simplicity and regionalism or local character in decoration. I think this would help to define my work as it evolves and help to pass this understanding to students in art appreciation or just in the business of art, As I talk to owners of galleries or art enthusiasts about my work, that is the one area I feel very insecure in creating a better definition for their understanding. As for pedagogy, I would like to incorporate this along side the fine art in my art appreciation classes. How much more would it add to their understanding of the world at that time. (Kind of using an ethnographic point of view.)
ReplyDeleteWhat surprises me in the textile section was the uniqueness of craft in an object created the standardization and helped to promote sales – so I think “uniqueness” is another added attribute of craft for my definition. It also saddens me how much we’ve lost of textile history because it wasn’t documented in art. I believe all these old quilts are just reaking of stories from that time period – I love that the Univ. of Nebraska has created a museum and way of recording history for quilts.
The work I really liked was the Tiffany vase, Favrile glass on page 73 and the Lorelei vase on page 53.
I also saw that Roycrofter’s furniture was listed in the mag., Craft America, this month as the furniture for a hotel in Ashville North Carolina. My grandparents had a chair very similar to the one on page 41, the settee. I’m pretty sure it was an imitation but I loved that chair as a kid.
Hi Gail, Yes , I also agree that my personal definition of "crafts"is now changing due to the readings about the history of "crafts".For some reason I never think of furniture as a "crafts".I guess I lump i in with "interior design"and "industrial design".I,sometimes wish we had no labels for all of this,it was all just categorized as "art".
DeleteAmen Susan!!! Well said!
DeleteThe challenge is to put aside what others have said concerning schools of art, movements or styles. Find your own voice and then follow its history in both directions.
DeleteFollowing history of "Batik", of course it started out of the country by the Asians, but I am discovering some of the artist's in the early 1900's like Grace Betts work and Marian Plummer on page 72, started experimenting with some of the styles and looking them up I love the simplicity and pattern used by these painters on silk.
DeleteWhat surprised me.....page 52....."There were also potteries for new purposes,such as therapy,social services associated with settlement houses, and practical applications for graduates of art schools."I am so narrow minded that I always think of pottery for either practical purposes or art forms but it did not cross my mind that these new purposes would be well suited for pottery as a matter of fact I really thought art therapy as a more recent and young development.
ReplyDeleteWhat impressed me?I too am impressed...always... with Frank LLoyd Wright..How can one not be..every time I read and think about his life and creations I am dumbfounded and that he really participated in many debates about the role of crafts was something I did not know....I thought he was Sullivan's assistant and always admired walking past the Carson Perry Scott building Sullivan designed in the loop in Chicago when I studied at The Art Institute there.Form follows function well I have to cite that wonderful home..Falling Water in Pennsylvania..it is sublime...almost one with nature and I cannot believe still that it is over a 30' or so waterfall if I remember it always seems to me like it is going to fall..amazing...
What am I taking away with me? I take away with me the fact that the Arts and Crafts involved Idealists, even if they were "short lived" and had some financial problems..I take away the philosophy of remaining true to the materials and "an emphasis on handcraft and simplicity"p.51
Susan, how does Wright's work follow the concept of Gesamtkunstwerk? And I could not find the quote you mention on "an emphasis on handcraft and simplicity" on page 51. I am not sure how "short lived" this entire timeline of work can be called short.
Deleteyes..."total work of art"this idea of unifying of all of the senses,the idea that as in the Robie House.. I think, that the light fixture is even apart of the dinigroom table..desgning everything as one unified room,joining different elements into one room so as a whole to encompass all the senses as in Falling Water....as far as the quote on P 51 I am sorry But I am in a hotel without my book as I had to present a lecture yesterday to 200 students at University of Mary Hardin Baylor in conjunction with my show, so I do not have my book,I will look it up when I get home though.
DeleteSusan what is the difference between an individual designing an "entire" home for someone else and designing one for yourself.
DeleteYou need to do what the client wants not what you want, so in order to do this one must put themselves in the mindset of the client,in "their shoes" so to speak...
Delete“Numbers of people were looking for meaning in a time of change, and the consequence was an emphasis on introspection and self-fulfillment.” (p. 39)
ReplyDeleteI find the above quote interesting. It seems like a reccurring trend in history that people look within themselves in times of turmoil.
I am very curious about how the author keeps referencing these groups adherence to the ideas of Morris and Ruskin. I find it hard to imagine any field today that could be so overwhelmingly influenced by one or two voices. I wonder if that has to do with the easy access to information we have today, or the Internet’s ability to equalize the weight of various voices. It seems like then, there was a standard that everyone was referring to. Now, there are so many viewpoints out there that I find most people to have a confirmation bias--only seeking out information that reinforces their beliefs. I wonder if our contemporary lifestyle will ever again allow for such broad, unified thought.
Lastly, I realize how little I know about the artistic processes of craft. I almost feel like I need a cheat sheet. Often times the authors rattle off details about a certain type of process used by a certain group, and I have no idea what any of it would even mean. For example, when I read the following quote, I had no ability to visualize what the work might have looked like:
“Mercer explored inlay, colored clay bodies, and smoked colors. He experimented with pit firing. He made “picture-book” relief tiles; he re-created the Castle Acre tile, in which glaze has worn off the high points and remains only in the impressed design; he created the look of wear by wiping the surface before firing.” (p. 56)
Another, more concise example was in the discussion on Tiffany when it was stated that “enamel is a powdered glass that melts at low temperatures.” (p. 66) I had no idea.
Justin - I thought it interesting too that so many had been impacted by ideas or readings of Morris and Ruskin. How their influence challenged and defined craft - nice legacy for them!
DeleteJustin, they keep referring to Morris and Ruskin because no critic or art historian has find it important enough to re-think or think again about crafts. In the book "Sloppy Craft" they challenge anyone to begin thinking about crafts in a new way..reminding us that Morris and Ruskin have been dead for over 100 years but the makers (the people who actually work with the materials) continual to grow and expand.
DeleteAs for techniques/processes,you are in a great place for this class. How exciting to be exposed to all this with innocent eyes. The real question is how did you survive 16 years of education and not be made away of these processes.
I think the Tech MAE program is so wonderful. because of the option to take a variety of classes and learn a variety of techniques. The metals and jewelry class I took last summer was overwhelmingly new information. Learning the vocabulary was so new, then learning how to work the tools and create art with the techniques was exciting and sometimes overwhelming. Because of the metals class, I understand the process of making jewelry explained in this book.
DeleteJustin, you're not alone! I have my bachelor of fine arts, have been an art educator for 9 years, and now in the MAE program and there is so much I still don't know. That quote was a perfect example of why I go off on exploratory tangents on the internet in search of explanation, imagery and definition. Re-creating the Castle Acre tile, I found, is a carving and glazing technique that makes the tile appear older than it is. In this case, a shallow relief would be carved out of / into a tile. Glaze would be applied, and then lightly wiped off the raised edges to leave the remaining glaze in the carved areas. Doing this presents the "aged" look that the artist is striving for as if wear and exposure to elements have worn off the glaze on the raised surfaces of the tile :)
DeleteI also found this statement interesting (p75) Craft (in certain circles) was seen as a vehicle for social control and assimilation into proper Am Values. I feel like this is the first I've heard of this and would really like to explore this more but not quite sure what this looks like or couldn't imagine how this was possible. I've known quilts to be a way of marking houses helping those escape during civil war era and marking the underground railroad but I hadn't heard of crafts with this purpose.
ReplyDeleteOye! I wonder if John Kennedy was somehow related to Charles Eliot Norton?
DeleteAs I mentioned in my opening statement the Saturday Evening Clay group was literally aimed at young women, wealthy women believed would be forced into prostitution if they had no other way to earn a living. The thought was to keep them off the streets. It is not different that any after school art club or art in jails. Learning to express anger/confusion/disbelief in a healthy way does work.
DeleteOops, didn't finish my train of thought on Charles and the Arts & Crafts movement. CEN agreed with Ruskin that good education involved both the body and the mind. He felt the workmanship involved in Crafts was an excellent form of discipline for all those immigrants to learn about proper American values. He was a genteel Anglophile and an elite Boston snob. I have to correct myself here on my musing of John Kennedy being related to Charles Eliot Norton. No way. CEN was not enamored with Irish immigrants and their custom of pubs and fought to keep a drinking saloon out of his perfectly upper crust neighborhood.
DeleteIf you so desire you can read a copy of his long and windy letter to the editor of the Cambridge Tribune at - http://cambridgecivic.com/?p=2805
Paula, what is funny is that so many immigrants came with wonderful traditional craft skills.
DeleteYes I never thought of crafts in this way.
ReplyDeleteSo THAT was how art teachers began, too cool! I liked the attitude of Arthur Wesley Dow, page 81 " Instead of being told what they could do with their mediums, they found out themselves." love it!! Although I think some background helps, experimentation can bring about better results, as well as quality learning! Much better than repeating some dry designs.... ugh!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to me how ceramic programs were opening in colleges to, “boost industrial revenues by improving technological education”. Alfred University, Ohio State University, Rutgers, Illinois, and Iowa state all started ceramic programs. “Alfred was, however, distinctive in incorporating artistic uses of clay. also unusual was Binn’s encouragement of women students” pg. 59.
DeleteChris, just imagine how restrictive art would be if it was designed for factory work only.
ReplyDeleteThe history of Roycroft community and the other craft communities captured me. They are so similar to the 1960s and 1970s communes. I didn’t realize they have been around America for more than 100 years ago. My attention was first captured by Elbert Hubbard. Hubbard being my maiden name, I was always told we aren’t related to any Hubbard in Texas. I’ll have to discuss with my dad our genealogical tree.
ReplyDeleteReading about the way the community developed as a way of life built among craft as a common interest sounds like the Google community of our time. After building shops, a library, a lecture hall, a dorm, and an inn, he opened a bank and a 300 acre farm. “Unintentionally he had built an Arts and Crafts community” (pg 40). The employees were paid less, but worked less. They were also given the opportunity to participate in group activities outside of work. Opening up opportunities to employees gives them freedom of choice and confidence, “Employees who apprenticed in one of the craft shops could work in another if they showed talent or desire”.
Paige I was floored also with these craft communities. Especially the "woodstock" one.
DeleteI thought is was fascinating that the thought started from a church aspect. When I was in Costa Rica all of the neighborhoods were surrounding a church, so if you got lost just remember the church neighborhood name for the taxi driver and everything grocery store, homes, schools, businesses were all built within a walking distance of that church. These colonies sound like they were set up the came way.
I have always longed for and looked for a community of artists. The three weeks in Junction each summer only reinforced my need to have others around me who are connected to the arts. I miss the mistakes made in the studio as much as the "winner". This chapter begins to share what it takes to make a community even if the community is building in down town.
DeleteI miss the MFA studio situation where we all spend three years working together in studios,some 8 hours a day and then you are done and it all is over....that was years ago for me and we still try through FB to post images and connect through our peocesses virtually...butalas... it is not the same as that physical bond for sure.
DeleteWhat I take away from the craft communities is the need to be with like minds and the opportunity for growth and community. I want my art classes to have the feeling of a community. Creating and critiquing art together helps build those bonds.
DeleteEveryone I have ever talked to that graduated from art school communicates their longing to have that communal experience back. It's so strange to be an artist in isolation. I've had to coach my wife into filling that role of critic/collaborator/interrogator. I keep threatening to start a critique club with some of the artists I know around here, but life's a little chaotic at the moment.
DeleteIn place of a critique club how about a dialog club. Talk about projects, offer help, share knowledge and know when to just be silent.
DeletePaige, I too was surprised by/didn't know of the craft communities, striving for a utopian art-driven life. Art is not necessarily a private discipline, and that is something kids didn't understand when they would first come into my classroom. The one's who thought of themselves as artists rarely shared their art or craft... But we are such community-driven beings--I think we long to be known and know others and work together for something greater. ^ I love the idea of a "dialogue club."
DeleteDo we know of any current art communities?
DeleteNot really sure where some of us in this course reside at the moment but I have always wanted to start a group/community of artists. As an educator, it is so easy to get out of "the loop" and I'm finding myself isolated all of the time. Maybe by the end of this course some of us could organize something? A dialogue club is a fantastic and feasible idea! Just a thought....the value of an artist community is so great, and that is one thing I miss about art school.
DeleteJennifer- on the topic of current art communities, I know some people who helped build "Bestie Row", a small community of tiny houses outside of Austin. Maybe we can convince them to let us take it over and make it an art commune!!! The tiny houses reflect the simple life and would allow for more fous on art making!
http://lightersideofrealestate.com/real-estate-life/cool-stuff/tiny-house-bestie-row
I can absolutely sympathize with the feeling of being an artist in isolation. It makes it really difficult to produce art when you don't have anyone to bounce ideas off of, or to even show your work to. I recently lived in Germany for three years and lived in a largely American community centered around the military bases there. There were lots of German artists, but they weren't the most welcoming people to say the least. I tried to find a peer group within the American community, but I quickly learned that trying to talk about photography with anybody would lead to me getting asked to photograph the squadron softball game. After a particularly awful family portrait session that I was basically forced to conduct with 5 children who wanted to be there even less than I did, I decided to never again tell anyone I owned a camera.
DeleteSome of the closest things I think you get to artist "communities" today (outside of academia) are artist residences, which are often in connection with academia. I often worry about how to stay in contact with other artists after I graduate. Facebook pages exist to help bridge that gap, I've seen them, and I'm a member of a few, but I don't think it replaces the meeting of minds that happens when you work around others in a creative community.
DeleteWould love to see a craft community it today's world. I wonder what it would look like and what would be made. Our experience in Junction is the closet I have to that connection and bouncing off ideas to artists in other mediums. Curious how a place like this would work in a city
DeleteThis chapter as a whole has encouraged my art to have a simpler look. The Greene and Greene wood architecture, Marblehead pottery, clay shards of Moravian Tileworks, simple movement of pain in the Lorelei Vase, "the mechanic" artwork of Geoge Ohr,experimentation of cow horn and tortoise shells of Thresher's necklace, Tiffany's Enamaled Peacock Nechlace and his peacock vase, silversmithing contributions, and of course my personal favorite is the super simplistic embroidering of Beatrice de Grange and Bladys Molten.
ReplyDeleteThen learning how all of the colonies started and basically how education started, specifically how art/craft started. I can still see so many ideas handed down to us 100 years later and we were all so influenced by these beginnings. Its wonderful to see how our history has been unfolded down to us as artists.
Impressed & Taking Away:
ReplyDeleteAs an educator coming from a yoga and art background, I was most impressed with Dr. Hall’s response to “neurathesia” (53-54). As you know, neurathesia was due to over stimulation of consumerism and what T.J. Jackson Lears called “overcivilized” at the turn of the newly modernized 20th century (39). While currently not considered a valid sickness, the therapy aspect of using craft to calm or restore stresses and anxieties is something I try to hone in on for my kiddos during particular lessons.
My focus in my lessons is to get my kiddos in a “zone.” To be able to reach a calming point in their day, I feel allows them to not only turn down the stimulation of the over abundance of information but entices them to “get into their right brain” and encourages buried creativity to arise only possible in a quiet and calming setting. Time and time again, I found this to be effective. It is hard to achieve in a 45-minute period, but doable.
Similarly, like Hall, I struggle with this when the lesson’s objective is too teacher-focused or product-oriented. Sure, I can make all my lesson’s process oriented and student driven, but when parents and admin want to see “pretty art,” sometimes the “experimental” products that are the most pleasing for kiddos to create are not what the viewers always want to see. It’s difficult to find a middle ground without many lessons of practice and preparation and to please both parties; and, unfortunately, by the time my students are actually prepared enough to create something “good looking,” they’re tired of the particular medium we’ve been experimenting with. However, as you know, without practice and prep exercises, students become easily overwhelmed and frustrated.
I found Hall’s approach to using art as a therapeutic treatment for stress caused by the abundance of stimuli relevant to my current way of teaching. I look forward to learning more about his approach, his struggles and successes in his endeavor at the Marblehead Pottery; and, perhaps use his research and other approaches as a stepping-stone into my continuous research on creating art-making exercises that are calming and restorative for my students.
I loved your thoughts on teaching - I have found this to be true when teaching a design class vs technique of quilting. I too found this interesting!
DeleteOne day you will have to share some of your strategies. When working with my special needs students I am sometimes in need of different strategies to help calm my highly autistic ones. It is awesome you are researching and looking further into this! On the topic of the practice/preliminary work for students- I too find that they are frustrated, so it comes down to finding the right balance.
DeleteJennifer, I could go around for hours on the topic of lesson planning to get away from the safe art projects. I constantly run into teachers that build their lessons around 10 step processes that can't fail as long as you do the steps correctly and in order, or the replication of a gridded photographs. I can not for the life of me figure out what either have to do with art making or what valuable skill they impart upon the student. We just got back from our regional TAEA VASE competition and their were so many students that were making work that was just painstakingly detailed replicas of selfies. I just imagine what is going to happen to those students when they get to college. They won't understand what's going on.
DeleteJustin, preach on brother! Matting up work for VASE right now, and while I love exposing my students to the event and the work, each year one only needs to take a stroll around the state qualifier show to see that the judges are looking for a very specific kind of Art....
DeleteAgreed Daniel. VASE always gets under my skin. But at the same time I have a little recovering drug addict that is beaming a smile from ear to ear because her piece received a medal. It has it's upsides, I just wish they would be a bit more inclusive. I wrote a pretty scathing letter to the board last year that's on my blog if you would like my full opinion.
Deletehttps://artinsubordinate.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/my-letter-to-v-a-s-e/
Jennifer, the word "neurathesia" was new to me and I, also, was immediately drawn to the concept. In my personal life I am drawn to minimalism and gardening... and the simplicity of creating rather than consuming. For me, creating has been the antonym to consuming... because I am giving something to the world, rather than taking. I had never thought about how these thoughts affected my teaching until reading your comment! How therapeutic it would be for my students if I were to focus in on these ideas.
DeleteSo... I'm finding that my thinking aligns with Art Therapy, particularly with one side. Found this infograph. Its piqued my interest, particularly the section labeled "What Art Materials Are Used?" and "How is Art Therapy Used: Art as Therapy." Seems like this might steer me in the direction of how to get the kiddos to the "zone."
Deletehttp://www.joshkale.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=123650600
Justin, looking forward to reading your post.
What an awesome infographic! I had never seen art therapy broken down so well. The breakdown of art as therapy and art as psychotherapy made clear a lot of the ways I've heard "art therapy" used.
DeleteSurprised:
ReplyDeleteWhile all the houses created by Wright and Green & Greene impressed me, what most surprised me was that you can actually stay in The Pratt House in Ojai CA. Check out https://www.vrbo.com/308587. Super expensive but split between 15 vacancies I think we could swing it! Oh, to dream...
Also - looked up Prairie Houses online. Stumbled upon a website that describes architectural styles in housing, the time periods they were popular, and their most distinctive features. Having zipped through all of the different styles has prompted a different perspective when driving around Austin's neighborhoods!
http://architecture.about.com/od/periodsstyles/ig/House-Styles/The-Robie-House.htm?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=shareurlbuttons_nip
I am now more aware of architectural styles of houses as well! When I was visiting my brother in California I fell in love with the bungalow style. I will finally get to visit the Robie House this summer and I am glad to have learned more beforehand!
DeleteFUTURE! Are you taking us to Asheville??
ReplyDeletehttp://www.arts-craftsconference.com/artscrafts101.html
This brochure reads like a review of the first two chapter of our book - hmm...
If I could I would.
DeleteSurprised me… learning about Marblehead Pottery and how early the idea of art therapy was introduced. It was interesting that most of the women suffered from neurasthenia, which is not even recognized by the APA. I bet if it was, over half of us women would be diagnosed! (ha) Anyways, it was also surprising that the technical requirements were too demanding for the patients (p 54). I am interested in the advancements of art therapy. I know it is proven to work and would like to explore that world further some day. I can remember watching an antiques roadshow episodes and a Marblehead tile was on there. I had no clue at the time the significance of it but now I do. On the topic of ceramics, I found an interesting related article: http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/media/images/00901-01000/00965/Dietz_Pottery.pdf
ReplyDeleteImpressive was the drive of Elbert Hubbard! Being a natural-born promoter and creative, he was bound for success (p 40). The fact that he also published a magazine, the Philistine and established the Roycroft community. It seems he was a busy man and I can only hope to be as driven as he was one day. I like the Roycroft was a “capitalist venture but an enlightened one”. The simplicity of the overall work of Roycroft is inviting, throughtout all mediums used. Also interesting was that he and his wife died on the Lusitania!
Take away....Founder of American Terra Cotta & Ceramic Co. William Gates' quote: “Without individuality and without enthusiasm you never get good work” (page 54). I think art educators could use this as some type of inspiration when it comes to reaching and connecting students. We have to remember the individuality of our students. Not only their creative personalities, but them as an individual- their home life, their circumstances. What kind of hand they were dealt in life, the “whole child” as some say. Also, getting kids excited about art! Sometimes that is half the battle with my Art 1 freshmen students.
I am also very interested in art therapy...I work with fort Hood military people using clay as therapy..and painting..the many stories I hear are pretty horrific.......
DeleteSusan do you work with the USVAA or the VAP. I know there many Veteran Craft Artist that get help in the form of grants in order to get involved with the Arts.
DeleteThe GI bill has helped a lot of service men get into the Arts, my Uncle's father got a BFA in painting on the GI bill after flying a b-24 liberator over the Pacific during WW2. I found this out recently after painting a b-24 for his Christmas gift this year.
In reading about these Utopian A&C Communities and daydreaming on how wonderful it would be to be a part of something like that I kept thinking, "Don't drink the koolaide". So, off I go into the portal looking for failed A&C Communities due to corrupt leadership. Ralph Whitehead, who founded BYRDCLIFFE, was described as being dictatorial but I think he was just an idealistic rich boy who wanted to make money while expending as little as possible of his own. I didn't find any information on Whitehead that showed me his devotion or sincerity to the A&C movement similar to Elbert Hubbard or George Ohr. I'm not saying there wasn't any leadership corruption in the craft communities set up by people involved in craft production, but I didn't find any here on my Saturday afternoon search. And I think I may know why! Because Arts & Crafts is a LIFESTYLE that can't be controlled.It is a uniqueness within each artist/creator that is lost in mass production. These people would never drink the koolaide because everybody wanted their own flavor! Ha! Ralph didn't walk the walk and neither did Charles Eliot Norton.
ReplyDeleteLook up Black Mountain College...a wonderful combination of Art/Craft/Life
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the woodworking of Charles Rohlfs and his Art Nouveau carved details. The Desk on page 47 is gorgeous! and the fact that he had experience in metal, he added that talent to his furniture, it's pretty fascinating that he even made chairs for the Buckingham palace, pretty impressive for someone that was American and he's being noticed half a world away.
ReplyDeleteAnother section that blew me away is the Objectifying Glass. I think I'm just a official fan of Louise Tiffany because not only could he paint beautiful stained glass panes, he made glass pretty powerful with colors and design. The vase on page 73 is beautiful! But I had to google more of his work. I'm in love.
The wood working is remarkable. To think that people were looking at more machine and simplified items at this time because it was more modern- interesting how culture can influence what we purchase when we have more handmade, stylized, detailed items around us. It makes me look at pop culture today- even how much music has transitioned from simplified beats rather than instrumental orchestra from the past. Which is more talent-filled and will people look back at our time and wonder what were we thinking in our choices of music, clothes, art etc
DeleteI was surprised by the description of the neurasthenia that was noticed around the turn of the century due to the advancement of industrialization and the increasing presence of advertising. I would say it's the same thing that is happening now with the advent of social media obsessions. Neurotic helplessness is certainly a good way to describe the compulsion to share pictures of the food you are eating with everyone you know...oh and also that you are really into cross-fit now, so obviously your life is super great. It's like an increasingly frantic Internet version of keeping up with the Joneses. It seems that indeed everything that is old becomes new again. If William Morris said in 1894 that "Apart from the desire to produce beautiful things, the leading passion of my life has been and is the hatred of modern civilization", I wonder what he would say about the world today, with our cell phones only a breath away from being surgically implanted in our faces. If Yeats was writing poetry today instead of in the 1920s he certainly still would have come up with "what rough beast, it's hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" Sorry for the cynical post so far...I just spent the last week at Disney World and if anything is capable of making one sick of modern society it is that place after about 4 days.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder how the Arts and Crafts movement would have gone differently if it had occurred 100 years later. Today, people are certainly willing to pay more for anything made by hand, as is evident by the existence of 600 dollar blue jeans.
I was very impressed by the advancement of craft education and the manual-training movement, and more than a little disappointed that those advancements didn't stick. I know wood shop was offered at my high school, but it certainly wasn't encouraged, in fact the opposite was true. You can't do AP wood shop, so there's no point right? It won't help you get into college and will hurt your GPA because you can't get a 5 out of 4. I wish I had gone to a high school where I learned woodworking, blacksmithing, metal casting and machining. Emerson is quoted on page 79 as saying about education "we come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words, and do not know a thing. We cannot use our hands or our legs or our eyes or our arms." Judging by what my little brother is able to do with a computer it isn't so grim as that, but still, ask that kid to build a stool to sit on and he would be stumped.
My take away from this weeks readings is a sense that I need to read Ruskin and Morris. That, and that I still think I should take an apprenticeship as a carpenter in Japan...
Great reflections. There are large groups of craft/ art communities. Salado Glass next to Ro Shaw's pottery shop...friends from Junction. Marfa,TX. Look around Taos and Santa Fe. Of when in Lubbock the Louise Hopkins Center for the Arts ( including the Clay Center) and the Charles Adams Studio Project that includes 4 studio apartments, a welding shop and a print shop. I think these wonderful points of creativity are simply overlooked by the media.
DeleteI wish someone had told me to take woodshop (would really come in handy for my art making) and would have explained that one day science would be needed in my art.
“No ‘whistling nor playing nor idling’ was permitted” was the quote that caught my attention about the manual training movement. No boy was allowed to “Whistle while they work” as the dwarfs did in the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It seemed very strict and structured, but it appeared to be a highly successful education movement.
DeleteTyler, your thoughts about what students are able to do with their hands remind me of a discussion I had with fellow AP teachers at at training this summer about AP Art History. We do not offer AP Art History, but I would like to add it to our curriculum. The teachers in the training said the class qualifies for an art requirement, not a history requirement as I would have imagined. To me the advantage of the arts are “hands on” activities. If the choice is performing or visual the students learn to do something with their hands, bodies, or voices. When I pull out a hammer, screwdriver, or even a staple gun, the students in my class light up with excitement to use the tools. High School teachers, Does anyone allow AP Art History as a history elective?
Texas doesn't allow AP Art History as a history elective. No school in Texas would be able to override that. It's written in the TEKS. The benefit now is that it doesn't as much matter since they've gotten rid of the 4x4. Students only have to take 3 history courses and could choose Art History as one of the many more electives they now have available to them.
DeleteI have often wondered what it would be like if all classes were AP...in the sense of size and intention.
DeleteJustin I think you bring up an interesting point about what the arts and crafts movement would have been like had it taken place in Contemporary American society.
DeleteHand made items are very much in fashion right now, even the slow food movement is gaining traction. Obviously you need to have a certain amount of wealth to afford the privilege of purchasing hand made items over their cheaper, mass produced, off the shelf counterparts. But in a way I think we are seeing a renewed interest from the general public in the hand made and artisan pleasures. From craft-beer to artisan leather goods, there is a push back to mass produced, and especially imported goods. I know a lot of my friends, outside of the art community, actively seek out Made in America boutique items.
I would go so far as to say craft in a broad scene is in a American Renaissance.
Justin I think you bring up an interesting point about what the arts and crafts movement would have been like had it taken place in Contemporary American society.
DeleteHand made items are very much in fashion right now, even the slow food movement is gaining traction. Obviously you need to have a certain amount of wealth to afford the privilege of purchasing hand made items over their cheaper, mass produced, off the shelf counterparts. But in a way I think we are seeing a renewed interest from the general public in the hand made and artisan pleasures. From craft-beer to artisan leather goods, there is a push back to mass produced, and especially imported goods. I know a lot of my friends, outside of the art community, actively seek out Made in America boutique items.
I would go so far as to say craft in a broad scene is in a American Renaissance.
To add to that Daniel, I wonder how many more people will get into the game once 3D printing becomes more common place. I have no ability to make sculptures or art objects using traditional materials, but I sure as heck can use software. I have been pacing a groove in the floor just waiting until price and quality hit a point where I am willing to invest. I can't be the only one.
DeleteDaniel - what about a new Arts & Crafts movement? I don't see why that cannot happen. I've been getting the magazine Juxtapoz for years now and just recently have seen ceramics and textiles included. I thought it was a pleasant surprise to see artists working in these mediums in a magazine like that. You are right, more people are showing interests in handmade and artisan products. The machine will always reign, but it is nice to see that consumers are becoming more aware of who makes their products and where they come from.
DeleteDaniel I totally agree! I was JUST talking with my mom about this same thing. As humans we operate on a pendulum. We swing one way drastically and then back the other way. It happens in politics, religion, art, etc. As of lately I feel like our country has been in a season of technological advances. Since the invention of the computer and the internet we have focused on having the latest technology and growing our technology. Now with the amount of Americans that spend majority of their days sitting in front of a computer screen or burying their heads in their phone we are starting to see the beginning of a rebound. Technology will never disappear but that doesn't matter. What matters is that people are craving handmade things and making those things with their hands. The DIY movement is in full force. Society is wanting a break from a screen and as humans we naturally are drawn towards making things. It's therapeutic to create with your hands. I am seeing more and more people set aside their phones in exchange for a hobby. I have had countless teachers and parents ask where their kids or themselves can take art classes especially pottery. Maybe I am making this all up in my head but I feel like we are going to see an amazing shift in the way people spend their free time. Some of those people are going to turn to art.
Delete"Apart from the desire to produce beautiful things, the leading passion of my life has been and is the hatred of modern civilization".... I was too drawn to this quote and I think I mentioned it in an earlier quote. I am right there with you on your ideas of modern society! I find myself often lecturing teenagers on the value on people/social skills, and how too often they are being consumed by their cell phones and social media. I am afraid of the long term effects of their obsessions and almost addiction of it. There are so many interesting thoughts to comment on this post here. I am also reminded of Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye when I think of Morris and his reflections on society.
DeleteYes- Shelbi, we are seeing a shift and I think it's awesome. Even if people start with art as their new "hobby", it is something that is more useful of their time than watching TV or plugging into social media. Maybe the pendulum idea you mention is now swaying to the opposite side?
Justin, I can assure you are not the only one. We just got a 3D printer installed in our library here on the base. I haven't had time to figure out the specifics, but I'm going to make wildly liberal use of it as soon as I can. I would like to say that I would try my hand at 3D design right away, but first I need a Storm Trooper helmet. Gotta keep those priorities straight.
DeleteTyler, pg. 79, right column, second paragraph - that is exactly what wood shop is today in the middle schools in NISD, San Antonio, Texas.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that Texas Tech is one of the few universities that has a foundry? And we have two forges. It sounds like the bowels of hell when you turn those forges on. So exciting! Look up the Sculpture Prof. - William Cannings. Can't say enough good about him - excellent teacher.
Also...Hershall,chair of the art department at University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton does glass blowing and has a wonderful set up for raku,wood glass,amazing facilities there and really down to earth,cool professors....I was giving a lecture there this weekend and had a tour...
DeleteI'm glad those principles exist in some school. I realize I was just making a generalization based on my high school experience. When I took high school art, most of what I did was make western scenes with colored pencil to submit to the rodeo. If I had to pick two words to sum up my high school art classes I would choose "cowboy" and "prismacolor". And shop class was not even on my radar. I don't think we even offered it. I had a 3.7 GPA in high school, which is nothing to brag about, but it's not bad either. I was in the bottom 50% of my class. Kids were fighting (and when I say kids, I mean parents) for waivers for PE because it would bring down their GPA. Art just didn't seem valued by anyone. I would have started much sooner if the atmosphere had been different, but as it was I didn't discover that I really enjoyed studying art until undergrad. I guess what I should have said was that I wish I had been able to experience some of the effects of the advancement of art education and the manual training movement.
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ReplyDeleteI was surprised when reading the section on the Newcomb Pottery school. I enjoyed reading about a school designed for women and the successes they had. Furthermore I giggled at the part when they talked about painting with slip being too difficult for Louisiana's climate. I've been there. The slip will crack and fall off. They started carving in the surface and under-glazing in order to achieve their surface texture. I've actually seen this pottery before but didn't know of its origins. It was cool to learn more about it.
ReplyDeleteI was impressed by the Movarian Tiles. I loved the history involved in the process. I loved the fact that even when business was at it's height, he never hired more than ten men. I liked the fact he went on to do amazing mosaic work and that he wanted all the tiles to be recognized as hand-made. The integrity was there and that's admirable.
Take away- I really liked Van Briggle's pottery. I looked further into his stuff to find myself falling more and more in love with the forms. They are elegant, feminine, and contain such beautiful movement. The glazes compliment the forms and leave me wishing I could create something like that. I love how the woman in the Lorelie piece is recognizable yet still subtle. She's graceful. Love love love
I am surprised about how Frank Lloyd Wright was also a glass artist and craftsmen. His homes are beautiful, and looking at his glass window you can see how his stylistic and geometric style transitions into the style of his architecture. I am also impressed how he is successful in 2d as well as uses his style in a 3d approach. I have a hard time working in both 2d and 3d because I see them as a totally different style. However, his style is visibly evident in both art forms.
ReplyDeleteAs I have said before, I am taking a 3d clay throwing class. We are taking about ceramic artists and during the class we had a whole group discussion on how clay is not seen as fine art. I immediately thought of this class and previous postings on craft vs high art. The group of nurses, teachers, city workers etc. all instantly couldn't believe it was seen as a craft as they were working with their hands in clay. Its interesting to see how people in the outside world see art from a different view point. I myself saw clay as a craft until I began to work with it. Now I see the difficulty in creating it as well as the way you can make it unique, stylized, and more of a contemporary art form as well.
I think I have made several comments on how various bits in this chapter have surprised me. I was most impressed with how various people attempted utopian craft communities--and that those communities, however short lived/successful, played key roles in advancing the craft movement.
ReplyDeleteWhat am I taking away? I am certainly taking away a new look on communities and how the different roles/labels affect those communities--artist/designer vs laborer/manufacturer, for example.
Courtney, I agree,I also never realized about all these different Guilds and groups being formed for so many different reasons.Also I like you, did not think about the complications and trials and tribulations associated with forming such a group.
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