The Art of Craft

INSTALLMENT ONE:

I have to admit a certain bias. I think that education in our time is largely a sham. The education our kids currently enjoy is minimal at best. The education plan that purports to leave no chld leaves many many children behiend. Thousands of children of great artistic, expressive, and tactile talent are drowning. Art programs are dying all over the state. The drama program at the school I work as a sub has eliminated drama for next year and hasnt had choir for the last three year. I am going to do a full scale search to see if I can find a wood craft program at any level. And in doing this investigation is a series of blogged columns perhaps we can get a handle on how a talented child can get and arts education today or if it can even be done.

Inspiration and Aimful Wandering

Inspiration - Inspire. An infilling of spirit. What is it? Where does it come from? Most important how do we get it going when it doesn't seem to be there. I worry about inspiration. I can make wooden boxes all day. They will fall off my assembly tables, go on to pollute the display shelves of the best houses in Humble and the Heights. But, I keep looking for the boxes or works of wood that are truely inspired. Those are the ones that seemed to leap of the drawing board at you, or a concept that you had just understood. Remember that inspire means to let the spirit arrive in your body. In the brilliant movie City of Angels the angels moved among humans gently giving them help, love and inspiration as they passed. They would come up behind a person to blow a page open as you looked through a book. And, there it was- the information they were looking for. Inspiration, like those angels, allows your mind to connect to something deeper and more profound. Often you have to see an image or a form to create concepts within your mind. Aimful wandering is useful to jumpstart your creativity or inspiration.

Aimful wandering takes place when you deliberately put yourself in environments where you can let random thoughts, forms, colors and ideas occur. Aimful wandering contrasts with another one of my favorite pastimes - pointless wandering - because I go out with a specific goal in mind. Most often the goal is to simply immerse my self in scenes that will get the flow started in my mind. I arrange this kind of afternoon or evening to include as much visual, aural, and tactile information as I can cram in. I don't know what I will discover. I never know what I will encounter that will start a new concept forming. Sometimes I don't even go with any locations in mind. I just start to wander the area of the city where I know I will find galleries, craft and art.

Some little time ago I did some aimful wandering in a wonderful new gallery called the Artful Corner owned by Margarete. I had not been in that gallery yet. I had noticed it a couple of times but hadn't stopped. One afternoon I noticed that it was open as I drove by. I was kind of in a funk so I decided to look around at the Artful Corner. So many beautiful things are there. Many are from local artists. In fact, Margarete, the owner, told me that she was only stocking crafts made in America. In fact, much of the work is by local artists. The work is really well displayed. Inspiration can come from viewing the work of other artists. You wander about looking at colors, forms, interpretations. Often a wonderful gallery can get your thinking jumpstarted. The Artful Corner is a great place to wander. Go by and get inspired.

Saturday evening I treated myself to new work by Mitch, Carolyn and Susan Michael at the opening of their new show 3 Amigos at M2. So much wonderful work! Carolyns wonderful Kandinsky Frogs and Butterflies are Free made me think of the role of color in my work. "Slice of life" and "Abstract on Wood" made me think of the use of shape in my work. I started to think of how to use more contrasting woods in my work. And, the experimentation with a variety of shapes I have been playing with was reinforced.

Earlier that day I had visited Gees Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt at the Museum of Fine Arts. The bold colors and shapes in that show still rest in the back of my mind. I started to see in my minds eye sculptural pieces in wood featuring dynamic shapes and colors. Amazing work! I was struck by how a community of artists can stimulate the creativity of other artists to bring about work that is of a similar school but so different at the same time.

Then, I stopped by the Center for Contemporary Craft to see the kiln glass show there. This show features a lot of work that resembles marquetry. There was so much geometric contrast and interest in this show. So much color. If I had several lifetimes I would spend one of them as a glass artist.

Inspiration. It comes so often from our surroundings. When a craftsperson or artist needs to get the creative juices flowing, do a little aimful wandering. Let eye come to rest where it will. When you see something that stops you spend a moment asking yourself what it was the caught you. Really take a moment to try to decide what it is that you like about the piece that moves you. Bless yourself with the time, quiet and contemplation to let inspiration come to you. Take time. Wander aimfully.

John McGeough is a craft artisan working in wood. He shows his work regularly at the Yale St Arts Market. John is fascinated with craft whether it is wood, ceramic, textile, metal or any of the many available media. He can't pass up a gallery or a booth. This column is an exploration of fine craft. Read more about John

The Art of Craft Archive

• Installment Two- Is there anything left of arts education?
• February 2006, Introduction