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The term avant-garde is freighted with baggage from its source in military language. Consider the implications of applying the idea of an armed vanguard to the arts: The term assumes a condition in which a smaller group leads the way for a larger one, which in turn presupposes an overall unity to a field, whether its painting, dance, literature, or crafts. It assumes that a field moves forward all at once, all in the same direction, just like an army. It implies resistance and struggle, and eventual defeat to a countervailing idea. And it suggests a rear-guard, a reactionary group that desperately hangs on to an obsolete idea. A complex narrative of winners and losers, and organized victory over an outmoded idea is compressed into a single phrase.... (2004) Complete Story
For many years, I have struggled to find ways of conveying the meaning of art and its importance. I had come to believe that when critics and teachers talk about art they primarily only talk about what we see on the surface, the formal issues of design, composition, materials, technique, and craftsmanship. In my quest to develop significant ways to justify art, I wanted to go further to the invisible and emotional aspects of creative work. This society badly needs art, and I feel we must find ways of understanding why art is so important to our entire culture if we ever expect it to become a healing and nurturing force in our lives.... (2004) Complete Story
Fortunately, change is inevitable. Even for those individuals in the art establishment who assert that artists cannot and should not be active as curators or critics. This assertion is part of a traditional art would - one built on a foundation of hierarchies and exclusions that erode any modicum of power, control, influence, and authority that an individual artist has on or within the system. When artists actively participate as curators, critics, or arts administrators, this foundation starts to crumble.... (2004) Complete Story
In cast iron we recognize only the machine-made copy of a copy; in wrought-iron we feel the presence of the thought which the craftsman has stamped upon his work. One brings us face to face with matter; the other with mind... Purveyors of cast iron countered that there was greater scope for individual craftsmanship at the design stage, fashioning molds and models in wood and clay. The debate was about process more than product.... (2003) Complete Story
Rarely do we think of jewelry as a matter of life and death. On the contrary, ornament is typically perceived as superfluous or even trivial. In spite of this view, jewelry and other bodily adornment can indeed facilitate our survival in various ways. Among the many roles that ornament performs, perhaps its most compelling is its ability to protect us from harm.... (2005) Complete Story
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