Arch wrote:
Many of us claim to be bored and disinterested about the Art and Craft
thing. We often feel a need to disclaim any interest in this tiresome
non sequitur and feel we must apologize for posting about a
'non-problem'. We dissemble and distance ourselves, but we sure keep o=
n
bringing the subject up. Why won't it fade away? Maybe this was
answered in Art 101, but not all of us took the course.=20

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Draw you own conclusions, but perhaps one reason is that as woodturners=

increase in number and decrease in age, their view becomes less limited=
,
and their attitudes are more proactive or at least, less reactive.

And, happy melodist, unweari-ed,
Forever piping songs forever new;

and...

When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Another thing that those fluent in 'Art Speak' know that I don't is why=

art doesn't progress.=20

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;



Science and most human endeavors progress, but
art doesn't. =20

Forever warm and still to be enjoyed,
Forever panting, and forever young;

I mean Barry's Husky and George's Nova are far better
machines than ancient foot lathes, but the vases of today don't seem an=
y
better than Keat's Grecian Urns.=20

Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:

Paintings of distorted wris****ches and
soup cans, although different, don't really represent progress from the=

treasures painted on old walls and ceilings of Rome. Same with classica=
l
music.


Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands dressed?

=20
To pick up on William Noble's terse challenge on another thread, I
wonder if repeats of a piece of creative art, although turned by the
original artist, are truly art or mere reproductions. Can the signatur=
e
work of a turner-artist, even if the repeats exceed his original
creation, be art? Can an artist plagiarize himself? Our lawyers will
know, but I bet the rest of us don't.


Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty"---that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.


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=20
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I'll go ahead and post this much since I started it, but after seeing
the pictures tonight of the Sugar Bowl, to continue musing about art an=
d
turned wood bowls seems crass and importune. Better to offer prayers
and sympathetic understanding for our Gulf Coast neighbors.....and to
Send Help.
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Turn to Safety, Arch =20
Fortiter
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http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings
=20


http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/urn.html


--=20
Will R.
Jewel Boxes and Wood Art
http://woodwork.pmccl.com
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those=20
who have not got it.=94 George Bernard Shaw