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churlish about aesthetics

updated fri 26 sep 03

 

Karen Sullivan on thu 25 sep 03


I don't have a lot of time to read through
all of the posts...but of late I picked up
a blast of opinions...
Just some thoughts and reactions to....

I have been watching of late David Suzuki's
PBS program "Life in the Balance"...
sometimes I think ideas are framed by
colliding experiences...so I will list
my past day and how I have reacted
to the experience of reading through the
clay posts....

Suzuki talked about the importance of
the love affair we have to our world and
the contents of that world. His context is
to awaken an appreciation to the natural world.
His examples were of a variety of people who
had more keenly developed senses...as in the
Inuit hunters' sense of hearing....
Suzuki also claims that our time on this planet
has created an appreciation for our surroundings
that is genetic.
(*see bird walk below)

I would think that
as artist's we as a group are more sensitive
to the material world...say, as opposed to
philosophers who are more ethereal....
or musicians who focus on other senses, i.e. hearing....
His theory is that we are re-fueled by our
relationship with nature.

Given that theory as a paradigm for moving
through the world...how is it possible not
to be awed by most everything around...
and to be amazed by the diversity that
exists in our expression of form with
whatever material we choose.

I am the first to admit to a bias of
likes and dislikes...also abilities....
I also understand that the lens that I
use to view the world is formed by my
experience....
But I also do not want to limit my visual
experience with exclusion of....fill in
a category....

So...I often asked my mentor teacher how
he judged good work from the routine...
and his comment was that innovative work was
memorable...an ever more difficult task to
accomplish at age 75...eh...
more difficult to accomplish with more experience.
(been there done that theory of art making)

So....I don't know that innovative is the
highest goal...often skillful is...
or pick an adjective...
it's a complex world...
and I've rambled enough.
(*bird walk...not that it matters...
but I am looking forward to an upcoming
insect fair...middle of October where
I get to eves drop the entomologists sharing
insect exploits/travels and discoveries...
such fun

bamboo karen