“The challenge we face is therefore to find some means of enjoying the same degree of harmony and tranquility as those more traditional communities while benefiting fully from the material developments of the world as we find it at the dawn of a new millennium.” Tenzin Gyatso, XIV Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New Millennium, Riverhead Books Contents Carleton Palmer Toward a Phenomenology of Artistic Processes and the Expansion of Living Traditions in Art David W. Ecker Art, the Community, and Global Well-Being David W. Ecker Papermaking From Selected Malaysian Fibers: An Investigation of its Artistic Potential Through Creation of Original Paper Artworks Response and Documentation: Aesthetic Inquiry Relevant to Selected Works of Robert Rauschenberg Religious Images as Seen in Painting of the Postmodern Era Artist Writing as Discoursal Gesture A Cross-Cultural Interpretation of Artistic Terms in Chinese and Western Art Theory and Practice: A Semiotic Analysis Popular Art and Political Movements: An Aesthetic Inquiry into Chinese Pictorial Stories A Multicultural Aesthetic Inquiry into "Plexus Black Box": An International Community-based Art Project The Fabric Thanka: Aesthetic Inquiry into a Tiving tradition Ecology Art Education On-line: A World Community of Old Trees Elaborating Cultural Identity: Imaginal World Making as an Ethnocentered Artist The Creativity of Contemporary Japanese Artists Within the Context of Japanese and Western Aesthetics Artistic Representation in Contemporary Kuwaiti, Egyptian, and Iranian paintings and Prints, and Interpretations of these Works According to Islamic Law The Post-romantic Vision of Contemporary Pinhole Photographers Graven Images: Creative Acts of Idolatry a Hermeneutic Study of the Relevance of Theological Proscription of Image-making in Judaic Law to Contemporary Jewish Art and Artists The Representation of National Identity in Korean Art Exhibitions, 1951-1994 ISALTA Research Report, 2006 by Carleton Palmer Research Director, ISALTA Research to Date While teaching in the Department of Art and Arts Professions at Rather than merely teaching about art as it is understood in the In so doing, students from, This issue of the ISALTA Research Journal retrospectively addresses the shape of those studies. “Toward a Phenomenology of Artistic Process and the Expansion of Living Traditions in Art,” is a draft preface to the larger work in progress for a quarter of a century which is mentioned in the text, and is an appropriate introduction to the research abstracts that follow. (More information concerning the organizational and research mission will be found in ISALTA Research Journal Vol. 0, No. 0, which inaugurated this series, and is archived at http://www.isalta.com) CP Toward a Phenomenology of Artistic Process and the Expansion of Living Traditions in Art David W. Ecker “If you quit thinking about what you are doing for a second, you could ruin your work.” (1) Woody Naifeh, Knifemaker; “Dan Maragni started me on I. The seeming multiplicity of artistic processes challenges the validity of any singular analysis just as the apparent diversity of those objects and-events we call "art" resists definition. Still, every- one can agree that there is more to artistic activity than physical skill or technique. For example, the tightrope walker is not walking the tight-rope merely to get to the other side. Surely the point of his performance is that others perceive his movements on the "high wire" as the embodiment of grace and courage in the face of mortal danger. Yet we can also readily imagine that he would fail even to reach the other side were he to worry about his debts, his marriage, or the ringmaster's appreciation of his act while he--the artist--is in the middle of that act. From moment to moment the shifting focus of the performer's consciousness, his intense concentration on the task at hand—or foot, in this case--forces all extraneous thoughts, images, feelings, sensations into the margins of consciousness. As in several other circus arts, falling is the failure to bracket out not only present irrelevancies but also those recalled or anticipated situations which may preoccupy one on the ground, especially a fear of falling. While the identification of essential features in our imagined event is incomplete, my brief description does stake out the territory to be explored: the subjective and objective polarities of those experiences constituting any particular artistic process. Moreover, the two features identified in this description--the tightrope walker's concentration and his purpose-¬raise the problem of their experiential relationship. Unfortunately they have already been nominally entangled. Those familiar with the literature will remember that "intention" refers generally to “a consciousness taken in relationship to the object intended, or meant,” (3) or in this instance the concentrating artist in relation to the object of his concentration. This phenomenological term should not be confused with the subject's purpose, design, or goal, as in the "artist's intention." Nevertheless, the thesis to be probed here is that these two features are the essential dimensions of any artistic process. In what follows, I hope to demonstrate how a future "phenomenology of artistic processes" might so describe them by recounting my apprenticeship with a master knifemaker and by briefly characterizing the newly revitalized traditional art of bladesmithing. Such documentation may prove to be an effective way to revive, maintain, or advance selected art traditions. Before such ambitious projects in art education can be taken seriously, however, a rationale must be provided. It will also be necessary to clear away some accumulated dogmas--the ideological underbrush--that might impede any meaningful talk about the bladesmith's art. II. Something of the new orientation in art education I believe may be required in the remaining two decades of this century is reflected in such otherwise diverse books as Small Is Beautiful, (4) The Forgotten Art of Building a Stone Wall, (5) Diet for a Small Planet, (6) and the "plain living" themes in the Foxfire anthologies. (7) A further indication of the direction my professional interests have taken me is surely revealed in the title of a book that Woody Naifeh and I are working on. We want to call it “The Art of Making Pocket-knives." Definitely lower-case in scale, yet the unheroic proportions of all these books seem appropriate to me now and perhaps to others as well. Clearly we no longer have the unlimited choices of life-style many of us thought we had in the 'sixties. And I believe that what has happened to I believe that formalist aesthetic doctrine and orthodox modern art history continue to inform both the methods of instruction and the meanings attributed to art at all levels of institutionalized art education. This pedagogical mix of method and content remains as the pervasive orientation in the schools even though the creative and critical reaction to formalism has long been underway within what those who aspire to membership call "the art world,” And beyond Manhattan Island there are living traditions in the world at large whose artifacts defy our modernist convention of reducing art to line, color. texture, "significant” form, the “purity" of the medium and other cherished notions. Indeed, our Western distinctions between art and craft, fine and applied arts, and related classificatory schemes seem downright arbitrary when the productive activities of humans are approached on their own terms and in their own cultural contexts. I have argued elsewhere that inquiry into the wide range of activity beyond painting, drawing, and sculpture can serve to broaden our conception of what art is, deepen the meanings it can hold for us, and consequently that such inquiry can provide fuller and more variegated vision of what art education might become. Many of my long-time friends and associates hold similar views. In fact, the International Society for the Advancement of Living Traditions in Art (ISALTA) was organized precisely to promote the kinds of inquiries that would make a new vision of art education possible. And as part of a new graduate program in the Department of Art and Art Education at The need we perceive is for supervised inquiry into aesthetic and creative aspects of traditional art activities carefully selected from those accessible worldwide. Ideally this inquiry would be conducted on site--in the studio, shop, factory, quarry, or foundry--and involve the investigator directly through his or her own participation in the activity and its documentation. There is already sufficient evidence to indicate that, by observing and participating in a freely chosen activity, the investigator can become sufficiently informed to produce a document which illuminates the aesthetic and creative character of that activity as part of a living tradition. The university rightly expects that students in the program will make a contribution to our knowledge of the subjects investigated while at the same time broadening their own conception of art and art education. There is also a very practical objective. By acquiring the skills involved in field study and the documentation of these traditions we think that students will enhance their prospects for employment in art museums and other educational and cultural institutions. Now career advancement is certainly a worthwhile goal. But what would it mean actually to succeed in advancing an art tradition? And what if many such programs were really successful on a large scale? One can readily summon up "worst case" images if not arguments against the very idea. One outcome might be the unwitting promotion of so-called "airport art." In many parts of the world artifacts are already produced by "the natives" strictly according to the visiting tourists' notions of "African, II Mexican," "oriental," or "Indian" art. Increase the demand through "art appreciation" courses and the locals will no doubt increase the supply. (If they don't, middlemen will do so by importing the souvenirs required in So where does one begin? In my view, genuine research in art and art education can proceed only when non-rhetorical questions are raised. Therefore I would like to raise the most fundamental questions I can ask at this time. I've organized my questions into five clusters which serially focus upon (1) the field of study or domain of inquiry, (2) purposes or objectives, (3) critical issues, (4) methods of research, and (5) the prospects for a "new" art education. First, with regard to domain, we must ask: What traditions in art can be identified as living? By what criteria? Where in the world are individuals and groups working in these traditions? Where close to home? What kinds of skills and knowledge do they possess, and how can their achievements best be understood and appreciated? How compromised or corrupted? In what appropriate ways could selected traditions be advanced by creative, critical, and theoretical inquiries into their artistic processes and achievements? On what basis would they be selected? Second, questions about purposes: How does aesthetic inquiry differ from historical, cultural. economic and political inquiries involving the same people and artifacts with regard to objectives, methods, applications? Is there a useful distinction between derivative and primary investigations in the arts? Does aesthetic inquiry into other traditions necessarily change one's own conception of art and art education? If so, in what ways? What specific skills and degree of understanding can a student reasonably expect to gain by short-term inquiry? Extended inquiry? For what purposes? Third, the critical issues: To what extent can Western art theories give an adequate account of the art activities of masters of the world's living traditions? Are the conventional distinctions between art and craft, fine and applied art, form and content, major and minor arts, and other such classifications applicable to the objects produced in these traditions? What objects, events, performances are left unaccounted for in modern art histories? What meanings are attributed to those objects that are included in these histories? Fourth, questions as to the methods of participation and documentation: What personal and professional commitments are involved in apprenticeship, internship, on-the-job training, or volunteer work in art? What cultural, moral and legal aspects should be considered in viewing a master as potential teacher? As respondent? How does one validate a transcript? Follow up leads? What techniques of photography, oral history, archeology, and so on, are relevant to aesthetic inquiry? How may artifacts, drawings, photographs, film, or video-tapes become components of the document? In what contexts may the document be tested and employed? And, fifth, questions regarding the view of art education as hermeneutics: In what ways can interpretation of the meaning of art activities in other traditions be construed as art education? How does participation in these activities modify our own understandings, perceptions, and practices? What changes would be required in current art education practices if a multi-cultural approach were adopted? I have already claimed that these very general questions are non-rhetorical. That is to say, satisfactory answers will come only as they are grounded in the experiences of those who participate in the research program I have projected here. As a researcher, however, my experiences do allow me to approach several of these questions in terms of field investigations now underway. So next I would like to identify the literature I have found helpful in thinking about living traditions, especially as they have been affected by technology; and then, in the last section, offer a brief description of my own apprenticeship. III. The history of aesthetics as written by Paul Kristeller, (9) Thomas Munro, (lO) Monroe Beardsley, (ll) and Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz (11) come to mind as reliable sources of information concerning the changing nature of the arts and their classification through the ages. And of course we turn to the general and more specialized histories of the arts, crafts, industries. and world culture to review what is included there. Beyond these relatively secure sources, however, the pertinent materials must be sought from a wide range of disciplines whose methods, objectives, and implicit values are sometimes found to be incompatible, one with another. Indeed, an instructive exercise might consist of drawing up a list of historical figures, obscure or famous, to represent the positions that have been or could be taken on the issues. Just imagine a debate between the Victorian humanist William Morris (13) and the Italian Futurist Marinetti. (14) 0n the social value of machine-made art. Or recall the accounts of explorers, missionaries, and settlers bringing "civilization to the savages" and compare them with the reflections of a Levi-Strauss. (15) Aspects of cultural anthropology, geography, ethnography, economics, and folkloric studies as well as the methods and purposes of oral history programs and the mass of published materials already available in the field of art education itself (16) are clearly relevant to the project as outlined in the preceding section. Perhaps the job of integration is logically impossible at the conceptual level. In any event, my inclination is to examine these materials for their specific applications. For example, the outstanding historical study by Merritt Roe Smith, Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology,(17) provides vivid documentation of the protracted resistance but eventual assimilation of a major craft tradition into the American system of mass production. The transition from a craft- to a machine-based production of guns occurred during the period between 1800 and 1860. But Smith's account of the struggle of the gunsmiths against the industrial requirement for interchangeable parts can also be read as a scenario for coming events in the The threat of technology was real enough to the gunsmiths. Here is the boast of an inventor of the period, contained in his letter to Colonel Roswell Lee, superintendent of the Springfield Armory: "I have discovered a method by which I can vary the jig and set it to every lock. . . . I am about to commence building a machine for the above mentioned purpose, and will [continue] on the same in my shop until I can do as good work as can possibly be done by hand." He was also confident that another of his machines could “make a closer joint in one minute than a Stocker can in one hour.” (18) Stocker? A craftsman who carved stocks one at a time. Stocks? Yes, as in "lock, stock, and barrel," the three components of the Not only can one find examples of traditional arts being transformed, co-opted, diminished, or eliminated by the advent of the machine and technological processes and their attendant values; modern machines and materials have also spawned new objects and events that are offered as art. Photography and film and now video and holography are outstanding examples in the twentieth century. There are also undoubtedly living traditions that have successfully resisted or rejected the Industrial Age--or perhaps even the Iron or Bronze Ages--in isolated enclaves around the world. Any deliberate intervention into these societies has usually had unexpected consequences--the spread of disease, for example. So it certainly should not be considered inevitable that technologies will--or should-- continue to have the consequences that have historically occurred. Yet the idea of Progress in Art and Science has such a compelling hold on the popular imagination that it could be called the central myth--or half-truth--of our time. And educators who believe that human knowledge is increasing at an exponential rate also quite naturally believe that the educated human is one who understands how to use storage and retrieval systems. What are we to say, then, about the following passage I have selected from Foxfire 5: ironmaking, blacksmithing, flintlock rifles, bear hunting, and other affairs of plain living, (19) edited by Eliot Wigginton under the heading "The Handmade Era": “Until parts for rifles were generally available to the gunsmiths through manufacturers, they were made my hand by the gunsmith himself. Few traditions illustrate more aptly the consequences of not recording traditions than the making of a gun barrel by hand. Wallace Gusler, the nationally-known gunsmith at The fact is, of course, that certain areas of the arts and sciences are expanding at a rapid rate while other areas of human knowledge and mastery are at a standstill, losing ground, or already lost. And undoubtedly this situation is the result of the needs, wants, and values of individuals, groups, and entire societies that selectively shape perceptions of, and responses to, the world as experienced. In effect, the purpose of ISALTA is not only to find that "single living human" who could still show us "how the barrels were once made," but to carry forward and enhance that tradition. Wigginton, Gusler. and Hacker Martin, the If this brief review of what happened to early American gunsmiths suggests the kinds of problems that workers in traditional arts may face as technological "development" approaches, then systematic multi-disciplinary reviews would certainly guarantee more sophisticated research than might otherwise be sponsored by ISALTA. Thus my own reading of the growth of the cutlery industry in the Connecticut Valley in the nineteenth century (20), (21) provides an historical perspective from which to view the present expansion of custom knifemaking activity across the country and the surging interest in collecting fine cutlery as art. However, neither my repeated visits to the sites of the old Northfield Knife Company nor my extensive interviews with individual artist-knifemakers and collectors can account for my interest in making knives. Indeed, upon viewing my first pocketknife, uninitiated friends tended to ask not how I made the knife but why I would want to make it in the first place. IV. To open this section on an autobiographical note, then, is not to digress, but rather leads directly to the meanings I find and seek in the particular processes to be phenomenologically described. Strip away these experiential dimensions and what would remain is a manual of instructions or a "cookbook" of recipes. Step-by-step procedures--in heat treating, for instance--are of great value to the knifemaker if they are accurate. But telling “how it is” sheds little light on the thesis I promised to explore at the beginning, namely, the avowed correlation of concentration and purpose in artistic pro¬cesses that makes them artistic. The fact is that my research interests of the past three years are strictly continuous with several of my long-time professional concerns. Twenty-seven years ago as a young sculptor, I welded steel under the guidance of Louis Weinberg and Leo Steppat while puzzling over the issues then current in art education and aesthetics under the tutelage or Fred Logan and Eugene Kaelin, with Alfred Sessler (for printmaking), my teachers at the University of Wisconsin. I also began to think about my own artistic problems in the studio in more general terms and about the pedagogical problems anyone would face who chose to teach "fine art." Several years later, after teaching art in public schools here and abroad, and further graduate work at New York University and Wayne State University--with much intellectual stimulation and encouragement from Francis Villemain, Nathaniel Champlin, and Eugene Kaelin--I presented my theory of "the artistic process as qualitative problem solving" at the American Society for Aesthetics conference in Detroit in 1961. The article subsequently published,(22) or the dissertation preceding it,(23) received critical analyses from Kaelin,(24) Monroe Beardsley,(25) Gertrude Kessel,(26) Harold Marshall,(27) Dwaine Greer,(28) and Elizabeth Steiner,(29) among others. This criticism prompted me to continue working on the theory. Regarding initial orientations, my introduction to phenomenology occurred back in 1954 while auditing Marvin Farber's graduate seminar in the Phi1osophy Department. On the other hand, a new set of issues presented themselves when I attended my first Knifemakers Guild Show in So let us go back to my very first session with Woody in the knife- shop on his ranch, and listen to a master knifemaker tell how it is: “In making a pocketknife, you are making a sandwich of materials: two handles holding a blade and a spring. As you get more experience you are constantly improving your methods, reducing error, gaining more precision ••• Now a lot of knifemaking is done by feel and by eye-balling--I think this gets into aesthetics. When I design a new knife from scratch, I visualize it in my head or maybe I have thought about it for a while, and I come out here to the shop and I will make that knife and I'll work on it and I'll enjoy every second of it. And I make it by feel: What thickness of material to use. How wide should it be. How long should it be. What's it going to be used for. Is this an object of art? A piece of jewelry? For general utility? Or all of these things? So I want to put all of this together. . . . So this is how I design a knife. I find myself with a good high feeling. I enjoy what I'm doing) the whole world is right. Everyone of my knives is made under this condition. . . . I'm over here with files and sandpaper at this bench. . . . You could make pocketknives without the bandsaw or the grinder, but not without the drill-press; you must drill your holes exactly perpendicular. . . . Here is my buffer. It runs at e 3,450 r.p.m. with a buffing wheel on one side and a fiber wheel on the other. I use the fiber wheel with a material called tripoli to get a satin finish on my blade after I have hand-sanded it. I use the wheel only for a matter of seconds until I get the desired effect. If you quit thinking about what you are doing for a second, you could ruin your work. “(1) In this session, as in all of the sessions to follow, Woody indicated the necessity of keeping means and ends in conscious relationship at every step in making a pocketknife. In the "finishing" step just referred to, for in-stance, one must hold the blade against the buffing wheel at the correct angle so as to achieve the desired satin finish, yet ignore the burning sensation in your fingers as the temperature of the blade builds up (from excessive pressure or prolonged buffing) and you are likely to spoil the artistic lines created previously when the bevels of the blade were ground. You also run the risk of drawing the temper out of the blade, thereby rendering the knife worthless as a cutting tool. Likewise in heat-treating the blade (which is done after grinding but before final polishing), the precise color of the heated steel must be judged as the measure of its temperature just before quenching, so as to obtain the desired qualities of hardness and--after tempering--toughness. And so on, through to the completion of my first knife, a small one made with a blade and spring of 440-C stainless steel and handles of Sambar stag. By reviewing my shop notes and Woody's detailed "chalk-talks" (Figure One), and by listening to the tape-recordings of our lengthy discussions, I was able further to reflect upon my initial experiences as an apprentice knifemaker. What became clear is that my own concentration and purpose were the controlling factors at each stage in the process. Apart from its personal value, however, this phenomenological discovery was hardly enough by itself to advance the art of knifemaking--the long-range goal of our research. The heightened awareness of many knifemakers of the potential for expanding traditional practices would be required. For example, while makers have available to them much useful information on the metallurgical characteristics and procedures of heat-treating modern steel alloys, there is virtually nothing available on the mechanical analysis and design of pocketknives. Woody had already pointed out in a letter (30) that if makers did not understand how the spring in a pocketknife acts as a cantilever beam and, therefore, how a knife may be designed with the aid of a mathematical analysis (relating spring tension to its thickness, shape, elasticity, maximum deflection, and effective length), they are left to determine by trial and error what proportions work best in any given design. (Woody subsequently has devised formulas to increase the mechanical efficiency of the cams, levers, and springs of folding knives in general.) Indeed, judging from my observa¬tions and interviews in the field, habitual ways of doing things tend to override other considerations among factory designers and custom knifemakers alike. Several kinds of knives currently being made have been traced back hundreds of years--for example, the jackknife to the seventeenth and the Barlow and penknife to the eighteenth century.(3l), (32) Nevertheless, there are classical patterns that would be hard to im¬prove upon. In fact we selected as the “book knife" an old pocketknife with the logo of the long-defunct " I first made the working drawing (Figure Two) by taking measurements with calipers from the original knife. Then I proceeded to make brass patterns for all parts from the drawing. After scribing a line around each pattern on the appropriate material, I cut out and "profiled" all parts. After drilling the holes and making the pins, I temporarily assembled the parts to adjust the geometry of the knife for proper action. Successive steps included soldering bolsters to liners, setting the tension in the spring, and grinding bevels in the blade. Next came heat-treating. The blade and spring were hardened (eight minutes in an electric furnace at 1475° F. followed by an oil quench produced a hardness as measured on the Rockwell scale at 65); then the blade was tempered (one hour at 4600 drew it down to Rc 58) followed by the spring (one hour at 5800 gave Rc 53). All parts were then polished and the knife re-assembled to check alignment. Finally, after riveting it together, the contours of the completed knife were further refined by light sanding and buffing, and the blade sharpened on a stone. Actually, my shop notes describe some fifty-eight steps, including several sub-routines (see Figure Three). While many of the procedures require a critical eye and a steady hand (grinding bevels in the blade, for example), we believe that making this replica pocketknife is within the capacity of the beginner to make. Why make a replica of a classic knife? Because the would-be maker cannot hope to extend a tradition without mastering at least some part of it. How does one extend the tradition of making fine cutlery? We hope that one way, at least, will be for readers to learn from some of the world's leading knifemakers through our detailed descriptions of their innovative shop practices and artistic purposes in making what increasing numbers of collectors consider to be works of art. It remains to suggest what a fully articulated "phenomenology of knifemaking" might be expected to accomplish, both for phenomenology as a method of aesthetic inquiry and for the continued growth of knifemaking and other traditional art activities. My efforts to characterize artistic methods and meanings have been sustained over the years with ideas drawn from many sources, as indicated earlier. Even so, the experiential approaches of John Dewey, especially in his Art As Experience. (34) and the insightful essay "Qualitative Thought,"(35) and of Martin Heidegger, in Being and Time,(36) must be considered as primary sources in this effort. Needless to say, Heidegger's analyses of man's engagement with environment and community in practical and personal projects which define his being-in-the-wor1d, and of the world as the region of human concern, take on heightened significance in my current efforts to visualize the research program of ISALTA. The correlation of subject-and¬ object underlies all of man's ways of being-in-the-world. Hence, to acknowledge the human nature of aesthetic inquiry and its domain is at once to free research in art from the false objective/subjective dichotomy assumed in Western institutions that separate scientific activities from artistic activities. To be sure, Heidegger uncovers many practical distinctions between scientific and artistic ways of apprehending the things of immediate experience, but I'11 bring my speculation on future research to a close by citing his distinction between the kind of interpretation that has its origin in “con¬cernf1 understanding” and the "extreme opposite case of theoretical assertion." The assertion to be analyzed is, "The hammer is heavy.” First. with regard to any assertion as a communication: “. . . When an assertion is made, some fore-conception is always implied; but it remains for the most part inconspicuous. because the language already hides in itself a developed way of conceiving. Like any interpretation whatever, assertion necessarily has a fore-having, a fore-sight, and a fore-conception as its existential foundations. But to what extent does it become a derivative mode of interpretation? What has been modified in it? . . . Prior to all analysis, logic has already understood 'logically' what it takes as a theme under the "categorical statement"--for instance, 'The hammer is heavy.' The unexplained presupposition is that the 'meaning' of this sentence is to be taken as: "This Thing--a hammer--has the property of heaviness.” In concernful circumspection there are no such assertions 'at first.' But such circumspection has of course its specific ways of interpreting, and these, as compared with the 'theoretical judgment' just mentioned, may take some such form as 'The hammer is too heavy.' or rather just 'Too heavy!,' 'Hand me the other hammer!' Interpretation is carried out primordially not in a theoretical statement but in an action of circumspective concern - laying aside the unsuitable tool, or exchanging it, 'without wasting words.' From the fact that words are absent, it may not be concluded that interpretation is absent. . . . (37) As I understand Heidegger's analysis, I have already begun to "interpret" the significance of the hammers in my growing collection by having begun my apprenticeship at the anvil and forge. Under the supervision of Don Fogg of As far as advancing the tradition, the exciting news is that at least a half-dozen American bladesmiths are already producing what may be some of the finest knives ever made.(38) As the phenomena of immediate experience are allowed "to show themselves" in the process, the horizon of our concern indeed widens. END REFERENCES 1. Excerpt from transcript of a recording of my first session as apprentice knifemaker with Woody Naifeh in the shop on his ranch outside Tc1sa, 2. Excerpt from a transcript of a recording of an interview with Ray Osterlund at the New England Blacksmiths Conference, 3. Eugene F. Kaelin, "Between the Innocent Eye and the Omniscient Mind: Phenomenology as a Method for Aesthetic Analysis," in Qualitative Evaluation In The Arts, David W. Ecker, editor (New York: Division of Arts and Arts Education, New York University, 1981), p. 52. 4. E. F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1973). 5. Curtis P. Fields, The Forgotten Art of Building A Stone Wall (Dublin, New Hampshire: Yankee, Inc., 1971). 6. Frances Moore Lappe, Diet for a Small Planet (New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1971). 7. For example, Foxfire 5: ironmaking, blacksmithing. flintlock rifles, bear hunting, and other affairs of plain living, Eliot Wigginton, editor (Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1979). 8. "Living Traditions in Art: A Challenge to Art Education," keynote address to Massachusetts Art Education Association Conference at. 9. Paul Oskar Kriste1ler, "The Modern System of the Arts: A Study in the History of Aesthetics," Journal of the History of Ideas (October 1951, 12: 4, pp. 496-527, and January 1952, 13:1t pp. 17-46). 10. Thomas Munro, The Arts and Their Interrelations (New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 1951). 11. 12. Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz, History of Aesthetics, three volumes (The Hague: Mouton, 1970). 13. William Morris, Collected Works, 24 volumes, M~ Morris, editor ( 14. Filippo Marinetti, "Multiplied Man and the Reign of the Machine" in Marinetti: selected writings, R. W. Flint, editor (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972), pp. 90-93. 15. Claude Levi-Strauss, The Savage Mind (London: Weidenfe1d and Nicolson, 1966). 16. See, for example, Kenneth R. Beittel, Alternatives for Art Education Research (Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown Company Publishers, 1973). 17. Merritt Roe Smith, 18. ibid, page 134. 19. Foxfire 5, page 226. 20. Martha Van Hoesen Taber, A History of the Cutlery Industry (Northamption, Massachusetts: Department of History of Smith College, 1955). 21. Robert L Merriam, Richard A. Davis, Jr., David S. Brown, Michael E. Buerger, rne History of the John Russell Cutlery Company 1833-1936 (Greenfield, Massachusetts, Bete Press, 1976). 22. David W. Ecker, "The Artistic Process as Qualitative Problem Solving," The Journal ~ Aesthetics and Art Criticism, ~~I, 3 (Spring 1963), pp. 283-90. 23. , "Toward a Methodological Conception of Problem and Control in Art Education, unpublished Ed.D. dissertation, 24. Eugene F. Kaelin, "Aesthetics and the Teaching of Art," in 25. 26. Gertrud Kessel, An Analysis ~ the Concept of the Artist's Intention In the Visual Arts, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, 27. Harold J. Marshall, The Relevance of Problem Solving to Artistic Activity: A Critical Study}", unpublished Ed.D. dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms, Inc., 1967). 28. W. Dwaine Greer," A Model for the Art of Teaching and a Critique of Teaching," in Qualitative Evaluation: Concepts and Cases in Curriculum Criticism, George Willis, editor (Berkeley, California: McCutchan Publishing Corporation, 1978). pp. 163-185. 29. Elizabeth Steiner, "The Qualitative Arts in Educational Theory," The Journal of Aesthetic Education, XV, 1 (January 1981), pp. 107-9. 30. Woody Naifeh, letter dated March 14, 1980. 31. Harold Bexfield, A Short History of 32. Joseph Smith, Explanation or Key, to the Various Manufactories of 33. Ledger, "Northfield Knife Co./ April 1897 to ", p. 28. Courtesy of Howard Gill of 34. John Dewey, Art As Experience (NewY,ork: Minton, Balch and Company, 1934). 35. , "Qualitative Thought," in Philosophy ~ Civilization (New 36. Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson, translators (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1962). 37. Ibid., pp. 199-200. 38. I was not the only observer at the September 25-27, 1981 meeting of the American Bladesmith Society at The following doctoral dissertations are categorized alphabetically by the author’s last name and can be keyword searched if this document is being read digitally. There is no priority to these works over many others which, one hopes, will appear in future issue of ISALTA Research Journal, but they do suggest the scope of the members’ collective mission. All Members are invited to submit subsequent research work and works-in-progress to this Journal. Longer reports on research can be drafted into monographs, and newsworthy information published in the Newsletter. It is hoped that concentrating these resources here will provide a center and a motivation for the encouragement of continuing quality research. Aside from the occasional paraphrase there has been no attempt to edit, change or review the researchers’ own statements as they appear in Dissertation Abstracts. CP Papermaking From Selected Malaysian Fibers: An Investigation of its Artistic Potential Through Creation of Original Paper Artworks Chew Teng Beng “The purpose of this research was to utilize selected tropical plants of The investigator sought to find out if the cellulose fibers of the agricultural residues of the bananas (Musa sapientum) and the pineapples (Ananas comosus) were suitable for the production of the pulps, to determine their characteristics, and their results. The study focuses on the historical development, aesthetics, production of pulps, sheet formation, discerning paper characteristics, and the extension of pulp as an artistic medium. The elicitation of the fibers involved in cooking and maceration. The variegated pulps were then used in several ways to handmake paper and paper artwork. Of myriad approaches employed in creating artwork, six were the researcher's invention that have not yet been expounded in any related literature thus far. Aesthetic inquiry was based on phenomenology, to discern as yet unseen aesthetic properties imbued in the chosen fibers. Primarily, the research was qualitative, employing aesthetic and descriptive procedures. However, quantitative method was also applied to record the experiments and tests. Research techniques included both traditional and contemporary phenomenological research and methods. The results evinced that both plant fibers were strong, elongated, elastic, and indissoluble, easily extractable, pulpable, and malleable. They were susceptible to dyes and intermix exceptionally well with recycled paper. Of the two genera, the pineapple fiber seemingly appeared to be tougher. In the pineapple species, it was found that Nanas Bukit is stronger than Nanas Mauritius. While in that of the banana, Pisang Awak is superior to Pisang Mas. Hence, more time was consumed in cooking and macerating the pineapple fibers. By varying the time duration in cooking, beating, and aging, the character of the fibers can be altered to effect different grades of paper. The research concludes that not only are the fibrous pulps potentially suitable for papermaking, but are equally versatile and fascinating as an artistic medium. Undoubtedly, the materiality of the fibers embodies wide ranging phenomenal features sui generis.” -Abstract Response and Documentation: Aesthetic Inquiry Relevant to Selected Works of Robert Rauschenberg ,Jane Bolmeier “The purpose of this inquiry is to document and assess the diversity of critical thought as it relates to Robert Rauschenberg's art. The art studied is limited to fifteen of his works, the earliest of which is The Lily White (1949) and the latest, First Landing Jump (1961); the criticism analyzed spans the period from 1951, the date of the artist's first one-man exhibition, to 1983. Although no single definitive method is chosen, an interrogatory procedure is employed to carry out the research. In Part I, "The Nature of the Inquiry," I consider questions fundamental to doing research in the arts. These are categorized according to the following dimensions: aesthetic experience and knowledge, context, medium, artistic intention, and criteria. Summaries of written criticisms are offered in Part II, "Selected Responses to Rauschenberg's Works." The immediate motive for the analysis is to provide greater understanding of the artist's work; the broader purpose is to clarify this body of criticism and provide insight into the critical process itself. Questions are asked, such as: What have the critics written about a particular work by Rauschenberg? and Which concepts have they used in their classifications of these works? My own written responses, which are based on direct observation and reflection, precede my analyses of the responses of the critics. Analysis of the criticism begins with the Erased de Kooning Drawing, continues with the "red" paintings through the section "Development in Time," where three works are analyzed--Rebus, Bed, and Monogram--and concludes with the criticism of a group of five "combine" paintings incorporating three-dimensional objects. The goal of Part III, "Emerging Tendencies," is to identify a number of critical approaches (literalist, intentional and horizontal, and the "new") and to ask questions that provide insight into the critical milieu surrounding Rauschenberg's work; such as: Is the writing of a particular critic organized according to a specific concept? If so, to which emerging tendency does this concept refer? In Part IV, "Conclusions and Recommendations," I summarize how critics have relied, in part, on acquired knowledge in their criticism of Rauschenberg's work. In my recommendations for future inquiry, I suggest that greater attention be given to the qualitative aspects of art and, finally, to the discipline of aesthetics.” -Abstract Religious Images as Seen in Painting of the Postmodern Era Audrey E. Bowles “This study presents the results of an investigation into those postmodern artworks which use traditional Christian iconography. The forms of postmodernism, appropriation, narrative, allegory irony, nostalgia, technology and multicultural concerns, are discussed as they pertain to the works under analysis. Works selected include those of internationally known contemporary painters of the past twenty five years: Juan Boza, James Brown, Allen Jones, Anselm Kiefer, Mark Reichert, Julien Schnabel, and Andres Serrano. The works were analyzed using Lawrence Ferrara's Eclectic Method Artist Writing as Discoursal Gesture Frank Van Skiver Boyer “The inquirer uses as data three sample texts, all self-written. Text 1 is an artist manifesto written during the process of creating “Dark Passages,” an original multi-media work of computer art (also presented). Text 2 describes the intrinsic and formal aspects of Text 1 from a “distant,” analytical perspective. Text 3 describes the influence of manifestos by Jack Kerouac and Tadeusz Kantor upon Text 1. Adopting a socio-semiotic stance derived primarily from Bakhtin, the author reflects upon and describes Texts 1, 2, and 3 as discoursal gestures. The concepts of inner speech as social (Vygotsky, Bakhtin) and of metatextual “framing” of communications (Goffman) allow coherent description of the three sample texts in terms of the contexts both into which and from which they emerged. Processes of creation, the syntactic structure, and the generic nature of the three texts appear in these descriptions, which locate each text discoursally in terms of Goffman's “dramatistic metaphor.” The key issue is the treatment in each text of implied addressor and addressee. Using the above descriptions, the author focuses on the broader context of the arts, describing the function in the discourses of the arts of writing stemming from the unique ends-in-view pertaining to the artist role. He argues that such writing has not been accurately described as a separate speech genre, nor in terms of its discoursal function. Therefore the potential for use of such writing in the arts and arts education remains unrealized. The author specifically argues that exposure to exemplary texts drawn from artist writing (informed by experience of processes of artistic creation), and practice in writing such texts, when interpreted as knowledge (Cassirer), should be an integral part of education in the arts, and is necessary to a dialogic relationship between workers in the arts and the humanities. The author assesses the impact of this inquiry upon his own artistic project and outlines possible educational and research applications of the methods and results of this inquiry.” -Abstract A Cross-Cultural Interpretation of Artistic Terms in Chinese and Western Art Theory and Practice: A Semiotic Analysis Xaio-ai Chang “This research is an inquiry into cross-cultural misunderstandings arising over Chinese and English art terms in translation in the light of a semiotic investigation of the meaning of these terms within their cultural contexts. The research consists of four case studies, in which the investigator examines inadequate or incorrect translated art terms found in the literature of cross-cultural communication between The theoretical bases of this research are drawn from Charles Peirce's triadic theory of signs in semiotics, W. V. O. Quine's indeterminacy doctrine of translation in logic, and David W. Ecker and Eugene Kaelin's conception of levels of discourse in aesthetics. In addition, Umberto Eco's semiotic analysis of the sign system is fundamental to this study of cross-cultural communication of art, while phenomenological reduction, as applied to the interpretation of the original meaning of the art terms, methodologically directs the implementation. The most unsettling interpretation of the findings of the study is that any translation will lead to some measure of misunderstanding. That is, not only the method of using existing terms found in one's own language to translate foreign art terms is problematic, but also the adoption of existing terms from one's native language to define art works, styles, or artistic activities of another culture results in distortion. In our efforts to pursue a cross-cultural aesthetic inquiry, therefore, the translation of foreign art terms into one's own language requires thorough investigation into the concepts and use of terms of both languages. And examination of both inside and outside understandings of the art of the alien culture in which a given word functions is indispensable. It is only by creating a kind of "encyclopedia of living traditions in art" that the researcher will be able to learn about the art of an alien culture.” -Abstract Popular Art and Political Movements: An Aesthetic Inquiry into Chinese Pictorial Stories Shangyu Chen “The purpose of this research was to describe the changing subject matter and artistic styles of Chinese pictorial stories (Lianhuanhua) from 1949 to 1990, and to relate their development to the major political movements during this period in order to determine the hegemonic impact of politics on Chinese popular arts. Lianhuanhua, developed in A qualitative study, this research is based upon Martin Heidegger's hermeneutical phenomenology, supplemented by a content analysis modeled after Robert Scholes and Robert Kellogg's conception of basic elements in narrative and D. E. Berlyne and J. C. Ogilvie's ideas about dimensions of art objects. Four narrative elements--plot, character, point of view, and meaning--are described and analyzed on both verbal and visual scales. According to D. E. Berlyne's art information theory, four layers of meanings--the semantic, the expressive, the cultural and the syntactic information--are presented in the study. This research demonstrated the decisive influence of politics on Chinese popular arts. Lianhuanhua and politics have been closely interwoven since the very beginning of sequential picture stories in the Han dynasty. The subject matter and artistic styles of modern pictorial stories still bear the deep marks of the hegemonic impact of Chinese social political tradition.” -Abstract A Multicultural Aesthetic Inquiry into "Plexus Black Box": An International Community-based Art Project Sandro Dernini “This study is a multicultural aesthetic inquiry into the "Plexus Black Box," a community-based international art project. Plexus, an international movement of artists and community intellectuals, has played a seminal role in the conception and realization of numerous large, international, interdisciplinary, collaborative, cross-cultural, multi-art events, which are an unexamined part of the contemporary history of art. The collaborative art project under study, "Plexus Black Box," is related to a series of art events held in several communities around the world, beginning in 1982, engendering a spirit of cooperation and bridging the gap between universities and local communities. The focus of Plexus is to raise the consciousness in the world community about the interdependencies of the arts, the well-being of individuals, and the reconciliation of cultural differences, through the extention and interaction of collaborative art events, bringing the community and the academy closer together, and linking the notion of "art"--as a culture-bound aesthetic experience--to the concept of "well being"--as a multicultural paradigm enhancing the quality of life in the community. The inquiry provides an aesthetic interpretation of "Plexus Black Box" as well as a comprehensive historical account of Plexus activities. The researcher, an "insider" of the project, applies David W. Ecker's model of "The Artist as Researcher: The Role of the Artist in Advancing Living Traditions in Art" within the current issues raised by Kenneth L. Pike and Marvin Harris, Emics and Etics. The Insider/Outsider Debate. Following John Dewey's Art as Experience, "the artist as researcher" presents an emic or an "insider" understanding of "Plexus Black Box," combining emic procedures with hermeneutic and deconstructionist interpretational methods. The researcher applies the "double writing" model employed by the deconstructionist Jacques Derrida in Margins of Philosophy, and as "an insider" conducts a "participative" hermeneutic inquiry following the interpretational historical perspective employed by Hans-Georg Gadamer in The Relevance of the Beautiful and Other Essays, and by Alfred Schutz's Reflections on the Problem of Relevance, to accomplish such a hermeneutical task. The subject matter of the study has required the development of a new research paradigm to deal with a complex of methodological problems. At this time, we are facing the challenge of a multicultural world where different values and cultures clash, and individual and cultural identification are of paramount concern for all. This study points out an open model for grasping possibilities of global participation, by building bridges among individual, communities and academic institutions. The study should prove to be invaluable for understanding the community-based art experience developing alternative strategies for its survival.” -Abstract The Fabric Thanka: Aesthetic Inquiry into a Living Tradition Gayle Curtis Jones “The fabric thanka (gos-sku), a religious art form of The procedural model for attempting an outside understanding of another culture was "The Artist as Researcher," by David W. Ecker (1990). Techniques of the Nechung Monastery were learned by working with a monk of that artistic tradition and producing a fabric sampler. Observations of artistic activity, interviews, recording by tape and film, and note-taking were undertaken, culminating in visual and written documentation. A glossary of stitches and a glossary of Tibetan words were developed to broaden understanding of the fabric thanka and diagrams were constructed to clarify understanding of techniques. Data collection took place in Ladakh, in In assessing the status of the fabric thanka as a living tradition, it was necessary to consider the fact that the culture is rapidly disintegrating within Ecology Art Education On-line: A World Community of Old Trees June Julian ‘"A World Community of Old Trees" is an ecology art project on the World Wide Web with open participation and a special section for students in grades K-12 and their art teachers. The purpose of this on-line study is to examine the potential of the Web as a medium for communication and exchange for ecology art education. As aesthetic inquiry, this research is a metacritique of past ecology art projects on the Internet. Earlier projects used e-mail for instructions and promotion, and exchanged student art work at the conclusion via regular mail. Using David Ecker's Matrix of Generic Questions for Curriculum Research as the navigational tool for on-line research, "A World Community of Old Trees" responds to his third question, "What could be the case?" The new project develops former on-line projects on six points: participation, interaction, content, promotion, information collection and distribution, and evaluation. It engages a global community of learners in identifying, writing about, and documenting with visual images, the oldest trees in their environment. Philosophical bases for his process is the biocentric ecology of Aldo Leopold and the environmental aesthetics of Arnold Berleant, both of which employ vivid description and deep personal relationships with nature. The research project has three main components. Participants can contribute to the Tree Gallery, containing tree imagery in a variety of media with accompanying text, to the Evaluation of the project is based on six objectives: potential, interaction, cross-cultural participation, community, ecology, and openness. Recommendations to art teachers are based on William E. Doll's post-modern perspective on curriculum development where each teacher is both a creator and an implementor of curriculum.’ -Abstract Elaborating Cultural Identity: Imaginal World Making as an Ethnocentered Artist Cora M. Marshall “Elaborating a cultural identity by looking to the past is a complex process where the challenges are many. Perhaps the biggest challenge for African Americans and Native Americans is that, for many, the past is indeterminable. The lack of recorded histories, misdocumention resulting from naming/renaming, miscegenatic prejudice, illegitimacy, passing for the dominate race, and loss of oral histories through acculturation are only some of the obstacles that obfuscate the way. So, how does one move from wanting to claim or reconnect to their cultural past to actually syncretizing disparate identities in a positive and useful way? For visual artists who seek to elaborate their identity by centering their work in their ethnicity, the world of the imagination is fertile and solid ground upon which to proceed. This aesthetic inquiry explores the process that uses imaginings as a nexus for identifying with a culture through the production of art work and singles out the use of imaginings as a process of locating the places that form when ideas cross. These new-sprung positions are rich with syncretic possibilities and multiple layers that enable artists to create new worlds reflective of their emotive, spiritual, intellectual, and physical connection to their ethnicity. The aesthetic experience is the starting and the ending place for this project. The body of work produced as part of the research is the core of the project. The artist/researcher, as a person of mixed ancestry, has created imaginative places with multiple layers of meaning by exploring new realities formed by cultural imaginings. Informing and surrounding this work are first person narratives from other ethnocentered artists. By observing patterns that connect history, racial consciousness, spirituality, cultural kinship, ethnocentered impulses, and stylistic affinities, these ethnocentered artists, (including the artist/researcher of this project), reveal and clarify the process by which visual artists can center their work in their ethnicity and elaborate upon the identity they already possess.” -Abstract The Creativity of Contemporary Japanese Artists Within the Context of Japanese and Western Aesthetics Teruko Minowa “This dissertation asks how contemporary Japanese artists conceive their ideas and create art in the context of a culture that emphasizes imitation and adherence to tradition. I argue that the impression that these values stifle creativity is based on an imperfect understanding of Japanese aesthetics. Through an examination of the artists' work and creative process, I attempt to demonstrate that knowledge of and response to aesthetic tradition plays a significant role in art that is also excitingly new. Chapter I introduces this argument and provides a glossary of Japanese aesthetics. Many of the terms are discussed in context in Chapter II, which presents an historical overview of Japanese aesthetic tradition. Chapter III examines the sculpture of Katsura Funakoshi, focusing on its emotional, symbolic, and spiritual import. Comparisons between Funakoshi's aesthetics and traditional Japanese <italic>haiku</italic> poetry are also explored. Chapter IV looks at the deeply ingrained tradition of conversation between art and nature and the exploration of new techniques in the work of <italic> ikebana</italic> (flower arrangement) and installation artists Hiroshi Teshigahara and Yukio Nakagawa. Chapter V examines the career, influences, and creative work of clothing designer Issey Miyake in light of the traditional Japanese aesthetic that connects nature with art and man with nature and in light of the aesthetic values of <italic>yonobi</italic> (functional art) and <italic> a-un</italic> (collaboration). Chapter VI considers the photographic self-portraits of Yasumasa Morimura, which mediate between East and West while adding postmodern twists to the Japanese tradition of <italic>moho</italic> (learning by imitation). Chapter VII explores the traditional principles of <italic>ma</italic> and <italic> kukan</italic> (potential and physical space) in the paintings of Hiroshi Senju, the prints and sculpture of Shoichi Ida, and the photographs of Hiroshi Sugimoto. Finally, Chapter VIII examines traditional influences on the architecture of Tadao Ando and Kisho Kurokawa, with particular reference to the aesthetics of home and garden and the spiritual relationship between the human and natural worlds. I conclude that these artists share an ability to fuse their knowledge of the past with a vision of the present and future, and that creativity conjoined to tradition and aesthetic values can yield exciting artistic fruit.” -Abstract Artistic Representation in Contemporary Kuwaiti, Egyptian, and Iranian paintings and Prints, and Interpretations of these Works According to Islamic Law Faridah Shaban Mohammad “The Quran (the Sacred Book of Islam) prohibits the making of idols, yet varying degrees of image-making may be observed in the Islamic world. This research explores the variations in contemporary artistic representation in Field research was conducted with four well-known artists from each nation chosen. Each work was analyzed to identify the characteristic artistic features, to determine the influence of religion on that work, and to place it in its tradition. In Egyptian artists incorporated subjects from national secular traditions and from Islamic art traditions. Two-dimensional works were restricted--nudes were not displayed in public and were not allowed in three-dimensions. Contemporary art in Two 'Ulama' (clerics) from each country were interviewed to clarify how Islam views art expression. A comparison of the 'Ulama's' differing interpretations tended to support the hypothesis that variations were influenced by interpretations of religious law, even though similar styles were practiced in All the 'Ulama' interviewed were opposed to representational art in three-dimension. They disagreed, however, regarding two-dimensional figures. The disagreement was on the degree to which each 'Ulama' considered portrayals of the human form to be depictions of God. Such depictions are prohibited, yet incomplete human forms rendered in realistic style were acceptable. Although there is one Islamic law, the application of the doctrine differs from country to country because of the uniqueness of their culture, heritage and religious interpretation.” -Abstract The Post-romantic Vision of Contemporary Pinhole Photographers Renee Creager O'Brien “In this study, the works of contemporary pinhole photographers are examined in an art historical framework. The subjective qualities rendered by pinhole photography are located within a discourse on a kind of aesthetic dualism. In that duality, pinhole photography has an affinity harking back to the romantic movement. But, it should be noted that the obfuscation of the stenopaic image prefaces the postmodern agenda. The first chapter describes the study and the related literature on Romanticism, Pinhole Photography, and Postmodernism. Also included is an explanation of the method of aesthetic inquiry according to E. F. Kaelin's model of Husserlian descriptive phenomenology and Heideggerian hermeneutical phenomenology. The second chapter is a brief history of photographic imagemaking and pinhole photography giving emphasis to the early debates between objective record and subjective vision. Included is an identification of a pinhole aesthetic within the discourse on the defined and the obscure. The third chapter is an aesthetic inquiry of the works of five contemporary photographers: Wiley Sanderson, Ruth Thorne-Thomsen, Marianne Engberg, Bernice Halpern Cutler, and Barbara Ess. Descriptive analyses of specific pinhole photographs are included in each aesthetic inquiry. The fourth chapter reframes contemporary pinhole and identifies the essential characteristics of pinhole imagemaking. Pinhole photography is a medium that intimates time, mystery, intuition, reflection and a personal vision. It is an approach to imagemaking that creates images based on the flux and flow of occurrences. Its phantasmagoric qualities are closer to dreams than visual reality. Pinhole photography is a holistic process grounded in experimentation. In its method, it deconstructs the camera and image but rediscovers the magical ceremony. Included in this chapter are photographs and statements from an eclectic selection of contemporary pinhole photographers who reinforce a singularity of vision. The final chapter proposes a post-romantic sensibility identified in contemporary pinhole photography. In this chapter, the romantic qualities exhibited in pinhole imagemaking are positioned in postmodernism.” -Abstract Graven Images: Creative Acts of Idolatry a Hermeneutic Study of the Relevance of Theological Proscription of Image-making in Judaic Law to cCntemporary Jewish Art and Artists Dawn Perlmutter “In light of the theological proscription of image-making in Judaic law, this dissertation interprets modern and postmodern ideologies as 'creative acts of idolatry'. The central issue is a monotheistic conception of an invisible deity which rejects the polytheistic world view that comprises multiple deities where various objects are venerated as gods. A corresponding issue presented in the dissertation is the debate between a psychological and ontological interpretation of works of art. By relating current societal and political conditions of art and artists in Modern and Postmodern culture to the cultural climate of the Biblical era, it is concluded that the theological proscription of image-making is a latent problem for contemporary Jewish art and artists. The approach taken is a secular interpretation of Judaism as a living tradition based on psychological and philosophical concepts of fear and visual perception and not dogmatic beliefs that characterize other religions as erroneous. Hermeneutics is employed as a research method in this dissertation to reinterpret Biblical text to the contemporary Jewish community. Definitions and derivations of the words and the concept of idolatry are presented in a comparative philology. Also two historical surveys were written: one survey details what type of art was permitted in relation to Jewish law and the other survey is a brief history of Jewish art. Current divergent forms of art such as abstract painting, commodity object, ritual, earthwork and environmental art are examined in correlation to the proscription of image-making. The significance that the relationship of art and religion, the creative process of art, the function of art in society and the psychology of superstition holds in regard to the phenomenon of the veneration of images is also explored. Since theological proscription is part of an ethical system of laws, the relationship of art, idolatry, censorship, and politic-religious power is examined. It is determined that the issue of censorship in art is not just another First Amendment Rights debate, but encompasses a struggle for retaining the ethics and morality of a monolithic society and attempts by artists not to simply introduce new forms of art but an entire new pluralistic paradigm.” -Abstract The Representation of National Identity in Korean Art Exhibitions, 1951-1994 Jae-Ryung Roe “This research is premised on the notion that national identity is culturally constructed and focuses on overseas art exhibitions as a cultural practice that is heavily invested in representing national identity. The dissertation examines the literature surrounding a selected cases of major exhibitions to identify the various concepts and the particular discourse that have produced constructed notions of national identity in the visual art. The dissertation also looks into how these exhibitions were being received overseas by examining the press reviews of the exhibitions. The research takes this line of thinking further by examining the particular constructs of national identity within the context of international politics and cultural policy. The first case study is the New American Painting exhibition which examines the discourse of American nationality that was defined by differentiating American art from that of The dissertation then examines the history of art exhibitions from The case of Korean exhibitions looks at the history of representations of This address was delivered by Dr. David W. Ecker on the occasion of the Third International Well-Being Symposium, 25-27 September 1998, Art, the Community, and Global Well-Being The Cross-Cultural Project David W. Ecker No sane person would not welcome global well-being as a future state of affairs for all people on earth. In fact, well-being is widely thought of as a basic human right. Why, then, we must ask, is there so much suffering inflicted on humans by humans around the world? The historical record provides a ready answer: fundamentally different conceptions of well-being and its achievement have been projected within and across cultures. And the religious and political conflict over human rights continues in many parts of the world. While the concept of well-being is reflectively addressed in some of the world's oldest texts and surviving icons, it is clear that this concept must be addressed again, albeit in contemporary terms. To put it simply: What are the constituents of well-being and the conditions for achieving it? Progressive political leaders in many countries are turning to science and technology in efforts to solve global ecological problems that directly impinge upon quality of life. And artists in every culture imaginatively portray in multiple ways their view of the human condition - ¬as it is and as it could be. Surely, we all have contributions to make, and there are many world organizations coordinating these various activities. an example, the Consortium for Well-Being in the 21st Century was formed in Cagliari, Sardinia, in December of 1995, by U. S. and European institutions (including the World Health Organization) to develop projects for enhancing cultural, nutritional, and environmental aspects of global well-being. My working group contributed the following objective: "To promote and encourage the bringing together of artists of various cultures to interact with each other, to collaborate on projects to bring about a better under standing of different peoples and living conditions within their respective communities." Wisely, the Consortium has not attempted to define well-being. I would propose, here, that such terms as "art," "the community," and "well-being" remain open concepts to allow for as many alternative or supplementary definitions to come forth as can be justified. My argument is that the present meanings of such value-laden terms are already linguistically shaped if not culturally determined. If useful conceptions are to emerge from our various cross-cultural projects, then free and open inquiry must prevail. To lend credibility to my proposal, I would like to offer a brief first-person account of one such long-term cross-cultural project, an international art movement that has made divergent approaches to "art" provocative because vital, yet also visible and viable. But first I ask you to imagine, for a moment, what the related terms "human" and "community" might come to mean in the near future. A strong Western belief holds that each human being is a unique self situated in a particular time and place in a historically evolving world. How will this belief fare in the 21st Century? We should be concerned since current biological research has already made multiple human cloning a frightening possibility. And recent success in reconstituting DNA material in plants threatens to make human control of the evolution of all living species - including humans - an even greater moral and political issue. We do not have to wait, however, for developments in the laboratory to re-think social being in the world. The rapidly growing global participation in every conceivable project over the Internet can be viewed as a radical democratization of access to information, hitherto available only to the offspring of socio-economic elites as "higher education." The proliferation of "chat rooms" in cyberspace raises a larger question for society: What constitutes a human community within the exponentially expanding boundaries of a virtual universe? Computer-artists, museum curators, and art educators are already programming their answers. One may wonder: if art is reduced to information on a superhighway, what will be the human cost? Of course, there are other forces at work that will surely alter traditional ways of life and notions of a life worth living. The mass media as well as social scientists and anthropologists have documented the impact of the ongoing globalization of a capitalist economy and the spread of Western popular culture and the English language, not to mention the omnipresence of one world superpower, on even the most remote non-Western cultures. These forces, in different ways to be sure, collectively project a kind of universal dream, if not the reality, of global well-being. In reality, the key to future well-being may be in learning how to maintain the present diversity of all living things in the face of these homogenizing forces. It is new widely accepted that deforestation and loss of savannas and tidewaters are causing an irrevocable loss of species of plants and animals, and the resulting reduction of valuable gene pools. Less acknowledged is the continuing reduction of the world's languages and cultures which negatively impact ethno-linguistic groups, even to the extent of their loss of self identities. I voice these broad concerns to provide a framework for understanding some of the Compelling motivations of Participants in the cross-cultural project I now wish to recount. I begin with the last Plexus event in which I participated, the live performance "Viaggio For the future, the Voyage of Elisabeth wil1 require cultural navigation over the Internet. At each "port of call" local artists and artisans and all interested institutions would be invited to join a global community , each :group participating in. its distinctive way. Thus the project would be promoting cross-cultural well-being by supporting some of the world's oldest artistic traditions in their cultural settings by means of the newest technology. It remains to be seen how financial support will be found in the global "free market" economy. It would be utterly misleading to imply that only artists are navigating global cultures, however. Scientific and academic communities have been heavily involved in the central events that have led us to today’s symposium. So a brief chronology would be useful here. Again, I shall refer only to the events in which I was a player. As an art educator as well as an artist-researcher, I had several roles to play in the meetings of 1989 at In global terms, our projects must remain multi-disciplinary and multicultural, while at the same time be grounded in. the real communities where people live, and perceived by them as good. for them. I sincerely hope that we will be pleased with ourselves at the end of this symposium in forging a comprehensive conception of global well-being. But as I've said in another place, it is in understanding how others see us and in understanding the other on the other's terms that will place the most demands on our. work. Making a contribution to well-being as defined by others is the challenge. In the time remaining, I would like briefly to locate Plexus movement in relation to Members of the Society are artist-researchers concerned not only to preserve and nurture those arts in danger of being lost but also to promote multi-cultural art education in both "third-world” and industrialized societies. .My comments here cannot. provide an understanding of the Plexus cross-cultural project beyond a superficial grasp of what it is about. For that, one needs to go to a primary source: Sandro Dernini’s dissertation. The best I can do here is conclude with quotations from it, one from the Preface and the other from the Conclusion. 'Ihe study challenges the current notion that artistic identification is conferred on the artist by the "Artworld.” By claiming a community -based artistic identification, the study grounds art in the experience and local knowledge of “insiders.” /My/ purpose was to reinforce the role of the artist as a cultural producer unity . . . whose art as a "nutritional" component for well-being in the 21st Century. And from the Abstract: The focus of Plexus is to raise the consciousness in the world community about the interdependencies of the arts, the well-being of individuals, and the reconciliation of cultural differences, through the extention and interaction of collaborative art events, bringing the community and the academy closer together, and linking the notion of ‘art' -- as a culture-bound aesthetic experience-- to the concept of “well-being” as a multicultural paradigm for enhancing the quality of life in the community.
|
|---|
