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| Eric Wesselow's stained glass, Humber Valley United Church in Toronto |
The Way of the Maker: Eric Wesselow's Life Through Art
p. 33: Making or Breaking: Art as Education
"... I propose the universal model, art, as a catalyst. By 'art' in this context, I think in particular of two areas of human engagement. One is what Maslow calls 'self-actualizing creativity.' It is something he finds a painter or sculptor or pianist may not necessarily have, but a fulfilled housewife and mother may richly possess and display. She may be original, ingenious, unexpected, inventive—her first-rate soup more creative by far than a second-rate painting or poem. There are no minor arts, only minor artists.
... What has not happened to the child will likely happen to the adolescent or adult: the maiming, the atrophy of the creative urge by a world of purpose.
... It [art] stimulates our thought processes by way of productive thinking—the relationship between thinking and making grounded in touching the material, most important in today's industrialized world where our only manual activity seems to be pushing buttons and turning dials. It involves the constant training of all our senses, including the kinesthetic and the enteroceptive both of which help promote empathy. The arts are singularly suited to project understandings which cannot be otherwise known or experienced."
And, one more short one:
p. 22 I Never Know How or Why: Probings into the Processes of Art Work
"When a new skill has been perfected, so to speak, its functions tend to become automatic. This may involve the perceptual, the manual, and the cerebral functions. Skill easily becomes stereotyped and dominates the art work. This can lead to a lazy and shallow mind. ... virtuosity stands in the way of originality. Great mastery of a skill often induces an automatic technique or process. Acquiring steady hapbit can interfere with awareness and discovery..."
MMMMMM! Yum! Love it!
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