Week 2 posts

Art:http://artandperception.com/2009/10/sloppy-craft-its-getting-interesting.html
The author of this blog quotes artist Ann Wilson who suggests that the word sloppy is used as a sound bite, that it means concentrating on technique as it helps further the art rather than just to produce a finely crafted object. Artists are taking up craft when they need it for their art, rather than learning a craft as an end in itself. The rawness of the work, while not constituting fine craft, may well make it fine art if the rawness contributes to expressing the artist's idea. The quilter Sarah Mary Taylor from Yazoo City, Mississippi, has said that she is not interested in neatness in her stitching. The stitches are only of use insofar as they hold together the pieces that she is using to create her idea. When I am creating a piece I often follow this precept, of doing just what it takes to get the work done, because in the creative moment I just don't care what my stitches look like on the back. This may be a part of the distinction between art and craft which has bothered craftspeople for so long. More about this in later posts, undoubtedly.
  Photo of a Taylor quilt from http://www.gordongallery.net

Thinking: http://www.unfitnews.com/authors/RJga01blurbs.html

Why are we here? How did we get here? What is the nature of the universe? Do we really matter? Does it matter what we do?  These questions come to mind now and then and finding out about the creation of the universe and its ever-expanding nature answers nothing. It just causes more mind-bending thought. The universe is so large and is just one of so many universes that, from that perspective, we don’t matter at all. What is art? Does it matter? Not in the time frame of the universe, not in the vastness that is all of existence. And how did it all start anyway? When the scientists scale the peak and see the theologians sitting on the other side, what have they learned? That God exists? But if the original universe was created from nothing, how could God have been there to create it? Is God nothing? This kind of thought can give me a headache. On the other hand, when problems  overwhelm me, these thoughts make me realize my insignificance and that is comforting. It really doesn't matter.

Social change: New country old violence

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/world/africa/south-sudan-massacres-follow-independence.html?hp

Violence has erupted again in South Sudan less than 6 months after the elections which created this new country. The tribes that forged a coalition in order to create the new country have realized that this doesn't mean they like each other. It seems to be in the nature of humans to like to be around people like themselves. The very sad thing is that this results so often in intolerance for the unlike. The Nuer and the Murle did not invent racial bias. It was not invented in the Southern United States after the Civil War. It seems to some extent to be a condition of human nature. As individuals we can easily overcome this intolerance but as a society it seems to be not so easy. The United States cannot be called post-racial yet. I wonder if it ever will be?