you can help

We are facing a crisis in American education. Students are disinterested. If it were not the quelling effect of neurohormones provided through their addiction to social media and gaming, they would be disruptive. At the university level, some are. 

Many schools that serve the poor in rural America are suffering from a lack of teaching staff, as professional teachers are driven from the profession. Instead of teaching, they're faced with challenges of "classroom management." And while teaching has always been a noble enterprise, administrations attempting to comply with right wing political whims have diminished the respect that teachers traditionally received in our communities. Even librarians have been the targets of foolishness.

In the midst of all this, I think I have a grip on things... a handle that could be used to shift things back in the right direction. I keep writing in the hopes of having effect. 

In the Front Porch Republic I wrote a lengthy piece about AI, Misinformation and the Forgotten Value of Manual Arts Training. 

 In the Hedgehog Review, I have a just released essay, "Maybe Even Build a Boat Rediscovering the lessons of craft."  Both the Hedgehog Review and Front Porch Republic are small media with limited reach. Because this is true, you can help by sharing these articles and this blog with your contacts.

Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.

A grand opening

Yesterday we held the grand opening of the Museum of Eureka Springs Art, attended by over 200. Many were old friends. If you were unable to attend, you may get a glimpse of our new museum through a drone fly through on our museum website. https://museumofeurekaspringsart.net/ 

While many museums host works from places far flung, our museum hosts works from artists deeply connected with each other, and whose works  and work were influential in each others lives. Many visitors are impressed by the diversity, and quantity of museum quality works.

As a founder and first president of the Eureka Springs Guild of Artists and Craftspeople, many of the artists featured in the museum were friends of mine, and it gives me great pleasure to see their works honored.

Yesterday I was quoted in an article about digital technologies in school in the New Republic. 

Unplug the Classroom. Or Reboot It. Just Don’t Do Nothing, by Antón Barba-Kay

Today I have an article coming out online at Hedgehog Review.  Check for it after 10 AM. The Hedgehog Review is published by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. 

Make, fix and create...

kids and technology in schools.

 I  and the Clear Spring School are mentioned in this article in the New Republic.

 https://newrepublic.com/article/180497/school-screens-classroom-crisis-solutions?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SF_TNR&utm_source=Twitter

Welcome to the Museum of Eureka Springs Art

We are celebrating our grand opening today with refreshments and a showing of art from the Eureka Springs High School. You are more than welcome to attend. 3-5 PM May 5 in the Eureka Springs Community Center complex. The museum houses over 400 works by 150 local artists from the late 1800's to the present day.

I'll be there and hope you will also.  In case you can't make it, this link to the museum offers a drone fly through. It's worth watching as a preview of what you'll see if you are able to attend.

 https://museumofeurekaspringsart.net/

The Museum of Eureka Springs Art is a bit different from most art museums in that it illustrates the interrelationships between artists that provides a foundation for the development of community. Go to most museums and you'll find great works from far-flung places. Come to the Museum of Eureka Springs Art and you'll find great works that local artists created that were then influential in the development of one of the most vibrant art colonies in the US. While here you'll find a few examples of my own best work.

The video is one from the 1990's in which various artists discuss their work.

Make, fix and create...

assembled and ready for touchup sanding and finish

With just a bit more work these will be ready to sell.

Make, fix and create...
 

rocker mortises and box latches

 In my woodshop I drilled the last of the many mortises for toddler sized rocking chairs that I'll display (and perhaps sell) at this year's White Street Art Fair. For these mortises, I used a drill press to drill holes and then used a chisel to finish them. 

I've also added small latches to the sewing machine box I've nearly finished for my granddaughter Sylvie. My daughter Lucy sews at her machine with Sylvie in her lap. In about 5 or 6 years they'll be able to sew side by side with this machine that's older than I am.

The small latches are available from Amazon. They operate with ease and appear to be robust enough to last. These are the second latches I applied as the first were not of sufficient strength.

 Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

Happy National Teachers Day

Happy National Teacher's Day. We teach by a variety of means... By instruction, but also by example, so those who "teach" are not alone in the enterprise.

The photo shows boxes receiving their second application of Danish oil. I'll let them dry for a few minutes before wiping them down with a lint free cloth. The point is not to dry them and remove the finish but to rub it in, bringing the boxes to a uniform sheen. Timing is critical. Wait too long and the rubbing is difficult.

I have an essay coming out in the Hedgehog Review on Monday at about 10 AM. I'll share a link when it comes out.

Make, fix and create... Share with others.

today boxes

Yesterday I took portable workbenches  and various clamping devices to the Clear Spring School wood shop so that middle school students could test them and provide feedback. They decided that the most recent designed by Mike Taylor was best and noted that it could be mounted to tables of different heights. They liked the way the flipper handles worked and were amazed at how strong the front vise was for holding wood. 

They were most impressed when I pulled some Veritas planes out from storage, as they'd never planed wood before. So I set up additional stock in other benches for them to practice on.

Next week while they are off camping I plan to spend a day with their teacher, giving him lessons on how to keep them sharp. It felt great to be back on the Clear Spring School campus with a few kids.

Today I signed sixteen inlaid boxes, and began applying a Danish oil finish consisting of two parts polyurethane, one part linseed oil and one part mineral spirits. I set up a table under the protection of our front porch so Rosie and I could sit outside and observe a gentle rain. 

An essay I've written for the Hedgehog Review is being edited for publication online and I'll post a link when it's available to read.

Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.

cricket

 Let's say you have a very young dog and the kids have given it the very cute name Cricket, and you've decided the dog is worthless. You take it to a neighbor's farm off leash, and allow it to kill chickens left and right, and then decide you must do the responsible thing and shoot the dog in the face rather than admit to your failure in dog training, and without admitting that someone else would actually love the dog and be better suited to raising it.

This woman wants to be vice president of the United States.

I'm sitting with my wonderful dog Rosie on the front porch after a playful jaunt in the  woods. We must be alert enough to common decency to elect our leadership based on the decency with which we ourselves would hope to be treated.

I've been watching with sadness the harsh reaction to campus protests. If there's a failure in it, perhaps it is our own in letting our children be trained by what they see online, and without real experiences to help them to sort truth from fantasy... without the critical thinking skills that come not from lecture or online but from from participation in real life. What started as a  serious concern for others gets twisted by adversarial forces hoping to gain power by tearing us apart. Surely we can do better than that.

In the wood shop I'm working on 16 boxes to replenish my inventory. I must do them  in multiples in order to do them at a price point folks can afford.

Make, fix and create... And if you are stupid about dog training, hire someone else to do it, or gift your dog to a good shelter where it will be offered to a loving family home.