Thursday, March 28, 2024

Happy Birthday Mr. Comenius

Today March 28, 2024 I celebrate John Amos Comenius' 432nd birthday. He was considered the father of modern pedagogy but his contributions to education are now largely dismissed. He influenced a wide range of early educators, an insisted that the senses and learning through the senses was key to greater understanding than reading could provide. He's credited with developing the first picture book for children. He laid the ground work for other influential educators, and was for a time celebrated throughout Europe.

Educators worry that schools are not providing critical thinking skills. I suspect however, that's by design. Exploring life though the application of the senses, provides avenues though which questions arise. Critical thinking is based on a willingness to ask questions. Questions lead inevitably to questions of authority. Democracies headed toward authoritarianism, do not want students to develop critical thinking skills. And yet, critical thinking skills are essential to a successful society.

Last night I watched an interview with a psychologist describing the dangers of children being too deeply engaged in technology and social media. He said that children should be engaged in the real world as it offers benefits for growth and emotional security that the online world does not.

Happy Birthday Mr. Comenius. As long as a few of us remember, there's still hope.

Make, fix and create.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

fly through


This QR code will take you to a quick fly through of the new Museum of Eureka Springs Art. It is much better to take your time and stroll. The museum is open during farmer's market hours on Thursdays and from 1-5 on Saturday afternoons.

To activate the QR code, aim your phone camera at it. The camera will recognize the link and carry you to youtube for viewing.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Mentored residency in woodworking

The deadline for my mentored residency in wood working approaches. Applications for review must be submitted by March 29, just 3 days from today. https://essa-art.org/instructors/residency-program/ If you have any questions about the program or wonder what value it may offer to your own woodworking career or interests, you may email me to set up a time to talk.

Scholarships are available.

In my woodshop I'm continuing my work on toddler sized rocking chairs and building jigs that will assist me in teaching a class in the fall.

I've been reading Richard Hofstadter's classic book, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. I am exploring the idea that anti-intellectualism is rooted at least partly in the failures of our education system  to engage students in the exploration of real life. Shop classes can help to fix that. 

An interesting side note on Hofstadter's book is his mention of Gerald L. K. Smith, a noted Nazi and Anti-Semite who settled in Eureka Springs and is indelibly a part of our local history.

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


Monday, March 25, 2024

micro jig sled

My new micro jig sled using micro jig dovetail clamps is proving useful in a variety of operations, including tapering the back legs of the children's rockers I'm making as preparation for a class at ESSA in the fall.

When I taught making children's rockers in the past, one week was really not long enough, so I'm working on various jigs to clarify and simplify a complex project. Hopefully, that will leave more time for carving the backs. When I had my last rocking chair class, it was with the Diablo Woodworkers in the San Francisco Bay area, and I received photos in years after showing me student's finally finished work.

In addition to using the micro jig dovetail clamps  to hold the work directly on the jig, they can be used to clamp blocks in place trapping the work in position or you can use their kit to set up stops using the same dovetail grooves.

Make, fix and create...

Friday, March 22, 2024

If you can't use it, it may be art.

A friend of mine cut a slice of burl from a tree on the river and gave it to me years ago. It sat on a shelf, taking up space—too lovely to throw away, and too useless to be anything but occasionally admired.

Yesterday I used spray polyurethane to bring its colors more to life and give it  some protection.

Today I added French cleats so it could be hung. The way the cleats are mounted to the back, it can hang one way or the other. And sometimes art is exercised just in the recognition of beauty and placing an object in such a way that others are given a chance to admire it.

My friend gave it to me thinking I might make something from it. but my own imagination goes no further than to appreciate it just as it is. My only exercise in the area of craftsmanship or artistry was to add the French cleats and decide how and where it should be hung.

It hangs over the door that passes between my finish room and the outside.

Make, fix and create. Let beauty guide your path.

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Mortise and tenon joints

I'm working on three children's rocking chairs, one of which will be kept loose as parts to help me set up for a class at ESSA in the fall. I made the first of these chairs in about 1995 and the last about 15 years ago, so it is good to refresh my thoughts in anticipation of the class. The disassembled chair will help in setting things up, and the finished chairs will be available for sale.

I'm routing the mortises using my horizontal boring machine, cutting the tenons on the table saw and quickly rounding the tenons to fit the mortises. In class I may opt for using a hollow chisel mortiser, as that is a more familiar approach for many woodworkers. It is amazing, however, how quickly a few strokes with a rasp can fit the square shouldered tenons into the mortises cut with the boring machine.

I received a lovely photo of the spice cabinet that was sold at the Clear Spring School Spring Fling Art Auction in its new home. It is great to see my work honored in people's homes. It has found a happy place in a happy place.

Make, fix and create.

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Better things to do.

Michelle Goldberg's essay in the New York Times is interesting reading as it suggests the answer to our social media/phone/internet problems might be to offer them better places to go. I suggest, better things to do. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/opinion/internet-kids-social-media.html?unlocked_article_code=1.d00.r9Z6.Z0negzF3Vyf7&smid=url-share

I had a conversation a few weeks ago with a college professor who is working on an article about technology and education. He asked me about how schools might best deal with the disruptive force of iPhones in school. Parents spend a loot load of money on them, and want their kids to be accessible to them at all times. Social media offered through the phones is recognized as presenting tremendous mental health problems, and they tend to be a distraction. 

A couple weeks ago I offered classes in box making to staff and board at ESSA, the school I helped found 25 years ago. As I taught, I noticed a few phones left on benches that were occasionally picked up so that their owners could record videos and images of the experience so it could be shared or remembered. In no way were the phones disruptive. Nor need they be disruptive in schools.

The secret to integrating phones successfully in schools lies in making learning active, project based, relevant and less mind numbing. Of course kids will be drawn to facebook, instagram, tiktok and other sites if what they're doing in schools is abstract and out of touch. The phones will be put down when there are real things to do.

In my shop I'm revisiting a project from 2002, building toddler sized rocking chairs—in preparation for teaching a class in the fall.