There was an article in the New York Times a couple of days ago that got me thinking about the evolutionary and genetic aspects of art. It was in the science section, and was titled The Dance of Evolution, or How Art Got Its Start. The premise is that the creative drive, rather than being frivolous, is actually an evolutionary adaptation of its own. The making of art has drawn people together across cultures and times, and so has value in its ability to bring individuals and communities together. As the article says,
"Through singing, dancing, painting, telling fables of neurotic mobsters who visit psychiatrists, and otherwise engaging in what [neurobiologist Ellen] Dissanayake calls “artifying,” people can be quickly and ebulliently drawn together, and even strangers persuaded to treat one another as kin. Through the harmonic magic of art, the relative weakness of the individual can be traded up for the strength of the hive, cohered into a social unit ready to take on the world."
This idea of social coherence is also a currently trendy marketing idea: consumer products help people feel like they belong to a "tribe," and therefore define who they are. "What tribe are you part of?" is a question that design, style and marketing is supposed to help one answer.
The NYT article continues, "As David Sloan Wilson, an evolutionary theorist at Binghamton University, said, the only social elixir of comparable strength is religion, another impulse that spans cultures and time."
Interesting.
Makes me wonder whether this aesthetic/conceptual separation between
people, or "tribes," will become more distinct and divisive, or if we
could somehow work toward a return to more community-oriented art. Art
as unifier, rather than divider.
I took Henry with me to Cherry Creek to deliver my tree/lamp donation to One Home for the Bough House project. I knew he would enjoy seeing the trees that were created by architects and designers, and also he likes modern furniture and design. As I suspected, he looked closely at everything and noticed connections between the art displayed at One Home and his own work on Line Rider. He has a natural tendency to use repeating patterns that are very graphic and tightly composed. He also has a really good grasp of positive/negative space. Here's a logo that he designed for himself in the Line Rider program, and that he uses as his signature when he posts on Line Rider blogs and message boards.
The lamp/tree has been delivered. It was harder than I anticipated to put it all together. I had some mishaps with the Liquid Nails and also the printing process. Here are a couple of pics:
From whence doth inspiration cometh? From all sorts of places. My most recent patterns were inspired by multiple things, but the most notable is from Henry's language arts journal. He has all kinds of cool patterns that he has designed when he was supposed to be doing schoolwork. Here's a page from a couple of weeks ago, that inspired my little icon on the blog header.
These circles are for a project that I'm working on, due on Monday. I'm creating a modern interpretation of a holiday tree, to be auctioned off for the Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center. It's part of an event called Bough House that my friend Sarah helps to put together.
My plan is to print these patterns (organic, abstract, tree-inspired designs) on a translucent vellum paper, then mount them inside a 4-sided structure made from glass steel, or polycarbonate. Then I'll put an LED light in the structure so it will be illuminated from within.
Okay, so I'm ready to start posting regularly, because I finally got the blog to look acceptable. I say acceptable, because it's not great, but I'm constrained by the Vox interface. It's a good interface if you're not anal about the way your blog looks. Unfortunately I am anal about it, but not yet willing to pay for all the features of a professional blog until I see if I really use the thing. So for now, I have to live with some of the annoying issues (like not choosing my own typefaces!) in exchange for an easy-to-use and free blog.
Next post I will describe in more detail some of the players in the Grow saga. For now, it's 6 pm and I'm ready to leave the store for the evening. Ted and I are going out to dinner with Anne and Alan, and leaving the kids at home ALONE. Henry will be twelve in a week, but it still makes me nervous to leave them alone without an older babysitter. Which is funny, because I trust Henry's judgment more than just about any person I know, and I left the older boys with an eleven year-old babysitter when they were little. I think eleven year-olds seemed a lot older before I had one. Henry C. will be there too, though, so I'm sure they'll be fine.
