Considering the evolution of fine craft

At the turn of the last century, Robert Musil said,"There was a time when people grew naturally into the conditions they found waiting for them and that was a very sound way of becoming oneself. But nowadays, with all this shaking up of things, when everything is becoming detached from the soil it grew in, even where the production of soul is concerned one really ought, as it were, to replace the traditional handicrafts by the sort of intelligence that goes with the machine and the factory."

Then, a hundred years later, I am making pottery by methods that blend factory production with subsistence craft. The kids are integrated into the lifestyle of it. Home school is a way for kids to grow naturally into the conditions they find waiting for them. Growing a garden and making useful objects are central to our life. There is a lot to learn here, even after a lifetime of it the older ones say, there is something new to learn. 

In this last hundred years, culture has "modernized" in such a way that you can drive hundreds and thousands of miles on well maintained roads and see the same chains of processed food and products cropping up in disposable boxes (square buildings) that we are now calling "America." If "America" is the same everywhere you go, why go anywhere at all?

I love pockets of culture, places where independent thought prevails. I love to move in and out of these pockets of culture and trade my handicrafts for the handicrafts of others. I love to be involved in a community that is redefining a postmodern culture in an area of the country that has been all but sucked up by the homogenization of America. 

The era that I live in: postmodern, postindustrial, neo-tribal. In my thoughts and actions, my craft and my parenting, I strive to contribute to diversity. I want to create culture based on respect for nature: observation, celebration and preservation.

Another distinct characteristic of this era that I live in, "my era," is that community is built on this aforementioned culture. Community has always been built like friendships...with folks in close proximity to each other's values and geography. This criterion still holds true; but with one difference. The inter-web is now bringing into proximity people who never would have met. The tribe is boundless, networking and cultural exchange has infinite possibility. Virtual relations become very real when the common cultural bonds tie them to reality. 

Technology provides tools. Networks of people provide solutions and actions. Fine craft provides touchstones, artifacts, reminders in a virtual world that nature is continually respected, observed and preserved.