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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1988)
Thursday, April 7, 1988/The Battalion/Page 7 s Us Artists from around state Jisplay work at craft fair -o“ / - Igiuld well be spent playing outside ipiiilis ■ By Stephen Masters Reporter entire weekends at craft sh ows, ten against my will. Time that I st tin spent looking d glass work. at one more glass work. Then I grew ■dev and didn’t have to go. I a\ iided the shows like the plague — until now. ■ the Spring Craft Festival, pro moted by MSC University Plus, was ■Id Tuesday and Wednesday fea- Bring craft artists from throughout le state showing their wares. The boredom I once found at such shows Ks replaced with fascination and exdteqient, as well as a real appre- ition for the amount of time and ergy placed into each piece. Even Ithe stained glass was impressive. T When Kirk Houser of Greenbriar Ikes time out from practicing jug- ling five balls at once and isn’t giv- Jg reporters a quick lesson, he falls I kick on stained glass. T “I get my ideas from wrapping pa per or books or anything with a pic ture on it,” he said. His inventory includes stained rss grapes, bicycles and even a ka leidoscope made of plumbing pipe ■th mirrors and two stained glass ■reels on the end, one of many Items he’s seen in 13 years of work- jjupTingwith stained glass. ■ “Sometimes I get really frustrated at Hd I just have to walk away,” he |m Hid “Juggling helps in that way. I’ll ta- H cutting a piece of glass and it’ll ^Heak, so I’ll leave. Then I’ll come |;Bck the next day and cut a piece . Hd it'll break too. You definitely ugharHive to be patient.” mg. H Keith Sink of Bryan, who was sell- ig. PantHg stained glass at the show in place isapr oi his wife Beverly who actually does nvolvKIthe artwork, agreed. ■ Mrs. Sink works on the Texas ipresetH&M campus as a secretary in the is CeirHochemistry department and has lit. Hen making stained glass art in her Hare time for six years. She got eherHwited by taking a University Plus ing bipBss on stained glass, en tteH Mr. Sink said it usually takes her vould iROirnd two days if she uses a pattern and brifroni a craft book, but patience is still about 1 important. dents,'HOf course, patience comes into Photo by JayJanner Hand-made bean bag dolls were on sale at the Spring Craft Festival Wednesday at Rudder Fountain. Mark Walter created these dolls and sells them for $6 each. play in all types of craft work, not just stained glass. Jiist ask first-timer Steven Bradford of Houston who has been building windmills shaped like birds, woodcutters and water- wells for three months. “It takes around six hours to make each of the birds, but most of that time is spent painting,” Bradford said. “It takes two coats of white (paint) and waiting for it to dry takes a lot of time. Other items don’t take artists long at all. Mark Walter of Bastrop makes clowns with solid wood heads and bodies stuffed with soybeans, an art he has practiced for the last eight years. “Each face is hand-drawn and painted, but it only takes about twenty minutes for me to make each clown,” he said. “Of course, when you include all the time spent for each one, it comes out to about 50 cents per hour. “I got the idea when I lived in Eu rope with several craftspeople. I started out making stuffed animals and slowly evolved toward clowns.” Others never give up on stuffed animals, like Peggy Burnett of Hous ton. “I’ve always loved craft shows,” she said. “Once I went to one where someone was doing a lace bear and they asked me to help. “After I got through helping I wondered why I couldn’t do the same thing, so I started making stuffed animals and have been ever since. That was about three years ago.” Still others, like Peter Drucker, avoid cloth and go with precious metals. “Some of my stuff takes 10 min utes to do; other stuff takes an entire year,” he said. “I make my jewelry to last more than one generation so it takes longer to do.” Drucker’s gold and silver chains take longer because they are hand woven, a tedious process when work ing with metals. However, most of his jewelry is forged with a hammer and doesn’t take quite so long. So not only did I survive the craft show, I even enjoyed it. So much for childhood memories. ulitzer prize-winner discusses themes present in American art By Lucinda Orr Reporter [Pulitzer Prize-winner Dr. William H. Goetzmann, in his Wednesday night lecture “Western Art as Intel- Htual History: the Paradox of Con- Hest as Reflected in Western Art,” gave a slide presentation to explain pniie of the themes historically pre sent in American paintings. ■The University of Texas history professor previously taught at Yale and Cambridge universities, has published 48 scholarly articles, and either authored or co-authored 12 other books, including one which earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination and which he adapted as a six-part television series that PBS aired last year. Western art’s portrayal of man ifest destiny and conquest was the first of four themes Goetzmann ex plained during the lecture. He showed several slides, including John Cast’s “American Progress” and Emmanuel Leutze’s “Westward the Course of Empire,” to illustrate how artists of that time saw pioneers, covered wagons, railroads and ex pansion. “The American people seemed to accept manifest destiny and to ac cept the whole idea of conquest. . . with pride, rather than guilt,” Goetz mann said. The second segment of the pre sentation concentrated on artwork that depicted nature, including Thomas Moran’s “The Grand Can yon of the Yellowstone” and Albert Bierstadt’s “A Storm in the Rocky Mountains.” As his third theme, Goetzmann discussed how Darwinism, evolution and “survival of the fittest” were portrayed in western art. Several of Frederic Remington’s works were shown to point out the struggles and hardships of existence. The fourth portio of the program was how western art shows the rise of anthropology. Goetzmann will be conducting a lecture titled “Americans, Explora tion and the Culture of Science: a Moral Melodrama” at 8 tonight in Rudder Tower 601. MSC Camera Committee 4r Presents 4¥ ‘Te^as Aggie ‘Bonfire ‘Print Sale ! Parent's Weekend April 8th - 10th 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. on above dates Running Specials 1988 Special 11 X 14 Bonfire Scoreboard 10.00 Unmatted 15.00 Matted Senior Special 11 X 14 Bonfire & 4 Scoreboards 15.00 Unmatted 22.00 Matted f®3T MS<f ra Tab! First Floor Motorcycle Races April 9 & 10 Texas World Speedway 4 hr. endurance race - Saturday Regional 8 Lap Sprints-Sunday 17 races from 50 cc to 1200 cc Novices, Experts, Showroom stock, Highly modified 11 turns, 170 mph 1 Day Pass $7.00 2 Day Pass $12.00 $2 00 off with this ad .C®[!teO .■**e Saturday 7:00am Gates Open 8:00am Practice Begins 1:00pm Race Begins Sunday 7:00am Gates Open 8:00am Practice Begins 11:00am Practice Ends 11:30am Races Begin I started a nursery. I constructed a well. I surveyed a national park. I taught school. I coached track. I learned French. I WAS IN THE PEACEC0RPS _ Your 2 year experience with Peace Corps could be the start of a great future. Now accepting applications for summer and fall assignments. Contact TAMU Campus Representative, Collen McGarrity in the Ag Building, Room 103B, 845- 4722 or call 1-800-442-7924 ext. 124