THE BURDEN OF SELF-CONSTRUCTION

'Modern notions of selfhood amplify our individual responsibilities and opportunities in this regard. In former times, when prevalent mental frameworks sealed the individual within an envelope of community, mapping the world was more of a shared effort. Today, imagining ourselves to be autonomous, we shoulder the burden of psychic self-construction in relative isolation. It must have been far less taxing to assume one's place in the choir than it is to improvise these solos.' 

Peter Korn, Why We Make Things & Why It Matters, p.61. 

IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION

'...constructing an identity is not a self-contained project. One's sense of self is a fluctuating assemblage of beliefs and feelings strongly influenced by external circumstances, especially the beliefs of other people.' 

Peter Korn, Why We Make Things & Why It Matters, p.67. 

READING/ WRITING SOMETHING VS. CREATING/ APPRECIATING AN OBJECT OF ART

'Reading text is a linear progression where one idea follows another like the news crawl at the bottom of a television screen. On the positive side, this gives a writer significant control of the step-by-step process through which a reader accesses ideas. On the downside, only one thought can be presented at a time.The remainder of the author's composition is either receding into the netherworld of memory or invisibly waiting in the wings for its moment on stage. In contrast, a craft object, is a collage in which many pieces and levels of information are read in relationship to each other in the present...A craftsman cannot control a respondent's path through this information as tightly as as an author, but the craftsman has the advantage of making complex structures of information simultaneously apparent. His picture is worth the proverbial thousand words.' 

Peter Korn, Why We Make Things & Why It Matters, p.64. 

CREATIVITY AS A COMMUNICATION EXERCISE

'We are socially embraided to such an extent that the architecture of our thoughts is a communal construction. Anything I create becomes a doorway through which others can access my ideas and concerns, if they care to.' 

Peter Korn, Why We Make Things & Why It Matters, p.63. 

IN THE ZONE

'Through personal experience, acquaintance with hundreds of other craftspeople, and interaction with thousands of students, I have witnesses the pleasure and empowerment that skilled craftwork offers. There is a deep centredness in trusting one's hands, mind, and imagination to work as a single, well-tuned instrument, a centredness that touches upon the very essence of fulfillment. What better way to inhabit one's innate human capabilities productively and powerfully, like an engine firing smoothly on all pistons.'

Peter Korn, Why We Make Things & Why It Matters, p.53.

THE PLEASURE OF CREATIVITY

'...my experience has been that the effort to bring something new and meaningful into the world - whether in the arts, the kitchen, or the marketplace - is exactly what generates the sense of meaning and fulfillment for which so many of us yearn so deeply.' 

Peter Korn, Why We Make Things & Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman, p.13.