THE SPECIAL WORLD OF THE ARTISAN

by Frederick J. Pratson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 17, 1974

Unlike Horwitz's mountain craftspeople (see below) the five introduced here (in what amounts to just a few full pages each) have been exposed to twelve or more years of mainstream American education -- or so the anonymous banality of their prose suggests. Where Pratson's weaver proclaims that ""a machine can make a fine piece of cloth but a good weaver creates a delightful magic out of yarn,"" Horwitz's has her eye on the flowers, nuts and berries she picks for homemade dyes because the colors are ""so much more meller than chemical dyes."" And where Pratson's artisans repeatedly remark on the ""beautiful experience"" of shaping images from formless material, Horwitz's carver -- who would never find it necessary to explain as does Pratson's that ""there are many different kinds of wood,"" ""the woodcarver creates in three dimensions"" and ""each woodcarver works in a style all his own"" -- expresses his satisfaction (with an eagle ingeniously carved from a branched trunk) indirectly: ""I thought and thought on it whether to round out the bottom or leave it part of the trunk, and I think I did it the best way."" Of course all five do describe something of the processes they follow, and the projected photos (we saw only a sampling) will no doubt offer further evidence of just what a weaver, woodcarver, potter, glassblower and stringed instrument maker do.

Pub Date: April 17, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION