Photograph by Mattieu Paley, National Geographic
Blanket-draped yaks hunker down outside a young Kyrgyz couple’s yurt on the eve of a summer trading journey. Made of interlaced poles covered with felt, these portable homes are packed up and reassembled for seasonal migration. Wooden doors are imported to the treeless plateau from lower altitudes.
Think of shelters and clothing as art. Some of them are really fine, museum quality art.
At that level each is a masterpiece of achievement. The artist –whomever he or she was –stepped up and used their creative imagination and fine skills to produce a functional and beautiful structure or fine piece of clothing. They accomplished that in spite of the fact that they were constrained by the technology and tools of the time and the materials and resources that they had at hand. Most of the materials were local, some were traded for. Each piece — each fine work of art — came into being as a result of their skill and their creativity using the materials they had available. Furthermore, each artist had a deep understanding and respect for the materials they used. Let’s look at some examples from that perspective.
Having seen them, ideally what would you like to know about each of them? The answer is simple. It would be the information provided for any piece on display at a museum. That includes:
- Its name.
- The name of the community and culture it came from and
- hopefully, the artist’s name.
- Where it came from and
- when it was made.
- The materials used to make it
- the intricacies of its construction and
- the creative process — the way in which they got from the available materials to the finished product and
- its dimensions. Continue reading “Seeing Some Shelters and Clothing as Fine Art and Fine Craft”
Perspectives of an Immortal Economist 