HOW TO BE AN EXPLORER OF THE WORLD: Portable Life Museum

Abstract

[...] this is a book that captures (by demonstration) the spirit of artmaking.

HOW TO BE AN EXPLORER OF THE WORLD: Portable Life Museum (2008; $14.95), by Keri Smith. Perigee Trade.

I have not met Keri Smith, nor have I read or seen anything else she has done. Yet, I feel I have known her-she appears to be a full, loving spirit, imaginative and talented. She conveys a sense of joy and energy that I have come to associate with artists and art teachers I have known. Immediately I thought of Corita Kent, an educator and artist who inspired me about 50 years ago.

I enjoyed Smith's references to T.S. Eliot, Italo Calvino, Wallace Stevens, Suzi Gablik and many others. In short, this is a book that captures (by demonstration) the spirit of artmaking. As she put it: "None of the ideas in this book are new. Many of them have been pilfered, borrowed, altered and stolen from great thinkers and artists of our time."

Yet, the book is new! It's "new" in the spontaneity and "spin" of the author. It can be read in any order; all exercises are open to interpretation; readers should feel free to add, alter or ignore; everything can be treated as an experiment. Like in life, we start where we are and make things up as we go along. This is a book with practical suggestions for all teachers.-J.J.H.

www.penguin.com I circle #393