Art is a tool people use to evoke emotion whether it may be positive, negative, or anything in between. When we look out into the world and something gives us a certain sensation our goal is to make others feel what we felt. I laughed because it was so true when John said that throughout many cultures we find ourselves attracted to similar things found in nature. Artists see, feel, and then make. We try to replicate in our own ways what we've seen through our own eyes and try to create something new, something that will make someone else simply feel.
I've never understood why something that is utilitarian (like a bowl or in this case a bird), which yes by pure definition is supposed to be "practical rather than attractive," cannot also be seen as aesthetically pleasing. Our world is not black and white, it's full of hundreds of shades of gray. The way John talks us through the process of making that small, wooden, white bird is beautiful to me. Each step is important and there are layers of complexity to its meaning. It's not just a commoner's little white bird, to him it is so much more: it is a symbol of hope passed down through tradition.
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