SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1960
HERALD AND NEWS. KLAMATH FALLS. OREGON
PAGE FIVE
Creative Thinking Pays
Off For Klamath Area In
Modern Art Gallery Here
By ROBERTA BLOMQUIST
Klamath Falls and its surround'
ing community is one of the few
spots in the West which has the
understanding . and the foresight
. among its citizens to realize that
through creative activity, and cul
tural development, much of the
desperation in the world today
could, be avoided. By art activity
. the meaning is not limited to vis
ual arts alone, but to the whole
field of creative arts literature,
music, drama and dance.
The people of this community
have signified their stand on cre
ative arts by allotting a park area
containing a fine old house and
, space . under beautiful old maple
trees as . the site for the new art
gallery.
The old building is being con
verted into workshop areas which
include a meeting room, a cer
amic shop equipped with wheels
and kilns, a weaving room with
looms, a room for painting, space
for sculpture, a print room, dark
room, as well as space for other
arts and crafts.
. To realize fully what this all
really means, one has only to look
at some of the statements con
cerning world problems by great
thinkers of today. Many learned
professors and scholars, statesmen
and students of psychology hold
the theory which is so well de
fined in the. following excerpt
from a paper by Henry A. Mur
ray, professor of clinical psychol
ogy at Harvard University:
"An emotional efficiency dis
ease, a paralysis of the creative
imagination, an addiction to su
perficials this is the diagnosis I
would offer to account for the
greater part of the widespread
desperation of our time. Paralysis
of- the imagination, I suspect,
would also account, in part, for
the fact that the great majority of
us, wedded to comfort so long as
we both shall live, are turning
our eyes away from the one thing
we should be looking at the pos
sibility or probability of co-extermination."
'
The common language of the
world has always been that of the
arts. The great literatures of each
nation of the world are as well
loved and known by one nation
as another. The great music of
each country is played and loved
bv. every other culture. The great
paintings, sculpture and architec-
lure are treasured in the world s
museums without .prejudice as to
what peoples originated the mas
terpieces. Our world of individuals and na
tions meets as one people in the
arts. Since that apparently is out
only point of agreement, it would
seem loeical to give more time
and space, as well as energy to
developing the arts, to developing
the creative imagination.
The homo sapiens is driven by a
romnulsiDfi to create and is tilled
with a desire to hear, touch, taste
and see a creation which is beau
tiful. true and honest. Our present
rivilij.itions are such, especially in
America, that mankind has less
and less opportunity and Incen
live to fulfill this urge." Since the
creative urge and imagination is
an integral part ot man, he must
produce or become a neurotic.
He is bound by an urge, latent
ihmiBh it mav be. to produce
art in some form. To complete
the neurological pattern he must
display and exchange his crea
tions with others,. In following
such a pattern on world basis
he may establish the understand
ing Wfh. others which barriers' sf
language, religion, politics, mores
and geography make difficult.
Perhaps the people of this com
munity have not formulated a def
inite philosophy on this subject;
perhaps no one has an exact an
swer, but that there exists here a
strong feeling that something
needs to be done about creative
arts is evidenced by the effort
put forth to plan and build a cen
ter where people of this wide area
can develop their ideas and where
they can exhibit their work as
well as that of others.
With the completion of this pro
ect, yet far from finished, this
community must stand as an ex
ample of what can be done by
every area of like size. Already
as others watch the progress steps
are being taken to proceed in a
like manner. School and homes,
good as they may be. are not able
to provide what a community art
center can. Klamath Falls and
the outlying community have rea
lized this, and in so doing, have
made an effort toward solving the
problems of "the desperation of
our time."
Weaving Kept Alive In
Pioneer Craft Of Hand
Classes At Art Workshop
ROBERTA BLOMQUIST hat
worked consistently in the
interest of the Klamath Art
Association for many years
and gave unstintingly of
time to help raise match
funds for the Art Gallery.
Mrs. Blomquist heads the
drama department at Klam
ath Union High School.
By DALE CUSTER
It is appropriate that as part
of the Centennial gift to the new
Klamath Falls Art Center, hand-
weaving, a former pioneer craft,
is being generously included. There
was a time in the past century
when handweaving was done as
very necessary part of day to day
living when wool from the sheep
or linen from the fields was pro
cessed and worked into articles of
every day use.
Orchids to our grandmothers,
who probably never even saw such
an exotic flower, for their work in
cloth making. Then came more
abundant supply of machine weav
ing which, while taking a load from
our grandmothers, reiegatea ine
old looms to the bam or store
house.
There were a few of the old rug
looms in use to make worn out
clothing into floor coverings even
as late as the depression when
many farm women supplemented
the family income by weaving the
neighbors' rags into rugs. In re
cent years, there has come with
our increased . leisure and aware
ness of our heritage, a desire to
revive some of the arts and crafts
which produced so many lovely
things while working as a neces
sity.
Fortunate is the individual who
can restore the old loom the reed
doubtless will have rusted any
way, some parts may have been
consumed by dry rot, a two-by-
four may have been used to repair
the shed but essentially the basic
parts are workable.
There is joy in an old loom and
a responsiveness that a newly as
sembled one does not have. Yet in
many cases an old loom is not so
accurate or so flexible as a mod
ern one. Our modern loom makers
have a feeling for functional beau
ty that makes of a tool a lovely
piece of furniture for a modern
room or studio.
Some of the old looms are such
space consumers that an added
room or loft is necessary to house
them; hence we are unwilling to
assign either time or space for
such cumbersome objects.
The new Art Center, setting
aside two rooms for handweaving
with five looms available at pres
ent, is offering increased opportu
nities for handweavers in this
area. When one considers the re
markable progress that has been
made in past years with restricted
facilities, it is encouraging to think
what can be done with handweav
ing in the next decade.
An early workshop was held here
as cjrly as li'51 when Mary Full
ington of Seattle instructed a mini
ber in handweaving. Some of our
most devoted weavers became in
terested at that time. In 195S David
Hatch from the University of
Oregon was here for a two weeks'
course. Just recently in the fall of
1U57 Dorothy Anderson taught
beginners class who worked on
looms rented from the University
of Oregon.
There are many men and wom
en in the Klamath Basin with
weaving experience gained in West
Coast colleges either in art courses
or in work with textiles or cloth
ing. Others have attended work
shops in other sections of the
country or have been instructed
privately.
There are many excellent books
and periodicals available for the
How-To-Do-It-Yourself individual-
even correspondence courses
There are local craftsmen quali
fied to instruct or assist any would
be handweavcr.
Weavers are most exacting and
at the same time most helpful to
beginners who wish to learn. With
looms being used increasingly in
our public and private schools for
arts and crafts, it would be a great
help to our young people to be able
to see weavers at work, use looms
under skilled instructors and ex
perience the satisfaction that
comes from working with the basic
tools of existence.
Increasingly, in a time when
more and more men work daily
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with abstractions, it is desirable
for each individual to have a hand
craft as a starting point from
which to grasp reality. There is
nothing more real than stretching
a warp thread and crossing it with
a weft to make a useful article and
a beautiful one.
It is interesting that the expres
sion "warped personality" applied
to individuals whose tensions have
become too great for normal ad
justment is seldom applied to
handweavers. Could it be that in
this basic operation there is an
experience so normal that it avoids
warping personalities? Weaving in
our hospitals for handicapped per
sons is accepted and special looms
and techniques have been devel
oped to help these individuals.
Traveling exhibits of beautiful
weaving will be brought to the new
center so that those of us who are
Interested can have an opportuni
ty to study and learn to appreciate
these lovely things, and so we
may be more discriminating in
viewing machine made articles.
There are many such traveling ex
hibits available and we will look
for them in addition to expanded
showings from our local handwea
vers.
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