what i'm reading now

a wonderful report on what it takes to get really good at something ..

and after visiting the david smith show at the new clark art museum back in july, i hauled out my doorstop of a book from the guggenheim show and spent some time with that .. the guy was a dedicated, persistent, visionary artist of his time. 

well, this was an ambitious project ... the four rabbit books by john updike. rabbit run, rabbit redux, rabbit is rich, rabbit at rest.  i was born in pottstown, pa, about 20 miles from where these books fictionally take place ... while rabbit is certainly not the most likeable man, this is a portrait of those times, and, an insightful one in my opinion. updike is such a craftsmen with words, it was hard to take a break ... 1679 pages, and i read em all, one after the other.  took about a month .. his writing on golf too, always brings a chuckle .. and there is a link to a great new yorker story in that post too.

how's that for a sentence?

and rothko ... a controversial guy, but i am influenced in my pottery by his work with color.

a comment on the history of craft, a history of how knowledge is passed down and along in society .. a bit of a slog, but you can just nip at it from time to time and revisit it as you feel like it ..

and lastly, a great read and an incredible true story ... background on the effects of the depression in seattle, the dust bowl, the nazis and the 1936 olympics, the grand coulee dam ... again, what it takes to get good at something, physically, and mentally ...