Day 3: Hidden Art & the Amateur

“The paideutic man’s attitude toward such activities as painting, drawing, violin playing, dancing, and acting is amateurish, not professional. He knows that one cannot learn the culture defined by these activities passively. Since culture is the unique property of the participant, not of the spectator, the classical academy resists the modern tendency to select only the most talented for participating.” – David Hicks, Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education

 “It is not that I feel the study of great art should be put aside (on the contrary!), but simply that I feel it may be helpful to consider some of the possibilities all of us have of really living artistically, but which are often ignored. People so often look with longing into a daydream future, while ignoring the importance of the present. We are all in danger of thinking, ‘Someday I shall be fulfilled. Someday I shall have the courage to start another life which will develop my talent’, without ever considering the very practical (and supernatural) use of that talent today in a way which will enrich other people’s lives. Develop the talent, and express that fact of being a creative creature.” (Added commentary, for emphasis)

By the way, in this series we will be drawing a lot from Edith Schaeffer’s book ‘Hidden Art . Her book has been renamed The Hidden Art of Homemaking, I believe this is a mistake. Nowhere in this book does it solely speak to housewives. She speaks clearly to all humanity. Either way the read is the same excellent read regardless of the edition.

“I would define ‘Hidden Art’ as the art which is found in the ‘minor’ areas of life. By ‘minor’ I mean what is involved in the ‘everyday’ of anyone’s life, rather than his career or profession. Each person, I believe, has some talent which is unfulfilled in some ‘hidden area’ of his being, and which could be expressed and developed.”

This part is a member of our 31 Days of Playing with the Arts Series