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The Wood Exhibition at the Jefferson Museum
Introduction
I went to the Wood exhibition at the Jefferson Museum of Art and History located in Port Townsend. The presentation illustrated the history of woodcraft in our region, showing the portraits of many people who contributed to building the town more than a hundred years ago. The featuring craftspeople and woodworking artists of Wood included sculptural furniture makers, carver and installation artists, traditional craftsmen, and many others. Aside from the portraits of woodworking artists and their stories told by the guide, one element of the exhibition interested me the most. It was the set of hand tools that once belonged to a local woodworker named Horace Tucker. I presume that my interest can be explained by the fact that it is a rare opportunity to watch the history of an entire towns creation through a simple set of wooden and iron tools.
The Tools Description
Tuckers tools did not attract my attention at first since I did not recognize them as an essential element of the history of the towns creation. It was a simple set of various crafting instruments: a couple of jointers, a small hammer, a compass for drawing circles, several screwdrivers, strange scissors, and many other tools. However, I became more interested in those items once I discovered their history. Tucker used them to build the St. Pauls church in 1865, which makes it the oldest church of Port Townsend. The craftsman also built many houses in the town, including the residence of his own, with those same tools (Jefferson Country Historical Society, 2022). Once I learned about it, I realized that I could look at the instruments, then close my eyes and hear the sound of the hammer slamming nails 150 years ago.
Artistic Elements of the Instruments
When I had an opportunity to be alone with the tools for some time, I questioned myself about the connection between the instruments and the museums name, which refers to history and art. I could clearly see how the crafting tools were related to history, but I started to think about the bonds between craftsmanship and art. In particular, I wondered if constructing buildings can be considered an artistic process. It significantly differs from those activities people commonly relate to art, such as music, literature, or theatre. Eventually, I realized that constructing buildings means creating them, and the process of creation is basically the quintessence of art. Moreover, craftsmanship is a much more complicated form of art than any other as it requires not only talent and imagination but also much physical work. There is obviously a reason why people like Tucker are called woodworking artists.
While thinking about everything mentioned above, I noticed that the form of every tool from the set was highly accurate and proportional. Although all the instruments looked old and rusty, they seemed perfect from the aesthetic viewpoint. I was not allowed to touch any of the tools, but I was optimistic that the symmetrical ones, such as the hammer and scissors, were perfectly balanced. Once I recognized the accuracy of the instruments forms, an interesting thought came to my mind: the person who created them was also an artist. It means that those tools were a result of artistic work used to perform another artistic work. In other words, art has the ability to reproduce itself with the help of human hands, and perception of that thought was a unique experience for me.
Furthermore, watching Tuckers tools and analyzing their place in the construction of Port Townsend made me understand that those items themselves were a form of art as they created a pathway to travel through history. They are a preserved piece of the past that can help people like me go back in time, arriving in the middle of the 19th century. I believe that one of arts features is its ability to take peoples minds to distant places or even other worlds. However, the instruments from the exhibition are a unique piece of art that allows people to transfer their minds to a former age. In this sense, history and art can be ultimately close, which is why the name of the museum I went to seems reasonable to me now. With the help of Tuckers tools, I was able to learn much more about the towns history than I probably would from hearing stories of those times.
The Reasons for Choosing the Hand Tools
After many hours spent thinking about the instruments and their relation to art, I started to wonder why I chose to discuss all those items and what it said about me. I have never done any handiwork, which is why my decision to describe Tuckers tools may seem unreasonable. However, I am an art-loving person, and I like to be around creative people and watch the results of their work, especially if it is about creating material objects. I have always admired the way craftsmen can implement their talents, abilities, and instruments to merge several separated materials into a new, unique item. Moreover, woodwork is not just about combining some pieces to get a single one. It is also about giving them a proper shape to achieve the desired result. The exhibition of Tuckers instruments at the Jefferson Museum gave me an opportunity to learn about the old ways of craftsmanship, and that was an insightful experience.
Moreover, those tools illustrate how people inhabiting our world contribute to its development with their own hands on a daily basis. Unlike many other creations, our world is inconsistent and constantly transforming as we never stop changing it. I find it breathtaking to realize that people wake up every morning in a world that was not the same yesterday. It changes with every child born, every tree planted, and every house built, and thinking of that has always made me happy. Seeing Tuckers tools helped me understand that each person plays a significant role in the creation and development of our planet. We may not realize that, but all our actions, even the smallest ones, shape our world, and I believe that is why I selected the instruments from that exhibition to discuss.
Conclusion
Overall, it was a unique experience for me to go through the history of Port Townsend, observing Tuckers instruments that were used in constructing many buildings. Although it may not be obvious, those hand tools represent one of the forms of art as they were once used in the process of creation. The opportunity to see 150-year-old instruments was priceless for me as I could see how people contribute to the worlds development daily, which is why I was interested in Tuckers hand tools.
Reference
Jefferson County Historical Society. (2022). Doors reopening at the Jefferson Museum of Art & History.Â
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