In the September/October Yankee magazine Ian Aldrich writes about all that is eroding in Nantucket. While the sea devours beachfront property, stakeholders squabble about a solution. The latest proposal put forth by the Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund (which would also foot the bill) is “a $20 million beach-nourishment project that would dredge the equivalent of some 200,000 dumptruck loads of ocean sand and pump it onshore to build out ‘Sconset Beach.” Many object to the proposal, including the local fishing community whose livelihoods could be put at risk by it. “…The exact degree of opposition to the proposed nourishment project was revealed, when voters came out overwhelmingly against it, 2,986 to 483, in a non-binding ballot vote...” writes Aldrich.

It’s an intriguing article beautifully illustrated by Dana Smith’s distressed photographs. Smith says in a contributor’s note, “…I have a fascination with the physical decay and decomposition of images... When Yankee brought this story to me, I immediately thought the look and feel would be perfect for the subject, especially since erosion is just another form of breakdown.” I wish Yankee had included a little more about Smith’s process. In any case, the images share an exquisite, aged, worn patina.

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

In The Wall Street Journal Dominique Browning interviews John Maeda, the soon-to-be-inaugurated President of the Rhode Island School of Design, my alma mater. Maeda’s an inspiring forty-two-year-old designer, artist, computer scientist, educator, author, thinker, mover-and-shaker. I’m thrilled for him to take the lead at RISD. He tells Browning, “I love to learn.” Bravo. He also amusingly relates MIT (where he worked for more than a decade) to RISD saying, “RISD is MIT for the right brain.” Speaking of the brain, you might be interested in the twofer post that I wrote about Maeda's book, The Laws of Simplicity, and My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.

WSJ story link by way of Design Observer

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

Yin Yu Tang at the Peabody Essex Museum, a destination cited by Smee

It’s Tuesday, and as usual I’m still sampling the Sunday paper. Over breakfast I read Sebastian Smee’s “In praise of first impressions” about the rewards of an open mind when viewing art. He suggests we approach art as a discovery, in much the same spirit as the art was produced. Smee writes, “It’s easy to forget…that artists – at least the best ones – create things not because they know stuff and want to tell us about it, but precisely because they don’t know stuff, and want to explore that state of not knowing, to feel it out, to prod it, isolate it, and reconnect it with other kinds of experience.” Touché.

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

The Globe touts the 1% pro bono campaign conceived by Public Architecture, a nonprofit design firm founded by John Peterson in San Francisco. The campaign has created a network of architects and designers who commit one percent of their hours to pro bono projects. According to the Globe story, Brandy Brooks the executive director of Community Design Resource Center of Boston, a non-profit partner with Public Architecture, said “I think there’s a lot of confusion about what architects do… People don’t recognize that they have a right to well-designed buildings and spaces. That this isn’t just an artistic service. It’s essential.” A worthy attitude for a worthy cause.

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

With this post I’m starting a new Web tour category where I’ll link to intriguing web finds about house, garden, and related creative arts in New England (and beyond). Today’s New York Times has a fun interactive feature about Hopper’s Cape Cod then and now, comparing his 1930’s paintings with photos of the same locales today. My photo above, of a Provincetown classic, may not have been one of Hopper’s subjects, but it reminds me of his Cape Cod.

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast