Robert A. M. Stern.
“Life becomes a lot less interesting when you stop learning.” — Melissa DelVecchio, Partner, RAMSA
We’ve just finished up another year of our art program at the homeschool coop. Amanda Riley and I have been doing it long enough that it is a joy to hear about our past students from parents who still have kids (younger siblings of our alumni) in the program. Now we get to craft the program better for next year. We want to ensure the basics are covered, and with students averaging three years in the program — a rotation that provides a broader range of experiences. Pretty impressive for a program that doesn’t have a lot of money or time (we have one class a week). We were in the community youth art show this year. Our kids were amazing. Their work showed proudly alongside a lot of bigger programs. It was a good year.
So why am I bummed. Well, the adventure is over for the summer. To be a teacher is to be a continual learner (at least that’s how it works in our family, where all of us have taught, or do teach). You know, when I was in school you could tell. There were teachers like Ray Prohaska and Penny Griffith, who were always exploring their subjects. You could feel the love they had for learning. It was infectious. You never forget some of their lessons because the lesson was still in the realm of discovery for them. I love the rarified air people like that seem to inhabit! — and its not dead. All I have to do is watch my granddaughters explore a second-hand bookshop. They’re excitedly building their own collections.
I’m right in there with them. I find a French book on Leonardo with exquisite illustrations of his paintings. The text is pretty much the standard short version of his story, but the French know how to put together an art book. There are details of the sfumato where you want to peer deeper into a painting’s background. The designer seems to know exactly where you want to move in closer. On the top of my summer reading list (I used to hate summer reading lists, assuming them simply part of education’s forced march, now I know better) is Robert A. M. Stern’s treatise on Modern Classicism. I love Stern for the same reason I love Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson went out looking for inspiration in the world around him and discovered classicism and the Renaissance. Charles Follen McKim did the same as America developed an architecture at the turn of the century.
The Mount Solon Bank, Mount Solon, Virginia. Gary L. Brewer recalls road trips in his youth where he observed many beautifully designed small homes and businesses. — Photo by Bob Kirchman
“Why is architectural history focused on big important buildings, when those ideas should be used everywhere?” — Gary L. Brewer, Partner, RAMSA
So, here’s a bit of inspiration from the principals of Stern’s practice. I’m actually looking forward to the next few months. I’ll build things with my granddaughters and keep the fires alive. It’s going to be a great summer!
Always a Student.
“You have to be learning new things, that’s what I like to do.” — Robert A. M. Stern, Principal, RAMA
Harrison Butker’s Full Speech
[click to read]
Photo — Benedictine College
“The road ahead is bright. Things are changing. Society is shifting. And people, young and old, are embracing tradition.” — Harrison Butker
Here is the Full Text [click to read] of Harrison Butker’s speech at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Ignore the ‘controversy.’ Butker makes a solid argument for living a life informed by the values of Christianity — at a Christian College.
Could it be that a life without the values taught in history is quite similar to a glass building devoid of historical reference or context? — you know, the one Robert A. M. Stern says “can be absorbed in one second?” Where is our basis for valuing our fellow human beings? We need to think twice before discarding the wisdom found in tradition. Harrison Butker reminds us that a life of integrity indeed must have deep roots.
Heather Hollingsworth’s ‘Tempest in a Teacup’
Harrison Butker, a man of Faith, made the commencement speech at a Christian college. In it he actually emphasized living a life devoted to Christ and family. In fact, he enjoined male and female students to embrace both Faith and family. He did emphasize a traditional understanding of one’s Faith as presented in Scripture and tradition. I suspect similar themes were repeated across the country in Faith-based schools’ ceremonies. Young people in surprising numbers are actually embracing historical understanding of Faith. There are more of them than you might imagine.
My High School Alumni Magazine — Photo by Bob Kirchman
I teach art in a homeschool coop. I casually asked a few of our graduates what they were planning to do next year, and also heard about older siblings, now graduated not only from our program, but college. One of our past graduates had created a design for an underwater resort in collaboration with her sister. She’d gone on to engineering school. One summer she’d interned with Samaritan’s Purse, Franklin Graham’s very hands-on ministry.
Upon her college graduation, she’d gone to her first job. She was dismayed that the culture of the place was not very bright. In fact, events with coworkers were often punctuated by profanity. She could handle it fine – but she wanted more. To one inculcated in the ‘way of beauty,’ it was not a happy experience. She applied to Samaritan’s Purse for a full-time position. She loves the job. The ministry helps people in tangible ways. That resonated with this young person’s soul. That story inspired me as we plan for next year’s program.
One of this year’s students said she was going into a rigorous nursing program. I love to see our students move into the healing arts. Part of our program is teaching students to ‘see’ – to be observers of things around them. I like to emphasize drawing. Didn’t Leonardo spend hours drawing anatomical details? That’s the nurse I want when I’m in hospital, the one who sees things others miss — like the kidney stone in the margin of an X-ray. Is teaching art a sacred calling? I hope so!
Anyhow, this young woman went on to say she wanted a family. In our circles, where mom is the teacher, that’s OK. Yes, I think a lot of young people want to go out and do great things. If you catch them in a moment of honest reflection, family is high in the place of important things.
One of our students, a real strong artist, actually was apologetic that she was not pursuing a career in the art world. She wanted to study nursing. I was thrilled. She’s an amazing professional and I just saw her latest painting. It was amazing! I would not wish the world of professional art to anyone who was not super driven to pursue it. It can be frustrating and you need a pretty thick skin; Raising kids, that requires pretty much the same. It too, can be frustrating and you need a pretty thick skin.
But I suspect a lot of journalists (and headline writers) came up in the age when career or family were presented in the academy as sort of an either-or proposition. To be fair, it follows in the wake of the 1950s culture, where opportunities for women were less celebrated, and she lives in the world of Gary Trudeau’s character, Joanie Caucus. If you don’t remember her, she’s Joanie Caucus – MS. Joanie Caucus, who taught at the Walden Daycare. In the famous comic below, she addressed the children:
Later, in another comic, a little girl being coached by Joanie is crying “I don’t wanna be a building contractor!!!” Of course, there is truth behind Joanie’s insistence that the little girls expand their vision. I’m glad for the talented women in our family and the opportunities they’ve had (my mother was an aircraft engineer in the 1940’s). But I think women at a major college are indeed being presented with a great many opportunities. I don’t think Benedictine College is blandly handing out “MRS. Degrees.”
Butker was speaking to a room full of people who had just completed their academic careers and were certainly full of vision. I don’t think he was telling them to “get back in the kitchen.” In fact, Ms. Hollingsworth, may I offer an alternative beginning to your Butker story. One many of us would have probably thought better reflected on the spirit of his remarks:
Harrison Butker Exhorts Students not to forget Family and Faith
In a world where other football stars chug beer as they deliver commencement speeches to snickering students, Kansas City Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker stands in stark contrast. He’s not the party animal caricature of so many jocks. You’ll find him more at home attending a Latin Mass. Great athletes know discipline – They wouldn’t be on top of their game without it. Ironically, they seem to turn into undisciplined animals off the field. Their personal lives are often a trainwreck. Yet here is a young man who engages in disciplines like all-night prayer. His off-field life is not so different than his preparation for a game.
He came to Benedictine College, reluctantly, to address the 2024 graduating class. He doesn’t consider himself a public speaker. What he did was share from his own life experiences, and the practice of his traditional Faith. They have shaped the way he lives. To that end he exhorted students to remember the importance of family. Motherhood – and Fatherhood are sacred callings. His Christianity is foundational to how he lives. It is not to be “hidden under a bushel,” no, it is to go with him into the public arena. Until a few weeks ago, his arena was the football field.
Now his arena is that of public discourse. Not everyone finds his remarks pleasing. They wish he would keep his faith ‘Private.’ He has challenging words, not only for graduates, but for all who would lead, calling for integrity based in the teachings of Christ. In a world that is broken, he offers a path, forged in Faith and her disciplines, to a better future.