The Morality of Gothic

"Ruskin argued that the Middle Age craftsmen were allowed to be freely innovative.  This accounted for both the beauties of Gothic and for the medieval social structure he so admired. He felt the Victorian age was dominated by mass production; modern manufacture was immoral because it treated the workers merely as labourers rather than artists in their own right.  It was only by returning to medieval craft production that society could be reformed and true art and architecture revived."

From "Gothic Glories" by Alexandria Buchanan

I assume if Ruskin were alive today he would be saying the same, but even more strongly. Architecture is more of a commodity than ever before. Craftsmanship seems to have become a niche, lost from the mainstream of place creation.  Can we reverse that trend when we build new sustainable homes and communities?

"Dean and Woodward tried to put these theories into practice, under the watchful eye of Ruskin himeslf, at the Oxford University Museum, begun in 1855."

I was up at Keble College Oxford (85-88).  It is just across South Parks Road from the OU Museum.  I liked it then, but maybe did not appreciate why.  Now I understand  that iron columns, though not structural but merely decorative, are an ode to medieval columns.  I love the pointed neo-Gothic arches, which seem to give the building immense verticality.  But most of all, I love the light that comes pouring in from the glass and iron roof. 

For me, this is man immitating forest.

For me the craftmanship is key, but the art doesnt have to be overly ornate.  I love the simplicity of the neo-Gothic chuch at Brockhampton (built 1901) designed by William Richard Lethaby of the arts and crafts movement.

That is why I am inspired by the work of installation artists such as Nils Udo (see other blog post). He installs art and ephemeral place in nature.  Indeed that these installations have limited lifespans is a fundamental part of his philosophy. 

I would like to create more permanent places in forests: awe inspiring places.  These places will be where man takes raw nature and embelishes it with pure gothic art and craft. I would like local people and craftsmen to:

- build it

- feel they have created a work of local art, not installed a commodity

- meet there on a ritualistic basis

- feel safe there

- feel altruistic there

- feel like peers and part of the same group when they are there and when they leave

I want them to feel affinity with each other....