pambo's Full Review: Jane Brocket - The Gentle Art of Domesticity: Stit...
For the homebody in all (almost) of us, “The Gentle Art of Domesticity: Stitching, Baking, Nature, Art and the Comforts of Home” will serve to a. Assure you you’re doing the right thing b.Help you do them c. See the world a little differently.
Without casting aspersions on others who take a different route, author Jane Brocket notes that she was the rebel in the 1970s as someone who wanted to put aside her academic work on occasion to dabble in arts and crafts. After chasing the corporate life for a while and trying a combination of home life and consulting, she realized that making jam, growing tomatoes and raising babies was more interesting to her and that’s the life she chose. It’s not for everybody but then that’s her point. And taking up the gentle arts, as she describes home life, doesn’t mean a pell-mell rush into looking 15 ways to cook the pot roast or hand sewing every bit of clothing. You can, she says, do as much or as little as you want and enjoy.
Interspersed with her projects in this book are numerous paintings and photos illustrating the appeal of home life—an Evelyn Dunbar painting, “The Knitting Party,” James Jebusha Shannon’s “The Purple Stocking” -- and others meant to inspire others to creativity and awareness of the beauty in ordinary life. There’s a section on domestic life in films, and here we see Frank Sinatra and Doris Day, Cary Grant and Sophia Loren, the whole gang from “Sound of Music.”
Rather than following the usual organization of interior design/home books by project or room, this one sets up on ideas: a chapter on color, for example, gives us brightly colored candies and then socks, crocheted blankets, plates, cakes and more, all with multiple stripes and shots of reds, blues, greens, and yellows. Recipes accompany the foods.
In “patterns,” we view gardens, knitted items, round items such as apples and cookies (with recipes, of course), and rows upon rows of stitches, a collection of eggs and quilts in their great variety of designs and color.
Other chapters look at practical needs, such as having materials on hand, luxury, sharing, nature and travel, each following a logic of their own yet making sense in their own way. In travel, for example, she sees a bit of time travel in making coconut macaroons, which she sees as the kids’ version of almond macaroons; she follows old branch lines on railway systems, which remind her of strings of Christmas lights.
Underlying much of what she advocates is her argument that the art of domestic life “requires a desire to make instead of consume, (represents) a triumph of activity over passivity and a return to using our hands and imaginations rather than a reliance on screens and technology.” I think that sums up a lot of the argument for a return-to-basics life, whether choosing a green lifestyle or simply running or maintaining a house in a simpler style.
I’m not likely to spend a lot of time knitting (OK, I don’t know how) but it’s obvious from this colorful and fascinating book that there are other ways of looking at the world and integrating the ideas, patterns and materials in a way we don’t ordinarily think of. There are a lot of ideas here, leaving readers free to pick what works for them, whether it's discussion of children, shopping, plants or anything that makes for a good home.
This is a very attractive book, easy to read and usable on several levels.
Jane Brocket delights in domesticity. Lively, curious, and creative, she takes inspiration from her surroundings, from art, literature, and nature, an...More at HotBookSale
Jane Brocket delights in domesticity. Lively, curious, and creative, she takes inspiration from her surroundings, from art, literature, and nature, an...More at HotBookSale
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