"Karl J. Kuerner's formative years with the Wyeth family as told by Karl J. Kuerner"--

When Gene Logsdon realized that he experienced the same creative joy from farming as he did from writing, he suspected that agriculture itself was a form of art. Thus began his search for the origins of the artistic impulse in the agrarian lifestyle. The Mother of All Arts is the culmination of Logsdon’s journey, his account of friendships with farmers and artists driven by the urge to create. He chronicles his long relationship with Wendell Berry and discovers the playful humor of several new agrarian writers. He reveals insights gleaned from conversations with Andrew Wyeth and his family of artists. Through his association with musicians such as Willie Nelson and his involvement with Farm Aid, Logsdon learns how music—blues, jazz, country, and even rock ’n’ roll—is also rooted in agriculture. Logsdon sheds new light on the work of rural painters, writers, and musicians and suggests that their art could be created only by those who work intimately with the land. Unlike the gritty realism or abstract expressionism often favored by contemporary critics, agrarian art evokes familiar feelings of community and comfort. Most important, Logsdon convincingly demonstrates that diminishing the connection between art and nature lessens the social and aesthetic value of both. The Mother of All Arts explores these cultural connections and traces the development of a new agrarian culture that Logsdon believes will eventually replace the model brought about by the industrial revolution. Humorous and introspective, the book is neither conventional cultural criticism nor traditional art criticism. It is a unique, lively meditation on the nature and purpose of art—and on the life well-lived—by one of the truly original voices of rural America.

Chadds Ford, an upscale suburb in southeastern Pennsylvania, devotes a lot of energy to creating a historical identity. Numerous institutions participate in this task, including museums, a land conservancy dedicated to the preservation of its historical landscape, and the Historical Society, which is responsible for an annual community celebration. Larger institutions related to regional tourism and suburban development generate a steady flow of texts about Chadds Ford in the form of glossy travel magazines, pamphlets, brochures, and gallery displays.

In a series of historic vignettes combined with contemporary paintings renowned artist Karl J. Kuerner and award-winning writer Bruce E. Mowday explore the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg in a way never before depicted. For Karl, the spirit of art has spurred him to create a series of paintings that are peaceful and tranquil despite the death and destruction that took place here. Also, there are tears for those who sacrificed so much. For Bruce, he calls upon his years of Civil War historical research to recount some of the heroic deeds of the conflict that threatened the very existence of the United States of America. Ten of thousands of soldiers. . . . Ten of thousands of emotional stories each with a life of its own. So many stories will never be told, lost along with those who sacrificed their lives at Gettysburg during three days of July in 1863. What took place in Gettysburg, documented or not, forever will have profound meaning for Americans, a soul and a spirit.