'Creative Differences' discussion group to start up Shohola

Do you agree with Aristotle or Immanuel Kant?

Their sense of aesthetics was very different, and a discussion group is forming so everyone can pick a side. Called “Creative Differences," and it’s a monthly gathering where artists and art lovers drink free coffee, enjoy free pastries, and freely offer their opinions. The topics of discussion are listed in advance, to give time for reflection beforehand.

The first topic of discussion, scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 5, at the Artists’ Market Community Center, 114 Richardson Avenue, Shohola, is: "Should the goal of an artist be an imitation of nature, or something as genuine as nature itself?"

Aristotle would argue that the goal should be an imitation of nature. Nature cannot be improved upon, he would reason, so nothing an artist could imagine could be as genuine.

But Kant would insist that artists should strive to give birth to something as honest and genuine as nature, even if it previously existed only in their minds.

"Creative Differences" will be hosted by the Artists’ Market Community Center at the same time on the first Sunday of every month throughout 2020. The full schedule and list of monthly topics is available at artistsmarketcc.com/CreativeDifferences.html.

The discussion groups are sponsored by the Barryville Area Arts Association and made possible by grants from the Richard L. Snyder Fund, administered through the Greater Pike Community Foundation, and through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.