published in 1989
Mary Catherine Bateson (December 8, 1939 – January 2, 2021) was an American writer and cultural anthropologistwho believed that life is an improvisational art form. From her Introduction to the book:
“I believe that our aesthetic sense, whether in works of art or in lives, has over-focused on the stubborn struggle toward a single goal rather than on the fluid, the protean, the improvisatory. We see achievements as purposeful and monolithic, like the sculpting of a massive tree trunk that has first to be brought from the forest and then shaped by long labor to assert the artist’s vision, rather than something crafted from odds and ends, like a patchwork quilt, and lovingly used to warm different nights and bodies.* Composing a life has a metaphorical relation to many different arts, including architecture and dance and cooking. In the visual arts, a variety of disparate elements may be arranged to form a simultaneous whole, just as we combine our simultaneous commitments. In the temporal arts, like music, a sequential diversity may be brought into harmony over time. In still other arts, such as homemaking or gardening, choreography or administration, complexity is woven in both space and time.”
*or like one of Stan Morgan’s collages, created from “found materials.”