Background
Brack, Harold G. was born on June 4, 1944 in Newton, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Robert Preston and Evelyn Isabel (Barker) Brack.
(The Phenomenology of Tools was written in the 1970s and f...)
The Phenomenology of Tools was written in the 1970s and first published in 1982. This second edition includes added photographs illustrating the poem, a new preface, and several appendices. In 1999, H. G. Brack became the curator of the Davistown Museum. His "Curator's Riff" from the museum's 2005 show catalog is reproduced as an appendix. It provides a less abstract synopsis of the phenomenology of tools, especially as experienced and presented by New England artists, toolmakers, and others in the permanent collection of the Davistown Museum. Using a poem by Philip Booth as a context in which to explore the show's theme of the marriage of tools, art, and history, both the "Curator's Riff" and the exhibition explicate a key element of the phenomenology of tools that is only briefly referenced in the first edition text, i.e. the joys of the convivial use of tools. From the simple joys of gardening to the subtle satisfactions of mechanics, machinists, artisans, and artists, an enduring lesson of forty years as a "mooncusser" (tool salvaging) is how much fun we have with our tools. Decades of observing the enjoyment that both tool customers and museum visitors express upon buying, owning, and using or viewing tools stand in contrast to the ominous legacy of our technological achievements.
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old tool seller sculptor author
Brack, Harold G. was born on June 4, 1944 in Newton, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Robert Preston and Evelyn Isabel (Barker) Brack.
South.Robert Preston and Evelyn Isabel (Barker) B. Bachelor of Arts, University Massachusetts, 1966. Master of Arts, University Colorado-Boulder, 1967.
Founder, owner Jonesport Wood Company, Incorporated., Hulls Cove, Maine, 1972, Liberty Tool Company, Liberty, Maine, 1976. Founder, director Maine Radscan, Hulls Cove, 1982, 83, 84, Center Biological Monitoring, Hulls Cove, 1984.
Owner, editor Pennywheel Press, Hulls Cove, 1982.
Sculptor, Sculpture Gardens, Hulls Cove, 1991.
Founder & owner Jonesport Wood Company Inc., Hulls Cove, Maine, since 1972, Liberty Tool Company, since 1976. Founder & director Maine Radscan, Hulls Cove, 1982—1984, Center Biological Monitoring, Hulls Cove, since 1984. Owner & editor Pennywheel Press, since 1982.
Sculptor Sculpture Gardens, since 1991.
(The Phenomenology of Tools was written in the 1970s and f...)
Organizer Stop the Draft Week, Berkeley, California, 1967. Director New England Ecology Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1970. Treasurer & board directors Washington-Hancock Community Agency, Machias, Maine, 1979.
Member of Massachusetts Archaeol. Society, Maine Archaeol. Society, Early American Industries Association Inc., Maine History Society (life).
Married Suzanne Nash, June 10, 1978. Children: Kristen, Ingrid.