My interest and fascination with Ruskin started during my Masters course work at York University. As someone immersed in the Victorians through my undergraduate thesis research, I did encounter Ruskin in my Victorians course but not enough to create that spark. It was in a mandatory bibliography and methods course early in my second semester of the Masters of Arts program where a discussion of the history and aesthetics of bookmaking somehow lead to a discussion of Ruskin’s biography and education which made me realize that I really needed to learn and read more about Ruskin’s work and life.
I was not disappointed. My interest in the sensory, specifically tactility, was present in its nascent stages in my undergraduate work, however, by reading more Ruskin in my graduate studies it became apparent that he was providing a conceptualization of tactility and the ethics of tactility grounded in the socio-cultural and the phenomenological — exactly what I was interested in researching. The Ethics of the Dust is what solidified my love of Ruskin. The ways that tactility and ethical interaction are woven within the lectures captivated me in a way that reinforced that I had found a kindred spirit. Eventually Ruskin and The Ethics of the Dust made it into my doctoral dissertation at The University of Western Ontario for the pull of the tactile was too much to ignore. From that time forward Ruskin has followed like a knowledgeable ghost, informing my analysis of architectural spaces in Toronto — causing me to question what we truly value as a society.
It was a few years after I had finished my dissertation that a chance encounter on Twitter with Dr. Stuart Eagles, then Secretary of the Guild of St. George, allowed me to be part of the greater Ruskinian community of the Guild for which I will be forever grateful. As a Companion of the Guild I organized an international colloquium on Ruskin and Morris with the William Morris Society of Canada in Toronto. I continue to have many rewarding discussions of the importance and value of Ruskin in our society today in hopes that these chance encounters with his thought will have as fruitful a reward on others.
Last modified 24 June 2019