Decorative Arts are often the unsung heroes of everyday life. The decorative arts are arts or crafts concerned with the design and manufacture of beautiful objects that are also functional. It includes interior design, but not usually architecture. The decorative arts are often categorized in opposition to the “fine arts”, namely, painting, drawing, photography, and large-scale sculpture, which generally have no function other than to be seen. The distinction between works of decorative art and fine art has been blurred by pop art artists such as Andy Warhol who elevated common objects to fine art status.
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Rocking Chairs in Philadelphia Airport
As we were traveling to Paris, we had a connection in Philadelphia which is a very busy airport. These days it is common to have Internet, restaurants and charging stations to make the stay in the airport more comfortable, but I have never seen a long line of white rocking chairs with contented travelers rocking their children or themselves to pass the time.
The first known use of the word rocking chair was in 1766 and was thought to have been invented by Benjamin Franklin, although there is no real evidence to support this claim. Appropriately for this post, president John Kennedy was prescribed a rocking chair for his bad back and loved it so much that he took one on Air Force One! He even bought them for Camp David and gave them as gifts to visiting heads of state.
Apparently the idea started in the Charlotte airport about 10 years ago and has now spread to almost 100 airports including Charlotte, Philadelphia and Logan. I say kudos to Philidelphia for making this bold seating selection.