Art? Craft?

ah geo., geo., geo. - - do not blame the nea powers that be as “a
tight clique who exhibit a herd mentality” - blame senators such as
jesse helms who ‘is anal retentive & exhibits a lack of mentality’ (&
an obvious case of hypothyroidism), as representatives from the bible
belt’em & keep’em barefoot part of the country usually are. but don’t
blame the people who fight to keep the decreasing apportionment in
the face of certain representatives & senators whose idea of serious
art is rockwell (norman, not kent) - ART gets done by those with the
need to do it - simply because we cannot NOT do it in our own manner,
but if you choose to waste your energies in railing against that
which you can’t control, then you do not need to do ART: keeping your
day job sounds like a good idea for you - ive

IMHO the NEA is highly prejudiced and controlled by a tight clique
who exhibit a herd mentality. They endow a limited arena of effete and
weak art, fearing to diverge from the present fads and fashions. that
is why I keep my day job, so I can make my own art instead of having
to appease a committee of dunces. 

Uh oh George…Guess I should return that grant I received some years
ago. I wasn’t aware that accepting it branded me as such a rotten
artist, and an idiot to boot. I thought at the time, that it was to
help me survive and devote more time to making “my own” art without
having to get a day job. Wish I had known . Then again, it wasn’t for
very much money, and it was for sculpture, not for jewelry. Oops…I
hear the herd calling, so I guess I’ll go now. Bye…uh I mean
moo…or is that duh?

Lisa,(in all good humor…) Topanga, CA USA

As several people have already mentioned, this is an old discussion,
but an interesting one. I’ve done a bit of research and found these
definitions:

Art: “A skill acquired by study or practice; the study or creation of
beautiful things; the work produced by painters, sculptures,
musicians; craft, cunning. Also: any form of human activity that is
the product of the imagination and skill…works produced by such an
activity.”

Craft: “An art or trade requiring artistic manual skill; skill,
especially of the hand; deceit, cunning. Also: skill or art,
especially in handwork…an article made by hand. To craft: to
construct or form.”

So art means craft and craft means art! Obviously there is a bias in
the word craft towards manual skill, and in art towards what are now
considered higher forms of creativity. But these connotations are
fairly recent and probably developed as a way of marketing certain
artists. The connection of the word ‘craft’ to leisure or
recreational activities appears to be very recent, and I think part
of the reason the general public feels craft is somehow less valuable
than art.

The origins of the word art come from a word meaning “putting things
together.” While craft is derived from a word meaning “strength.” I
like to sidestep the whole debate and use “make” and “maker.”

Make: “To bring into being; build; form; shape; to produce or create;
to form by shaping or putting parts or ingredients together,
physically or mentally…”

Andrew

Dee, Do American taxpayers subsidize the Brooklyn Museum with any
grants or monies obtained from the American tax payer? Or is it
wholly a Private Institution operating on private funds? Susan

Velvet paintings are art. Decorative Art. But who is valued much less
valued highly for producing them? Isn’t this eternal discussion not
really about the public perception of crafts and craftsmen, but about
how you and your “works” are recieved or valued? To carry this to an
extreme, if the route to notoriety or critical acceptance is the same
as mainstream “Art”, then will your “works” ever be exhibited in a
museum? Do your pieces have the kind of emotive impact to break the
barrier that most museums have erected to crafts? If not you have your
answer as to what is art in the real sense of value as defined by the
art world. john

Hello’s to all, I Know this subject is like a mathematical chaos
problem, and if I speak, it will increase a value of some number,
which will only add to my 904 E-mails from the orchidans that I would
like to read but this is impossible. Heres the point, my opinion on Art
vs. Craft is that Art is “expressed stimulus” and Craft is art with a
functional purpose.(there is no black and white)

Thank you’al orchid’s for the you can always find in a
book. Trav,

To me art is something that comes from your heart first and then to
your mind and hands. Craft is something that comes from your mind and
hands, you don’t really have to involve your heart first.

Just my silly two cents worth,
Mike

   I think that an artist cannot tell you what he/she was trying to
say is immaterial. Their work is the communication. That is their
form of expression. A person can be a great painter, sculptor,
goldsmith, etc. and not be particularly verbally articulate. If
their work speaks to you, great, if it doesn't, that's ok.  I don't
think that artists should have to justify or explain their work with
the     written or spoken word. What does anyone else think?  

Joel, what an insightful comment. I’ve seen people get uptight (in
the art “biz”) about people not “understanding” their work, but the
big question is… do they have to? Can they not just look at a piece
and say “I like that” without having to justify why they like it? If
a piece has particular significance to an artist, like a personal
journey or whatever, then sure; tell the story, it might add to the
sparkle of the piece. I’ve found, however, that more often than not
any explanation of work detracts from the statement of the actual
piece (mostly because with some of the “essays” I’ve read, I’m
thinking “Whew, wow, can’t they stop talking about their inner child
and just tell me how they made the darn thing?” :slight_smile: )

Just a thought from a jewellery innocent. :slight_smile:

Joel - I don’t think that an artist must justify their work with
words. I do find it helpful to discuss or write about my work,
particularly with other artists. It’s part of the growth process for
me. I do think that art touches people on a non-verbal level, the
proverbial gut reaction. I think that is even more true with objects
than with 2-D art because it has a more tactile aspect. - Deb

l love this topic too. there was once an argument between lectures and
the head of the whole “arts and crafts” facilties on this subject.
they were trying to define the course names. a B.A in arts design… a
B.A in crafts design blah blah. now it is called Applied Arts, hmmmm, l
think as long as we are using our creative mind, expressing ourselves
in what ever form, who cares what its called… the ‘B.A in expanding
the creative mind process’. anna from oz

Dee, My opinion about the NEA was formed long ago and is unrelated to
the present exhibit. Perhaps it was their general prejudice against
metal artists or their endowment of “performance art”, their promotion
of political causes unrelated to art, their faddism or one of their
other dozen or so glaring errors. Sure, from time to time they may
endow someone who both needs the money and produces good work, but I
think that government sponsorship assures a generally inferior
product. Geo.

Hi Terry, I thought you made some interesting points. I copied this
definition of art from Encarta. “Art, a disciplined activity that may
be limited to skill or expanded to include a distinctive way of
looking at the world. The word art is derived from the Latin ars,
meaning “skill”. Art is skill at performing a set of specialized
actions, as, for example, the art of gardening or of playing chess.
Art in its broader meaning, however, involves both skill and creative
imagination in a musical, literary, visual, or performance context.
Art provides the person or people who produce it and the community
that observes it with an experience that might be aesthetic,
emotional, intellectual, or a combination of these qualities”. I think
the key element in art is creative imagination. There are many
occupations that do not require too much of this quality. Personally,
I do not think there should be any split between “art” and “craft”.
They both require creative imagination. This is a pre requisite for
any kind of artistic endevour.

Both art and science require technical skill. Both artist and
scientist try to create order out of the seemingly random and diverse
experiences of the world. Both try to understand and appreciate the
world and to convey their experience to others. However, an essential
difference exists: The scientist studies quantitative sense
perceptions in order to discover laws or concepts that are
universally true. The artist selects qualitative perceptions and
arranges them to express personal and cultural understanding. Whereas
further investigation may cause a scientific law to be invalidated, a
work of art-despite changes in the artist’s view or the public
taste-has permanent validity as an aesthetic statement at a
particular time and place. Although artists may be unique geniuses
impelled by their own creative energies, they are also very much
products of their societies. A society must provide sufficient wealth
and leisure to enable the public or an institution to pay a
professional artist, as did Sumerian priests and Renaissance princes.
An amateur artist must have free time, as, for example, a farmer who
carves or embroiders in winter, or an office worker who paints on
Sunday. Even the choice to be an artist may be culturally influenced.
In many traditional societies, artists, like other people,
customarily followed their father’s profession, as did certain
Japanese families of actors and painters and the musical dynasties of
18th-century Europe. The physical resources of a society affect the
medium in which an artist works. In stoneless Mesopotamia, Sumerian
architects built in brick. Nomadic Asian herders wove wool from their
flocks into rugs. Medieval European painters worked on wood panels,
plaster walls, stained-glass windows, and parchment books in an era
before paper was known in the West. Mass production and world trade
have given 20th-century artists an enormous range of materials. An
artist’s medium affects the style of the work. Thus, a sculptor must
treat stone differently from wood; a musician achieves different
effects with drums than with violins; a writer must meet certain
demands of poetry that might be irrelevant to the novel. Local
tradition also affects art styles. Pottery design in one area and
period may be geometric and in another, naturalistic. Indian
tradition prescribed closely curled hair in depictions of the Buddha,
just as Western tradition decreed blond hair for depictions of Jesus
Christ. Eastern artists paid no heed to scientific perspective, which
has been a major concern of Western painters since the European
Renaissance. In addition, the subject of art is largely dictated by
the society that supports it. Ancient Egyptian art and architecture,
dominated by state and religion, glorified the pharaoh and life after
death. In pious medieval Europe, most visual arts and theatre had
Christian themes. In 20th-century totalitarian countries, officially
accepted art must serve the state. Since the 19th century, in most
Western countries, artists have had greater freedom to choose the
subjects they please. Sometimes, as in conceptual art and absolute
music, the form of the work becomes its subject. The status of artists
in the West has changed over the centuries. In classical and medieval
times, poets and other writers who used mental skills were usually
ranked above actors, dancers, musicians, painters, and sculptors who
used physical skills. From the Renaissance on, as all aspects of the
human personality came to be valued, those skilled in the visual and
performing arts gradually gained greater recognition and social
prestige. Today art in all its categories is considered an essential
part of human achievement, and some of its many, varied creators are
ranked among the most celebrated citizens of the world. Sorry for
droning on so much. I feel quite strongly about this subject Richard
The first step is a journey of a thousand miles