=3D?Windows-1252?Q?Tig_Dupr=3DE9?=3D on sun 20 sep 09
Dear Mudbuds=3D2C
This discussion pops up from time to time=3D2C rages for a while=3D2C then =
sett=3D
les back into wintry silence for a while. As with many other topics=3D2C I=
h=3D
ave *my* opinions=3D2C you have yours. Neither is right=3D2C neither is wr=
ong=3D
=3D2C in the essence. A few years ago=3D2C I wrote a short piece to the gr=
oup =3D
I titled=3D2C "I was here=3D2C" about why we do what we do. We want to lea=
ve a=3D
mark.
As self-styled "artists=3D2C" we want others to take note of our existence=
=3D2C=3D
to appreciate what we do. For me=3D2C a part of that appreciation can ver=
y =3D
ably be expressed by the passing of currency from one hand to mine in excha=
=3D
nge for the piece under admiration at the time. :o)
I like two quotes from =3DC9mile Zola:
=3D93If you ask me what I came to do in this world=3D2C I=3D2C an
artist=3D2C I will answer you: =3D91I am here to live out loud!=3D92=3D94
=3D20
=3D93The artist is nothing without the gift=3D2C but the gift is
nothing without work.=3D94
=3D20
Emile Zola=3D2C Frenc=
h =3D
Novelist=3D2C Critic and Activist.
1840-1902
I work hard at my pottery=3D2C making objects for function and decoration. =
I=3D
am not able at the moment to devote full-time attention to this=3D2C but w=
il=3D
l retire soon and then settle into being a potter. I "live out loud" now=
=3D
=3D2C sometimes to the amusement=3D2C sometimes to the dismay of my co-work=
ers.=3D
I ride a motorcycle to work=3D2C I teach in a somewhat flamboyant fashion=
=3D
=3D2C and am energetic enough at 64 years old to wear out youngsters half m=
y =3D
age.
So=3D2C in all this lead-up=3D2C what makes an "artist?" Am I considered t=
o be=3D
an artist by those around me? Do I consider myself an artist? If the ans=
=3D
wer to those two questions is a "yes=3D2C" then I suppose I am one. For me=
=3D
=3D2C part of the definition is that an artist does not especially express =
wh=3D
at (s)he *sees*=3D2C as such=3D2C but rather expresses the emotion of what =
is s=3D
een. [I hope that makes sense.]
If you give ten potters 5 pounds of clay each=3D2C put a bowl on a shelf in=
f=3D
rom of all ten=3D2C and tell them to make a bowl like it=3D2C you will wind=
up =3D
with ten different bowls. Each sees the same bowl=3D2C but interprets the =
va=3D
lue of "bowl" differently.
In the end=3D2C though=3D2C each of us has left our mark on the cave wall o=
f ci=3D
vilization to say=3D2C "I was here." Art=3D2C like religion must be felt t=
o be=3D
fully appreciated. I like what Rimas said=3D2C that not all art I like is=
*=3D
good* art=3D2C and not all that I don't like is *bad* art. Like the concep=
t =3D
of beauty=3D2C it is in the eye of the beholder.
Hot fires to all=3D2C
Tig DupreLiving out loud in Port Orchard=3D2C WA
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