Karen Sullivan on tue 12 dec 00
Vince, what do you think of the following distinctions?
Craftsmen work in existing traditions.
Artists contribute NEW techniques, information, or ideas to the
dialogue of art.
There is no distinction in the above for considerations of
quality, which could be a fuzzy concept.
bamboo karen
on 12/12/00 6:20 PM, vince pitelka at vpitelka@DEKALB.NET wrote:
>> If your mind and hands simply make pots while you live life; if you see
>> pots wherever you go, you are a potter. If you see things not quite as
>> others do, you may be an artist. Wonderful. You have my sympathy. It's
>> your life; live it.
>> The best advice I know is this: don't try to be what you are not. Just
> be
>> yourself. It's called life.
>
> Gavin -
> Your wonderful post is filled with intelligence and wisdom and fire, but you
> are confusing "artist" with "great artist." Every one of us has an artist
> in us when we are young, but as I have said many times before on Clayart,
> the educational system and/or close-minded family/peers usually break us of
> the inclination. Being an artist does not imply the ability to make great
> or even good art. Few are capable of great art, but everyone is capable of
> making art, and therefore can be an artist. What is art? That's probably
> more than we want to get into here, but my favorite interpretation is that
> art is original visual expression, conceived and created by an individual
> according to their own experience and vision. It may not be good art, but
> it is still art. The term "artist" is not qualitative; it references
> involvement and commitment.
>
> If the work is not original, it is not art. Some people who fancy
> themselves fine artists are just fine craftspeople adept at creating exact
> copies of what they see. There's no art in that. Many craftspeople who
> never call themselves artists are, because they make very fine original
> artwork. And many who claim to be visual "artists" aren't at all.
>
> I don't want to sound like a broken record, but it is such a shame that as a
> society we tend to feel that "artist" implies some kind of elevated status
> earned by those making great art or else claimed by those underserving of
> the appellation in an attempt to boost their own ego. What a
> misinterpretation of the term and the concept. We all have the ability to
> be visual artists, and we all SHOULD be visual artists, because it is a
> fundamental and intuitive means of human communication.
> End of rant.
> - Vince
>
> Vince Pitelka
> Home - vpitelka@dekalb.net
> 615/597-5376
> Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
> 615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
> Appalachian Center for Crafts
> Tennessee Technological University
> 1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
> http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/
>
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vince pitelka on wed 13 dec 00
> Vince, what do you think of the following distinctions?
> Craftsmen work in existing traditions.
> Artists contribute NEW techniques, information, or ideas to the
> dialogue of art.
> There is no distinction in the above for considerations of
> quality, which could be a fuzzy concept.
> bamboo karen
Karen -
I would agree that craftspeople primarily work in existing traditions, but
they are certainly capable of creating new techniques or information. Does
that constitute originality, and if so does that make them artists? I think
so, and there lies the difficulty of distinguishing between the two. The
artist may contribute new techniques, created in the attempt at original
expression, but it is not the new techniques that make her/him and artist.
It is the originality of expression.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Home - vpitelka@dekalb.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/
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