Wesley C. Rolley on thu 5 jul 01
Since we constantly reiterate the sign / no sign debate, I thought that I
might add a new definition to the artist / crafts "person" issue. The
following quote is from a Japanese author (novelist and newspaper
columnist), Natsume Soseki, who was very popular at the beginning of the
20th century. In fact, he had such a high standing that his image is used
on the 1000 Yen note in Japan today. I quote from a translation of his
book, The Three Cornered World.
"Putting it as a formula, I suppose you could say that an artist is a
person who lives in the triangle which remains after the angle which we may
call common sense has been removed from this four-cornered world.
Because of this lack of common sense, the artist is not afraid to approach
those areas, both in the natural and in the man-made world, from which the
average person shrinks back, and in consequence is able to find the most
exquisite perals of beauty."
I must be an artist rather than a craftsman, because my wife continues to
tell me that I have no common sense.
Wes
"A clock that has stopped has no value except as scrap metal. We must
advance through diligent, unceasing efforts; today further than yesterday,
tomorrow further than today. There must be lifelong learning." -- Kitaoji
Rosanjin
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