Janet Kaiser on thu 19 dec 02
There is a programme on BBC Radio 4 called "The Moral Maze". I often turn
it off, because some members of the "team" get right up my nose. Even
though "the rudest man in Britain" has been removed, they now have an
equally good substitute and they terrorise their "witnesses".
However, tonight's edition (which I half heard) was all about "Art". Some
interesting statements from artists and art critics alike. You may be able
to find excerpts or a transcript on the BBC website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4
Let's just say that Art apparently no longer needs or prerequires the
MAKING of anything. It is the concept which is all important. The Original
Idea. No skills or craftsmanship... It is only an intellectual exercise.
I guess we will ALL (including a few professors, like Diane's favourite)
have to go back to art school/college/university to learn this lesson
thoroughly! A Cultural Revolution. It may involve tying our hands behind
our backs to stop us even attempting to make and using super-glue to make
sure our hands stay firmly on the mice, but hey! surely creative people
will find a way around that, even if they try sleep depravation and other
brain-washing techniques?
There will then be plenty of jobs for all of us re-trained and re-educated
Art Graduates, because the general public will have to go to school to
learn what Art is... Only then they will they be able to appreciate it. So
a park bench covered in obscene graffiti can take pride of place where the
sofa stood, a rugby scrum in the middle of a busy London pavement/sidewalk
is understood to be Art (not a civil disturbance) and pet shops can sell
sharks in formaldehyde instead of boring old goldfish.
At the moment, my bed, house, kitchen, dining table... ALL of the clutter,
dirt, crumbs, overflowing waste baskets/bins, unwashed pots waiting for
some applied TLC... Everything is obviously Art. Oh, everything except the
300 hand-made cards left out drying... That is not Art, because it has been
done before... Maybe if I printed a Yuletide message on condoms which would
expand... No, that would not be original either... Oh, well...
Sincerely
Janet Kaiser
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
>Kira is in Ann Arbor where everybody is savvy enough to
>"get" pots!!!! (Well, about 80% of the population)
>Lucky person!
>
>Crafstmanship, as my favorite major prof told me,
>is everything.
>And I think if the concept of craftsmanship were
>more lauded, grad school experiences would be
>much different...
*** Here endeth Diane Mead's mail ***
******************* FROM ********************
The Chapel of Art / Capel Celfyddyd
8 Marine Crescent, Criccieth LL52 0EA, Wales, UK
Tel: ++44 (01766) 523570 URL: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
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