Thursday, April 01, 2010

craft as the foundation of art...

Anthony Burgess wrote the following in his book, But do Blondes Prefer Gentlemen?:
"Art begins with craft, and there is no art until craft has been mastered. You can't create unless you are willing to subordinate the creative impulse to the constriction of a form. But learning a craft takes time, and we all think we're entitled to short cuts...... Art is rare and sacred and hard work and there ought to be a wall of fire around it".
My thanks to fellow crafthaus member Glen Gardner for the quote. I want to call your attention to the photo below from Ellie Richard's "insert artwork" project at ASU. Is art such that it fits within a box and through a slot of a particular dimension? For those who narrowly define art to exclude certain forms including crafts or particular types of crafts the slots on the boxes below seem an appropriate metaphor. Don't you just wonder what some might put inside?

3 comments:

  1. I am a certified art and also industrial arts teacher, so I believe I have a right to comment here. There is art in everything we do. From the portraits my students draw, to the boxes my wood shop students make, to the casting of my line from my fly rod. For DaVinci, inventing and creativity itself became an art, separate from his painting. Stevie Ray Vaughan was an artist with his guitar. Any product of the soul becomes art. Any product that does not come from the heart and soul of the creator becomes obvious to those who have educated themselves enough to know the difference. The best way for all of us to learn, feel, and understand art is from personal time and study. I have learned more about art after college than I ever learned in college.

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  3. "Any product that does not come from the heart and soul of the creator becomes obvious to those who have educated themselves enough to know the difference." Well put.

    High school and college are just doors held open a crack to what we all must learn in life. And it is tragic that our educational focus is on "graduation," getting out, rather than on the process of lifelong learning that you describe..

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