Thread: Yeah.....lets do it!!

Good Morning,

This is my first post on this site, but I can't stay out of this. (I have been lurking for a long time and a member for less. I will introduce myself one day!)

I tend to think that I do not have any art genes in my DNA, being of a more practical nature. To me art is what one likes, and the rest is s##te!

I have turned some things and they are pleasing to some peoples eyes, so I must be doing some things right.

I am also interested in blacksmithing and have done a little of it. Just recently, a friend was buried, with a split cross that I made on the lid of the coffin. Just a little thing, but I was happy that the husband and family liked it enough that they used it.

So where does blacksmithing sit in this discussion? Is it a trade, a craft or an art? I would say all three, just the same as woodwork and turning.

Trade = functional.
Craft = functional and beautiful.
Art = beautiful and useless.

"I was told by a "ART" gallery director in this area that anything made or created with timber was craft and craft only however anything else made from anything else unless mass produced was art. Any material however poorly or coloured with paint or other medium was "ART" and that was it."

Is one allowed to say wanker in this forum?

So there!

"A". (Alister.)

I was told during my apprenticeship that an Artisan was one who made an art of his trade.
Which is interesting as not many see much art in an electrical installation.
Regards

Trade = functional.
Craft = functional and beautiful.
Art = beautiful and useless.

"I was told by a "ART" gallery director in this area that anything made or created with timber was craft and craft only however anything else made from anything else unless mass produced was art. Any material however poorly or coloured with paint or other medium was "ART" and that was it."

Is one allowed to say wanker in this forum?

\

Well said and welcome aboard.

Originally Posted by hughie

\

Well said and welcome aboard.

Originally Posted by powderpost

I turn to suit me, if it wins, sells or sits on a shelf, I am happy.

Me, too, but there is only a limited amount of shelf space to fill (at home, in family & fiend's houses, and in galleries) before supply and demand eventually come into play.

On the topic, as originally proposed....

Originally Posted by gus3049

Should an artist compromise his 'art' in order to pay the bills, or should he be prepared to do whatever it takes to eat???

The reality is that every artist I have ever known (quite a few) has to do some type of work other than their own art to pay the bills, at least for part of their careers.

e.g. 35 years ago I shared an office at the art school with William Robinson where we both taught. Bill was raising a family of 6 and he had no option other than to do something like teaching to pay the bills. But, after teaching all day Bill would go home and paint every night, which he did for over 30 years. Then having won the Archibald Prize (for the first time), plus had a few successful exhibitions behind him (and decreasing family responsibilities) he decided to chance it and leave paid employment to concentrate full time on his art.

Nowadays "William Robinson is considered one of Australia’s foremost living artists". The recent average prices for his paintings have been around the $150k mark, with some of his major works selling for $0.5m+.

The point being, if Bill couldn't raise a family on just his art, I doubt that any of us artistic woodturners are going to do so. We either do production work or teach, run workshops, do demos, write articles, sell gear or work at something else and wait until we retire and then do whatever we wish.

~~~~~~~~

What is an artist vs artisan vs craftsperson vs tradeperson is a whole topic in itself which I don't have the energy for just now so will let that one fly through to the keeper(s)...

Yup, I reckon the guy was a wanker too.

Its a modern thing definitely. Its all about being precious and self serving. All the great painters compromised by making their patrons look a little better than reality, all the great composers were doing it for money, Bach was churning out stuff for next Sunday's service. OK it helped that he was a genius and I'm not sure how many of today's artists come under that catagory, but he was doing it to eat.

I have just spent two days remaking a piece because the wife loved it but the husband didn't. So we sat down and redesigned it between us so they did like it. This is a compromise that is just common sense., I could have got on my high horse like a chef complaining about seeing someone add salt to a meal (another good subject???) but these are good customers and I've kept them.

In the end, I liked the result enough to do another for me, so when its done I'll post it on this forum as an example to us all

Why didn't you post a pikky of the first one? You will have to excuse him folks, he gets a bit forgetful at times. It's his age you know

I have been called an artist loads of times, but it's normally had something to do with the pint in my hand and the way it goes down my neck?

There is a guy on another forum one of the signatures sounds quite good. Not sure if this is exact, but it goes along the lines of

'A workman uses his hands, a craftsman uses his hands and his heart and an artist uses his hands, his heart and his soul'.

If that's isn't correct then perhaps you can improve on it Gordon?

Originally Posted by Jonzjob

Why didn't you post a pikky of the first one? You will have to excuse him folks, he gets a bit forgetful at times. It's his age you know

I have been called an artist loads of times, but it's normally had something to do with the pint in my hand and the way it goes down my neck?

There is a guy on another forum one of the signatures sounds quite good. Not sure if this is exact, but it goes along the lines of

'A workman uses his hands, a craftsman uses his hands and his heart and an artist uses his hands, his heart and his soul'.

If that's isn't correct then perhaps you can improve on it Gordon?

Ah well, as it 'appens, I do have a pic, so when I've made my copy of the latest version, I'll post all three and you can have a good laugh on me.

The correct quote is, of course by Francis of Assisi.........He who works with his hands is a labourer, he who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman, he who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist.

Don't know where you lot get your edification

If my Frances hears you calling her a sissy you really will be in trouble, but ta for the correct version. See, yer not totally useless, plus yer bio-degradable

From Anthony Yak (Yakonick but most can't say that properly), one of the moderators on WoodNet forums, "If it don't hold soup, then it is art."

robo hippy

Originally Posted by robo hippy

From Anthony Yak (Yakonick but most can't say that properly), one of the moderators on WoodNet forums, "If it don't hold soup, then it is art."

robo hippy

I like that. A turner, I've forgotten who, once wrote "the less useful something is the more I can get for it".

I am in the wonderful situation of being retired with a very modest income. I make bowls, weed pots, and mushrooms; never the same thing twice from wood salvaged from along the road or given to me by people who have removed trees. I heat with wood and as I am working up firewood I cut out and save interesting bits for the lathe.

I sell through a crafts shop and 90% of everything I take there sells.

The most I ever received for a bowl is one with a hole in the bottom, good for fruit but not soup.

I make things that please me and almost all of it sells, I don't care what my turnings or I am called.

There are some artistes locally who sell in heavy duty ART galleries in NY and Los Angeles in the range of $9,000 - $18,000 a piece. One had a similar piece in an AAW traveling show that came through town. If I were given the piece I would cut it up to make something to turn, or burn it.

For what it is worth the most famous of the artistes runs a restaurant.

The bowl with the hole.

Not Damien Hurst by any chance?

I love his idea that you can go to yer butchers, get some cows heads and call it art, or this one

Damien Hirst's latest unveiled at Royal Academy of Arts: Maggots and flies at barbecue | Mail Online

Now that's really art in the making