My how time slips away! I am busy in the studio making salad bowls. This week I have been making them in walnut. Next week I move to maple. I am working on two styles, namely the B-Bowl and the T-Bowl. These are my best sellers.
It is the salad time of year. The weather has warmed up. The trees are finally in full leaf (although the ash trees are just starting to leaf - they are always the last).
Many of my salad bowls are purchased for wedding gifts - it is that time of the year also!
I spend 5 - 6 hours a day in the workshop part of my studio. In order to keep the price reasonable on my bowls, I follow a set format in making them. As this is not a terribly creative process, I have a fair amount of time to reflect on the nature of what I am doing. Here are some of my thoughts:
I have always considered myself as a craftsman. In the last decade or so more and more people are saying that I am an artist. Well, I don't think that I am an artist. I am a craftsman - I make craft, some of it fine craft. I think that the differences between art and craft are becoming blurred. Many craftspeople consider themselves artists and many artists are considered craftspeople.
An artist paints her vision - it may be a landscape or it may come from within. A crafts person can be an artist and create something of textural and visual beauty but that person also can, and probably does, make functional pieces for everyday use. An artist may need crafts skills in order to execute a work of art but that does not mean that they are a crafts person.
I have always thought that an artist works from a concept whereas a crafts person works from functionality. The new thinking has this all mixed up and now everyone is an artist and everyone is a crafts person.
I would be happy to hear what others have to say about this.
It is the salad time of year. The weather has warmed up. The trees are finally in full leaf (although the ash trees are just starting to leaf - they are always the last).
Many of my salad bowls are purchased for wedding gifts - it is that time of the year also!
I spend 5 - 6 hours a day in the workshop part of my studio. In order to keep the price reasonable on my bowls, I follow a set format in making them. As this is not a terribly creative process, I have a fair amount of time to reflect on the nature of what I am doing. Here are some of my thoughts:
I have always considered myself as a craftsman. In the last decade or so more and more people are saying that I am an artist. Well, I don't think that I am an artist. I am a craftsman - I make craft, some of it fine craft. I think that the differences between art and craft are becoming blurred. Many craftspeople consider themselves artists and many artists are considered craftspeople.
An artist paints her vision - it may be a landscape or it may come from within. A crafts person can be an artist and create something of textural and visual beauty but that person also can, and probably does, make functional pieces for everyday use. An artist may need crafts skills in order to execute a work of art but that does not mean that they are a crafts person.
I have always thought that an artist works from a concept whereas a crafts person works from functionality. The new thinking has this all mixed up and now everyone is an artist and everyone is a crafts person.
I would be happy to hear what others have to say about this.
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