Contributed by Marilyn Bennett
I will confess, I never gave much thought to the question until after going to the State Fair this year. Since I knew several of the peopleI was also surprised this year to learn that the designation of a professional painter was given to anyone who had accepted money for a piece of art. It was amazing for me to discover that I was a professional. The reason being, that I have actually sold a few of my paintings. For that reason, I did not feel I should enter my paintings into competition.
Previously I was judged as an amateur and never, ever won a ribbon. Therefore, I was pretty intimidated that this year I would be competing against "real" professionals. I have since re-thought this, as why would a "real" professional enter his or her work into the State Fair?
I am digressing from the question of whether it is Art or is it Craft. I went from the Art Exhibit to the Crafts Exhibits of the Fair, where all the lovely quilts were on exhibit. There I saw a beautiful painting, that was painted on wood, so it had been put in as a craft, instead of in the art exhibit. It did win a blue ribbon,
but I was confused as to why it was in Crafts instead of in the Art Exhibit.
Then to make my confusion even greater, a member of our art Group came in with several sanded pieces of wood for us to paint on. As you can see above I painted a girl on a horse, Taylor painted a ship on stormy seas and Jerry painted that wonderful bear.
Were these all arts and craft items? I willingly admit my works could be considered arts and craft, but the other two surely should be judged as art.
Decided to get a dictionary definition and it is as follows: According to the Oxford dictionary, craft means Òan activity involving skill in making things by hand.Ó Unlike craft, art has a lengthy definition which goes as follows. "Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
So now I am even more confused as I saw many of the items in the craft exhibit that were definitely expressions of human creative skill and imagination.
Going to the trusty internet the differences were clearly laid out as follows:
Art is something that expresses emotions or imagination.
Craft has a more tangible form like moulding or carving and is the creation of goods of a utilitarian nature to serve a purpose and can be easily reproduced. While art appeals to the mind and makes an emotional connection.
Based on these definitions I think the paintings we made on wood do qualify as art. However I would be loath to argue with the judges at the State Fair as I am only very recently a professional artist having sold the sum total of four small paintings. If you are still confused about what is art and what is craft you may want to join our fun art group.
We meet every Thursday from 1pm to 3pm at the education room of VCRS (Valley Recycling Center) which is located off 49th State Street. We paint, draw, engage in arts and crafts and learn from each other.
We also discuss in depth such topics as I outlined above. So for intellectual, stimulating conversation as well as painting in a non-threatening atmosphere come on out and join us. For more information on what Valley Arts Alliance is doing go to: valleyartsalliance.com
