{"id":3247,"date":"2018-10-03T11:00:37","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artbyodo.net\/?p=3247"},"modified":"2018-09-25T09:59:30","modified_gmt":"2018-09-25T09:59:30","slug":"if-i-had-a-hammer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artbyodo.net\/wordpress\/2018\/10\/03\/if-i-had-a-hammer\/","title":{"rendered":"If I Had a Hammer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For years I’ve had a backlog of columns to post. There were times I had several months worth. The backlog is used up. And I’m starting to repeat myself. Even if there are new specifics to bring up, or slightly different perspectives to feature, the general points, the important ones, have been made. Hammering the same subjects is no longer interesting. There are plenty of articles in the archives that haven’t an expiration date. If you find these posts informative, ringing a bell in your head; or aggravating, singing a discordance song in your ear, consider whistling through the archives for a variety of thoughts on art, audio, freedom and justice.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The next bell to ring is an old one. Instead of posting words to read and warnings of danger, I’ll be featuring images\u2014songs of vision, songs of singing, songs of morning and evening, songs of inspiration\u2014<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In ancient Rome, t<\/span><\/span><\/span>he museum was a shrine dedicated to the muses, nine goddesses who embodied creative inspiration.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Each muse has her own domain, Epic poetry (Caliope), Love Poetry (Erato), Lyric poetry\/music (Euterpe), Hymn (Polyhymnia), Tragedy (Melpomene), Comedy (Thalia), Dance (Terpichore), History (Clio)), and Astronomy (Urania). Note that they are not limited to the fine arts. One inspires the humanities, another, science, and most are concerned with literature. Conspicuously missing is a muse or two for the visual arts, painting and sculpture. Were these endeavors less valued in ancient Greece and Rome than they are today? Sculpture appears to have been very important to the ancients. They had a deity for artisans & sculptures : Hephaestus. Hephaestus, however, is a god. He had to be excluded from the group of muses\u2014only woman can inspire. Why the sexism? The ancients were not known for their sexual\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>parity<\/span><\/span><\/span>. But perhaps sculpting was too heavy-duty, too physical to be\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>muse-able<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>, and painting too unimportant, too unintellectual. Or maybe, painting and sculpture were mere crafts unworthy of inspiration. If painting were only a low status decorative art, a simple craft for simple craftsmen, then we’ve made a hard turn since then. Or we’ve elevated a vulgar vocational trade into high flying sacred act of genius. Visual artists will cringe at the suggestion that their work is merely craft. The disagreements around art vs craft, expression vs decoration, idealism vs utilitarianism, evocative\/provocative vs attractive\/functional continue. If\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>art is merely an elevated craft, the question is, where’s the dividing line? If art and craft are completely discreet animals, it may explain the direction of contemporary art. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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From these questions I thought I should get some other views on the distinction between art and craft. After reading several opinions, all of which are fairly equally confident in their position, and assertive that their opinion draws a line in the sand. Since all are making similar destinctions, I settled on one to use as an example. It starts as follows.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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. . . But the fact is that art is different from the craft in a sense that <\/span><\/span><\/span>art\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>is a creative merit that comes from within. On the contrary, the\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>craft\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>is skilled work, wherein there is an application of technique, that people learn through much practice. Next, art emerges from the heart, whereas craft comes from the mind. Here, in the given article, you may find all the important differences between art and craft, so have a glance.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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This source provided a chart for easy contrast. It uses eight points to distinguish art from craft.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n