Art for Giving!

It is too easy to spend money. The other day I went to the drug store to buy toothpaste, but I came out with dog treats, a magazine, gift wrap, a package of scotch tape, a box of batteries, chewing gum, hand cream, light bulbs ... AND toothpaste!



Store owners know this: many of us are too easily distracted by the interesting, the eye-catching, the useful - and we too easily part from our money as a result.



When it comes to shopping for gifts, it is WAY easy - for me at least - to bust the budget! But I strive for discipline. I try, in choosing and purchasing gifts, to be thoughtful. Sometimes, a gift that's not too expensive or flashy provides the best return on investment: the best long-term value for enjoyment and delight.



Artists know this: many of us seek thoughtful, long-lasting, not-too-expensive gifts of beauty for those we love.



Around the North Country, many venues are trying to provide shoppers just these types of gifts.



Tomorrow, Saturday December 12, the Artists' League of Lake Placid is hosting "A Holiday Event of Original Fine Artworks: 100 (almost) UNDER $100" at St. Eustace Episcopal Church on Main St., Lake Placid. This event begins at 10 am, and will feature smaller works: pieces priced for maximum value.



In Saranac Lake, Bluseed Studios is hosting an exhibit and sale of work by members of Saranac Lake Art Works through the month of December. Like the Lake Placid event, this show highlights less expensive works, both decorative and practical.



Besides these holiday opportunities, many galleries and gift centers offer affordable art all year. The Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts in Blue Mountain Lake sells the work of exhibitors. In addition to their usual offerings, the Center also has a selection of repurposed/recycled lighting fixtures which, I'm told, are fabulously creative and fun.



The Arts Center of Old Forge has a shop too, as does the St. Lawrence County Arts Council . According to the SLCAC website, their gift shop features "artwork, hand crafts, music and books by more than 200 artists from around Northern New York".



And of course there is the Adirondack Artists' Guild in Saranac Lake, whose members are always creating new, exciting works. Member artist Donna Foley has recently stocked the shelves with skeins of hand-woven, naturally-dyed yarn, as well as cozy scarves and other woolen treasures.



Chances are, there are sources for one-of-a-kind gifts near you. I am sure there are galleries and gift shops I have not mentioned here. Post a comment! Let us all know where the gems are to be found!

Echoes of Humanity

Imagery stirs the soul, often, more deeply than words.

From our earliest development as tool-wielding thinkers, humans have scratched and whittled and carved and shaped the objects in our world to meet our needs. This common history has given many of us today a sense of shared memory, an understanding beyond language, which touches the deepest chords of what it means to be human.

Once when I was hiking in England's Exmoor National Park, I came across an ancient stone circle left by people long forgotten, for reasons hidden in obscurity. What a shiver of awe I felt! The depth of the mystery reaching forth from uncounted years brushed against me, and I felt a wordless tug toward - I could not even name what.

A similar feeling tingles, now, when I view Donna Foley's new exhibit, called "Artifacts from the Journey", at the Adirondack Artists' Guild in Saranac Lake. Donna has spent the past twenty years or so immersed in the natural environment through her off-the-grid home, farm, and studio, and her intensive husbandry of Lincoln Longwool sheep. Each spring, she shears their wool, washes it, and dyes some of it with natural plant extracts. (Click here for her website.)

This she spins and weaves, and the woven pieces seem to breathe with the grassy exhalations and windy sunsplashes of sheep and meadow. In themselves, these are treaures. But here, in this show, she takes the ancient earth-bound art even further.



Have you ever strolled a rocky pathway and noticed, glancing down, a pebble with just such a striation, or gleam, or coloring, that you had to stop, pick it up, and examine? Then, you might pocket the thing, and at home place it on a shelf where, from time to time, you can admire it anew. Or perhaps, after being studied, the pebble is flung back to earth for some future traveler to discover.



But it caught you, even for a moment.


Donna has filled her weavings with such charms. More than charms, they are amulets, talismans: each full of potential meaning, each shrouded in ancient mystery. The viewer is compelled to interpret, according to her or his own background, the significance of an arrowhead, or a feather, or a particular pebble.

Pictured above is a piece titled "Crow Cave". In it, Donna combines color and texture with natural objects, beads, and runes. A detail is shown below:



Observe the porcupine quill lanced through the warp yarns, the black-and-white pebble, the dangling bead. This snippet bursts with meaning - and it is but one part of one piece of a show full of resonance.


Donna writes:
"In my tapestries I am always endeavoring to express some aspect of my spiritual journey ... delving into an experiential sense of the sacred".

This show invites us all to travel thus - to explore our history, our hearts, and our spirits, wherever they may lead.

Arts and Crafts

A recent comment to this blog raised a big question - one on which I have often pondered, and which I had previously avoided addressing . . .


In response to my son's definition of an "artist" vs. an "artisan", a reader wrote:



Interesting - in my mind, an "artist" is someone who is skillful in creating fine art. An artisan is someone who is skillful in creating fine crafts. Funny how we can all have different definitions of things!



The reader's definition of "artist" vs. "artisan" is as fair as any - but it raises a deeper question. What, then, is "fine art", and what is "fine craft"?



Now, I have previously avoided addressing this question in this forum because I know it can arouse deep passions. Please, if you choose to read further, recognize that, like Socrates, I know nothing: I am only raising questions.



Implicit to this whole question is a value judgement. Historically, "art" has been considered superior to "craft". Some people who create splendid things feel hurt when their work is referred to as "craft" and not "art" - they feel this places their accomplishments on a lower plane.



We may not intend such a judgment - I am sure the writer of the above comment didn't mean to disparage anyone - but it is there nonetheless. It is a connotation inherent to the English language.



My dictionary, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate, 11th Ed., defines art like this: "the conscious use of skill and creative imagination, esp. in the production of aesthetic objects". (emphasis mine)



Okay....



Now, "craft" is defined thus: "an occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill". (again, my emphasis)



So, based on those two definitions, we have some apparent overlap: art involves creating aesthetic objects; craft involves artistic skill.



Further, I looked for a definition of "fine art", and found this: "art concerned primarily with the creation of beautiful objects".



That's certainly vague.



Years ago, in debating this whole question with another artist friend of mine, she said she had heard that "art" is purely decorative, while "craft" is anything which can be used for a practical purpose.



Hmmm.



Does that definition make sense? Consider:



Donna Foley works in fiber. She raises her own sheep, then shears them, cleans & cards their wool, dyes it and spins it. She then weaves incredible pieces - some, purely decorative: tapestries and hangings designed to adorn a wall. But some of her work is functional, too: rugs to both beautify and warm a floor, scarves to look chic while warding off chills, placemats to enhance a table - and keep crumbs off it.



Is she an artist, or an artisan - or a crafts person?



She is also a member of the Adirondack Artists' Guild - does that perforce make her an artist?



Another Guild member, of whose work I wrote in my previous post, is Mary Lou Reid. As a potter, she makes all manner of useful things: mugs, bowls, plates, candleholders, and so forth. She also creates purely decorative objects - wall hangings, mobiles, and the like.



Is she an artist? Apparently, the Guild members think so. I do, too.



Here's another consideration.



What about meaning, message?



I have previously blogged about why people create art - often it is for the purpose of expressing a truth, an opinion, a belief.



Is that intention necessary, for a work to be called art? If so, then I am certainly no artist, for most of my work is created for pleasure - my own, and the viewers'.



But at the same time, cannot meaning be inferred, even when it is not explicit? And, is not a celebration of pure beauty, or of evident life, or of that which we love, a valid meaning?



Hmmm, again.



Okay, so how about a kid who braids a lanyard out of plastic strips at summer camp - surely that is craft - not art?



Wait a minute.



This also hooks us on the thorn of intention. If the kid is using the only material available, and is investing skill into doing the best job he or she is able to do, and intends the finished piece as an expression of love given to a parent, say, or a counsellor - would that not be art?



What do YOU think?



My immediate response to the comment which got this ball rolling was this:



I wouldn't necessarily disagree with you - I'm not sure my son's definition is "correct". However, your definition then raises the question: what is art, and what is craft?I have heard many answers to this in the past - but I'm not sure I buy any of them. As far as I can see, the line between art & craft is thin and fuzzy, or maybe non-existant...Readers? Any thoughts?



And I will reiterate: it seems to me, these distinctions are tenuous at best.



And I will further reiterate: Readers? Thoughts?