In a past life I was working on a career in academia. I walked away from it and have never regretted my decision. I wanted to be more engaged with my work, you know, I wanted to make things. Now I make things and yearn for some deeper philosophical engagement.
Go figure.
That's where books come into play in my life. Sometimes I will pick something up and just dive in. This recently involved cracking open a well traveled paperback version of John Dewey's Art as Experience. Attempting to wrap my head around some American pragmatism seemed like a good idea for someone trying to make beautiful, functional wares. I can keep you updated on that process if you'd like, but I just wanted to share a few lines from the book that are striking me this morning.
Early in the book, Dewey asks:
Why is the attempt to connect the higher and ideal things of experience with basic vital roots so often regarded as betrayal of their nature and denial of their value? Why is there repulsion when the high achievements of fine art are brought into connection with common life, the life that we share with all living creatures? Why is life thought of as an affair of low appetite, or at its best a thing of gross sensation, and ready to sink from its best to the level of lust and harsh cruelty?
Forgive me if my mind is taking this out of context, but I am stuck thinking about these questions in relation to the connection and differences between art and craft. Is what I do art? Is it craft? Can craft be art? Should it matter? How does this line of thinking impact how I market my work? If it is art, is even thinking about marketing my work bad?
I don't have the answers to these questions, but these are the type of things that any maker and/or artist thinks about when creating. Or at least any maker and/or artist worth their salt. That's one person's opinion, of course.
What do you think? I'm always happy to talk big ideas in an attempt to get to the bottom of what it means to be an artist.
Best,
Ty