[Paul_Guraedy]

We have had several discussions talking about woodcarving as art. One thing you can say for certain......wood lasts. Take a look at, and enjoy, this art:

www.sandfantasy.com

and take a look at the one called "just imagine"

[Nancy-ID]

Speaking of art . .. just a moment ago on the "Sunday Morning" show they had some "art". Wooden clothes hangers with a hole drilled into the ends and another hanger added on there. A wire bottle rack hung on the wall. They are "worth" many millions of dollars. How is it that all of us toil for weeks, months, and maybe years turning plain blocks of wood into a peice of art that people only want to pay maybe up to a few hundred for? Hmmm. What is ART?

[Nancy-ID]

Originally Posted by Paul_Guraedy

We have had several discussions talking about woodcarving as art. One thing you can say for certain......wood lasts. Take a look at, and enjoy, this art:

www.sandfantasy.com

and take a look at the one called "just imagine"

As long as she enjoys what she does It is pretty cool but . . . .

[whitecree]

Originally Posted by Nancy-CA

Speaking of art . .. just a moment ago on the "Sunday Morning" show they had some "art". Wooden clothes hangers with a hole drilled into the ends and another hanger added on there. A wire bottle rack hung on the wall. They are "worth" many millions of dollars. How is it that all of us toil for weeks, months, and maybe years turning plain blocks of wood into a peice of art that people only want to pay maybe up to a few hundred for?

What a gallery or megabuck collector call art and what we more 'ordinary' folk call art are two entirely different critters. Nowadays, you can slap a line of red paint on a white background, give it a grandiose title like 'Voice of Fire', and a government art collection will pay a quarter million for it. There is no insight, the artist didn't work his/her butt off trying to find a new way of expressing themself, they just did what any 5 year old would do.

No, cancel that. Any five year old would have more going on in a painting than this.

Don't let it get you down. 100 years from now, that painting the government paid $250,000 for will be a dust covered piece of crap stored in a back room while a small wood carving created by you or me or somebody else on this forum will be part of some family's heirlooms, and treasured beyond all measure.

Darn dialup. It's going to take me all morning to see Ilana' work...

[wade clark]

Wow! Neat link, Paul! Really enjoyed it!
Wade

[decoycarve]

Seen that artist work a few years back. I can only wish that my minds eye could work that fast.
Goody

[don]

Had the whole family looking over my sholder watchinh these.

[squbrigg]

Thanks for the link Paul, that's an interesting show. Relaxing.

Bob

[Colin_Partridge]

Dont get me going on what is art and what isnt. All I know is that we as woodcarvers are really not looked upon as artists even though we should be. I have been on my soap box about this topic a few years back on this message board so today I will leave it at this. If you create something from any medium you are an artist.
Colin

[Irish]

Originally Posted by colin_partridge

All I know is that we as woodcarvers are really not looked upon as artists even though we should be.

I am surprised at this statement Colins as I do believe wood carvers are very much respected as fine artists in the art world. So I, for one, would be interested in your story ...

Let me throw out a few thoughts here so that you know from where I stand.

1. I am not considering art shows and craft shows as they always tend to the "I'm an Artist and Your not" stand in snooty peeking order ... just my experience. And I have found that the crafts people can be just as judgemental as the artists in the 'who's in and who's out' stuff. Such shows have to do with money not with art.

2. Wood carving was probably the very first art form that mankind tried way back on the African savannas. (OK - I'm an evolutionist.) It probably came right after accidentally discovering that by hitting two rocks together you could make a cutting edge tool. Once man had a knife he probably started whittling on the fire wood and sticks.

3. Unfortunatly wood does not survive for the archealogist to discover. It rots or it gets burned. So we do not have a records of wood carved artifacts. But we do have the record of our sister craft stone carving that came directly out of wood carving. We end up with the stone spear point but not the wooden carved shaft.

4. Higher education art schools and universities do not teach wood carving only because it is such a specialized field. Colleges do teach oil painting because it takes about one hour to teach how to stretch a canvas and about one semester to teach how to mess it up with oil paint. But for some art forms you enroll under a Master teacher. Marinettes (puppetry) is another art form the requires a Master's teaching. Having to go to a Master does not make an art form less it makes it more because of what is require to achieve some level of accomplishment.

5. Art galleries usually do not take on wood carvers for two reasons. One, the number of pieces a carver can create in a year is very restricted compared to an artist with paintings or prints ... so very little money. Two, most galleries don't have room for the large pieces we create. You can pack a lot of canvases and prints into the area that Thor's wonderful Celtic bench would take up.

So, after all of that, I can remember learning about this artist who I think lived in Ohio and made to scale steam engine train scenes out of match sticks.
Those big strike anywhere matches. The work was beautiful, detailed, and I learned about him in College ... Art History 101. This class is also where I learned about Scandanavian chip carving, hobo walking sticks, ship's mast heads ......

Susan