Art or craft?

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Both. It takes craftsmanship to be able to make the pens. It takes an artists eye to make the pens attractive (matching material with kits, alternative media, segmenting, etc)
 
Hmmm this is tough, about the same as the difference between penmaker and penturner. There are those that consider themselves penmakers (as well as some should) and those that consider themselves penturners.

Both I think should be considered an artistic craftmanship.
 
Craftsmanship = Quality of work
Art = Something new or something old displayed in a new manner

At least, that's how I've always taken it.

I'm neither.
 
I think if you take a chunk of material and mount it on pen components--you are crafting a pen. By the way, I consider it a compliment when many folks have said I was a very accomplished "craftsman".

When you start changing the material, etching in designs or even laminating layers, you venture into the "art" side.

Which is which?? Creativity, I believe, makes your output "art". Excellent construction with existing pieces makes you a fine craftsman.

By this distinction, we would call a project "artistic" when the maker also drew the plans. Sam Maloof's chairs were art, for him. A "Sam Maloof style" chair is fine craftsmanship.

Just MY distinction, FWIW!!!

I consider myself a craftsman and, more important to my level of success--a salesman!!
 
DurocShark said:
Craftsmanship = Quality of work
Art = Something new or something old displayed in a new manner

At least, that's how I've always taken it.

I'm neither.
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Don you must be on something! Looked at the front page lately????


I think it's all open to interpretation. You can build a table out of whatever and be called a craftsman, but if that same person carves intricate and delicate designs throughout his table, is he then an artist? Personally I see it as art. To me the metal components are my canvas and the rest is my medium. I can do whatever,however, and wherever with it. Before pens everything I did to express my creativity looked like something a 2yr old with a box full of half eaten crayons would do.
 
Brooks803 said:
Don you must be on something! Looked at the front page lately????
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I think I'm more lucky than anything.

Lucky to have a supportive wife.
Lucky to have such a great resource as the IAP.
Lucky to have a place to craft/create.
Lucky to stumble on some cool ideas now and again.
Lucky to have been able to afford the cost of mistakes.

Anything else I may be, it's because I've been lucky. :biggrin:
 
Okay, time for me to share my own thoughts. :smile:

ed4copies said:
Creativity, I believe, makes your output "art". Excellent construction with existing pieces makes you a fine craftsman.
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This is very close to my own definitions.

To me, art is all about expression, and craft is all about construction. A piece may be excellent art, but also poorly crafted, and vice versa.

I think it's obvious that both go into penmaking, and how much of each depends on the particular penmaker. (Hence my emphasis on your in the original post.)

Personally, I lean towards the art end - I'm using pens as an outlet to express myself, or at least trying to. Of course I also want to make my pens with excellent craftsmanship, but that is secondary.

ed4copies said:
Sam Maloof's chairs were art, for him. A "Sam Maloof style" chair is fine craftsmanship.
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How funny, I thought of exactly this example earlier when I was thinking about how I'd write up my own thoughts on the subject!

Dudley Young said:
It's a hobby!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Ah, yes, but are you a hobby artist or a hobby craftsman?
 
I had a customer once call my pens "usable art",(and my head size hasn't been the same since) I think thats an apt description for many,many pens I see here.
 
Another, hopefully humorous take:

Eagle, making an Eagle blank was art
Eagle giving me that blank to turn was
nerve-wracking!!

If I succeeded in turning it, it was his Art and my craftsmanship, and a great relief!!
 
ed4copies said:
Another, hopefully humorous take:

Eagle, making an Eagle blank was art
Eagle giving me that blank to turn was
nerve-wracking!!

If I succeeded in turning it, it was his Art and my craftsmanship, and a great relief!!
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Yes I've had that PUCKERING feeling when turning his works of art.:redface:
 
I've heard it said, "that form follow function". I heard it from an engineer at a major automotive plant I was calling on and he explained that when a new model car comes out it must first be built and designed to be drivable. Building the design uses the experiences and ideas of many people from past models and then improving upon them so it evolves to a better functioning automobile. While doing this, the design (appearance) begins to build in the mind of the engineer and, frequently with the aid and advise of others, the form begins to take place. The function is the first consideration because if it doesn't work the car will be a statue. The design/form is what sells the car to the buying public. If you design an ugly car some, but very few, will buy it and they are the ones who want to be noticed for their peculiar nature. All of the others in the market for a new car will notice the form before they even think about the function. We are both designers and craftsmen (craftspeople). I had an art teacher in grade school who said that we should be comfortable with either destroying or selling our art work when it is finished because we have already received all of the joy we will get during the process of design and execution of the finished product. JM2CW.
WB
 
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