But Is It Art?

When I added an ‘Art’ category to this website I was being hugely optimistic and fully intended getting deeper into art. I’ve been making ‘art’ ever since I could hold a crayon in my pudgy hand, just like every other kid, but nobody ever thought of what I was making as art – not even my mother and face it mothers are the best promoters and general PR person a kid could possibly have. I can’t criticise them because I never considered what I did as art either, maybe something on the way to art or at least the beginnings of a journey that might see the production of art towards its end. On reflection we were all wrong.

Okay I’m not claiming what I make is good art but, even based on the dictionary definition of art, what I make qualifies. Even if it doesn’t measure up to what my sister can produce (that’s a story for another day), it requires imagination and a modicum of creativity. Even a little dexterity, if not actual skill.

In my teens I started a night class to teach me to draw and left after a few weeks because the teacher was aghast when I produced felt tip pens. Thinking back I may have been more influenced by his reaction than I thought, especially since he wasn’t that much older than me. I wanted to distance myself from any possibility of pretentiousness that his attitude might have implied. Where I grew up pretentiousness could be very bad for your health.

Somewhere along the way my mindset changed and I began to think more like that long ago night school teacher and favour what would be seen as ‘proper art’ made by ‘proper artists’. Of course that didn’t relate to the type of art – I still valued art made with felt tip pens for example, just not my felt tip pens. And I appreciated self-taught artists, just not this one. And so my relationship with art became set and my definition solidified around a belief that what I made, even if was as good as some of the art I saw on walls, in print or online, still wasn’t real art. That has changed in the past year or so. Maybe as a result of the natural chill of an ‘older person’ or because I’ve seen some god awful rubbish paraded across the internet and hailed as ‘real art’ – which of course it is, just not good art, and possibly only in my opinion.

I’ve used pens, pencils, paint and pretty much anything I could get to make a mark, but over last winter I began to use what could be vaguely referred to as embroidery to ‘paint’ pictures on fabric. A minor challenge for me because I have a problem with cramps in my hands (so bad at times I’ve had to give up writing anything longhand anymore). I originally thought of these pieces as craft more than art but in reality they fit the definition of art better –

“the making of objects, images, music, etc. that are beautiful or that express feelings ” Cambridge English Dictionary.

Beauty being in the eye of the beholder and feelings being open to interpretation.

Some people have labelled what I was producing as ‘fiber art’ and that’s alright with me for now. So brace yourself dear reader because in addition to the works in progress pieces I’ve added to this post I’ll be posting more of my artistic endeavours over time. And what’s great about art is you get to be the judge and so do I and we don’t even have to agree.