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What is Art?
Art is a way of self expression, whether it be from life experiences or what we, as artists, want to capture from the world surrounding us. Art has many outlets for people to actively display their vision. From contemporary art, to modern art, to fine art, there are so many realms that artists can use. Art also has a lot of mediums and objects that can be used to make an art work. Artists may use dry materials such as pencil, pen, charcoal, use wet material like paint, plaster, ink, or even arbitrary objects like wire, string, clay, scrap material and metal to create art. Art allows a person to express ongoing issues that they want an audience to see. In contemporary art, artists may have startling images to invoke emotions within a viewer to spark inspiration or to sway a person to take action or reflect. For example, in Frida Kahlo’s artwork from the 1940s, she actively paints gruesome images of women to show their dissatisfaction with marriage, motherhood, and gendered violence.
What is Design?
Design is the constructive part of art where an artist plans out their composition and what they want to display. There are many principles of design that an artist can think about before they compose an art piece. Some examples can include space, value, color, line and more. The relationship between these elements will play an important role in the design of the art work. For example, an artist may choose to work with a limited palette and have a spot color to emphasize a figure. They can also choose to play with scale and proportion to exaggerate a figure or the dimensions of the composition. Design can also be used to invoke specific feelings in a viewer. Specific designs can be aesthetically pleasing to the eye, such as using the golden ratio or spiral. Other designs can be very rigid and abrupt, making the viewer feel anxious or uncomfortable. Altogether, these design choices help an artist express their vision to the audience.
What is Craft?
Craft is a form of art that uses 3-D objects as part of it’s design. Some examples of craft are sculptures, wood carvings, and textiles, and more. It can also be a combination of one or more of these elements. In some cases, craft can be decorative or be made to be like fine art. Textiles, for example, is a woven form of art using fabrics and string. Artist Anni Albers creates intricate designs in her weavings. Though it is simply a textile, it can be viewed as fine art because of how the design is structured and the uniqueness to the craft. Another example of crafting is scrapbooking. This art requires an artist to put scrap pieces of paper or of other materials to create a unique collage. This is similar to how artist Joseph Cornell creates his amazing boxes out of mixed media!
What is Craft?
Craft is a form of art that uses 3-D objects as part of it’s design. Some examples of craft are sculptures, wood carvings, and textiles, and more. It can also be a combination of one or more of these elements. In some cases, craft can be decorative or be made to be like fine art. Textiles, for example, is a woven form of art using fabrics and string. Artist Anni Albers creates intricate designs in her weavings. Though it is simply a textile, it can be viewed as fine art because of how the design is structured and the uniqueness to the craft. Another example of crafting is scrapbooking. This art requires an artist to put scrap pieces of paper or of other materials to create a unique collage. This is similar to how artist Joseph Cornell creates his amazing boxes out of mixed media!
What is Knowledge? What is Creativity?
While art within itself can be acquired knowledge or straight up creativity, I believe that both of these concepts go hand in hand when creating an art piece. Knowledge provides a lot of background information that can enhance the techniques used and the influences it can come from. For example, knowing a master artist and their technique can help an artist incorporate what they’ve learned into their own personal artwork. Adding on, having an academic background in art can refine an artist’s technique to be able to express their art more fluidly.
In contrast, being creative requires a lot of inspiration, either from the mind or from the environment the artist is living around. Unlike knowledge, creativity does not require a set amount of experience or expertise needed to create. The limits of creativity are boundless. Anything, and everything, can be used in any matter that the artist wants to use. Just like avant-garde artists like the Gutai Group artists use unconventional ways to create art, breaking a lot of rules or techniques used in traditional art.
Even though knowledge and creativity are different, these two concepts go hand in hand to make unique art. Using acquired knowledge can inspire the artist to create art based on past movements and or artists. Also using knowledge from other areas of studies (historical, scientific, political, economical, etc) can motivate an artist to creatively develop designs that can advocate or spread awareness.
Designer/Artists You Should Know About
One artist I think everyone should know about is Jamie Jo Burns, also known as BananaJamana on Youtube. Originally from the United States, she now lives in the UK with her husband. Much of her work combines the use of traditional techniques with pop culture influences like Disney or Pokemon. Though her aesthetics may be referred as cute, her seamless blending and colorful creations cannot be missed. She no longer does commissioned art. However, she can be found on social media, posting Youtube videos of her painting or other crafts she makes on her own time. A link to her shop and her channel can be found below.
