I like t e w ole An ient Greek idea about art being a raft or te né. E eryt ing else is alorati e, or too relati isti and post-modern for my tiny blue- ollar brain to ope wit .

Oy, I wis I ad all t e letters to finis t is!

But, when we agree that art can suck (as Rob wonderfully puts it), we start dealing with elevations of art. So it goes. Not all art is created equal. So this is where I more or less agree with Eddy, too, that art is a label that can be applied by the observer — remembering that the creator gets a vote. So does the customer.

Can craft be “lower” than art? Sure. I use “It’s art” as a honorific and so should you. (Oh! Sassy!) Is craft necessarily “lower” than art? Nope. The notion that craft and art are inherently separate is a tricky ploy, as crafting is the process by which art is created — and when we say “the arts” we so often mean “the crafts.” So it goes. But the descriptivist fact is that Art-hood is a label of respect, and thus an elevation of some kind. An elevation doesn’t have to disparage that which is not elevated, though.

Ultimately, I think my definition of “art” may just have to be a list of all the things I’ve accepted as art, and woe be to he who tries to draw a cogent outline around all those objects in such a way that they form an easy pyramid or three tidy categories.

Or something. My heart’s not really in this today.

“Art is any product of inspiration, that in turn, inspires.” -Paul DeLaurentis Jr.

I went to vo-tech for commercial art for three years. Some argued that advertising design wasn’t art. Some of the artists liked to be refered to a “creative specialists” This is horse-hockey (to quote the revered Colonel Potter).

At the end of the day, it’s just a freakin’ job title. It’ll be deemed “good”, “bad”, or “ugly” art somewhere down the line. At the end of the day…I believe that writing is art. Then again…I also believe that magicians, snowboard half-pipe tricksters, and Rush Limbaugh are all artists in their own rights.

I’ve never once thought of my writing as “art” or “AN art”. Maybe that’s because the genre that I write (Paranormal Romance) is typically referred to in a condescending manner (you know, “All those smut books are the same. There’s no real content to them.”) from people who aren’t fans of the romance genre. Although I politely disagree with those people (my husband), I would still never go so far as to say that a romance book could change someone’s life, much less save it.

My goal is to produce a well-written, romantic and action-packed story set in fantastical worlds that will entertain my readers and hopefully inspire them to buy my next story. (And if they become super-fans and stalk me at all the writers’ conferences and become founding members of my fan club, then that’s fine with me, too.) I’m not trying to make a difference with my writing, I don’t think my books are going to be toted as Great American Literature and become required reading in college English classes in 50 years.

I want to continue to grown and learn in this, my chosen craft. I want it to be my full time job and even my hobby on the side. Thoughts of doing nothing but writing (aside from spending time with my family of course) what I love for the rest of my life consume me and fuel my thirst for knowledge and the practiced experience that will get me there.

Those are just my humble thoughts on the matter. Maybe if I wrote other things – things with “substance” – I would look at my writing as more of an art, but I don’t think so. The term “art” to me is SOOO subjective. People pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for paintings that look like a paintball war threw up on the canvas and call it a masterpiece. HUH? My kids could’ve done that when they were toddlers, for fuck’s sake. I have piles of painted construction paper to prove it. However, I’m not going to take away the fact that someone might look at that painting and see an unintentional image of a lady that reminds them of their mother, or maybe they created something close to it when they were 5, but it was lost in a house fire and now they have to have this larger version as a reminder that life is fragile. I don’t know.

Anyway, I’ll stop babbling. Again I refer to what Chuck and Eddy said. The End.

Oh, and sorry about the guacamole, Chuck. I eat that stuff with a mixing spoon.

“Thanks for, y’know, pretty much distilling my post into a single sentence that conveys pretty much exactly what I wanted to say. In one sentence.”

To be fair, it was three sentences. So, you know, it’s three times as long as you thought it would be.

“I hate you.”

Don’t hate the player; hate the game.

Which is… uh… Final Fantasy XIII. I guess. I don’t know. I’ve never really examined that expression until now.

@Paul: Feel free! I’d just like to try to keep attribution floating around with it if possible (like “That jerkface Eddy Webb mumbled something about craft and art and shit. I don’t know. It was stupid.”)

Entertainment engages you emotionally. You laugh, you cheer, you cry, you root for the little guy, what have you. Art engages you intellectually. You ponder themes, morals and meanings; you compare it to your own feelings and experiences; you find yourself coming back to it later on, even unexpectedly; you discuss it with others and find it has layers to the experience that are tenable and worth exploring.

You can have entertainment that’s not art – I’d say most television qualifies. You can have art that’s not entertainment, as is the case with a lot of Philip Glass compositions. Of course, the best works are both, as I’d argue with a good production of Hamlet.

That’s my $.02

“I tend to find this only gets really contentious when people aren’t comfortable with the idea that art can suck.”

Yeah. Years of working with stuff that can’t be called anything _other_ than art pretty much made me comfortable with art sucking.

I’m happy to own the hack moniker.

– c.

More or less. I refer to myself as a hack, and not without a certain amount of pride. To me, the hack’s the guy that works hard at pleasing crowds. Like Paul Bettany playing Chaucer. I’m cool with that.