Are you an artist or crafty?

[kreativitea75]

I consider what I do (whether it be dollhouses, needlepoint, scrapbooking, etc.) to be crafts - I use great care and craftsmanship in putting together my projects. I think miniaturists are craftsmen (or craftswomen! if you prefer) and artists are expressing a message - whether it be a thought, idea, feeling, whatever - art employs craftsmanship to help communicate.

[havanaholly]

I see myself as a craftsperson (if we must be politically "correct") and sometimes people kindly think to call some of my workmanship "art". I also have moments of great craftiness; after all, age, craft & guile will win out over youth and strength every time!

[Merry]

Why isn't it a talent?

[havanaholly]

All people can be taught crafts; talent is what makes it look easy.

[Scotty]

Very interesting topic and plenty to think about.

Calling someone crafty in the UK would indeed be insulting as you would be implying they were quick to take advantage of a situation. I've never thought of myself as an artist but I can see from some of the points raised that indeed I could be called one. I get a creative idea in my head and then I'm driven to try and execute it. My craft skills are actually quite limited I can't knit or crochet, draw, paint, sculpt etc but I do get a vision in my head for how an item should look when I see it and set about translating into my vision. Not sure if that then makes me an artist??? Yours, confused.

[Too Little]

I think that I am a little bit of both. And, in a way, I think we all are! Take the recent HBS contest: you are presented with a bare kit. The artist in you imagines what it is meant to be. It thinks of colors and schen=mes and details and arrangement, as well as its eventual presentation. The artist thinks about how to use space and color and light as well as many other things -- and a lot of that may suliminal, or subconscious. Once the decisions are made, then (I believe) the craftperson takes over and decides "how big, how do I make it, what do I need to buy/make to bring forth my vision. Then both the artist in you and the craftsperson start to work together to make that vision a reality. Hope this strikes a chord with you all in some way! (In case I can't figure out how to edit this first (I'm new here) the strange looking nonsense word above was meant to be "Schemes."

[Gee]

whow i did not know that about the word crafty.

thanks for teaching me.

[Alamom]

I am a crafty person who creates what I call art. I have seen art in the museum that I personally don't consider art, but art is the interpretation of the person who creates it. I also believe that the creation of art is a craft. If someone creates something and calls it art, then it is art, and in creating it they have been crafty.