Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1993 16:47:35 -1000 From: yen@stsci.edu (Felix Yen) Message-Id: <1993Jun13.024735.27742@stsci.edu> Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute Subject: Art & Kites (was "The AKA and the Future of Kiting") Steve Thomas (steveth@netcom.com) writes: > [...] > The simple fact of the matter is that only a small percentage of > the population is endowed with truly artistic talent--this is why > have DO NOT have "Monday Night Sculpting", but we DO, of course, > have "Monday Night Football" showing on prime-time ABC. > [...] This presumably should read "... this is why we DO NOT have ..." The elided text made a lot of good points, but this one sentence really rubs me the wrong way. First, you would have me believe that artistic talent is something we are endowed with (or not). Then, you would have me believe that few of us were endowed with this talent. You hint that artistic talent cannot be acquired, i.e. that one cannot learn to be artistic. And you close the sentence with an explanation that just doesn't fly. After all, the percentage of the population capable of playing American football at a professional level is also very small. And there are obvious reasons why sculpting doesn't command a large portion of the television schedule, reasons that have nothing to do with the percentage of sculptors among us, e.g. the amount of time needed to complete a sculpture. There aren't a lot of TV shows devoted to furniture refinishing either, but you don't expect me to believe that "only a small percentage of the population" is capable of refinishing a coat tree, do you? Let me try to end this rant on a positive note. I think *many* of us are capable of being artistic. I suggest that there are two reasons why more of us don't spend more time being "creative": + Self-Image. Most people simply don't see themselves as being artistic, perhaps because they think they lack the natural ability. These people end up in a negative feedback loop. + Money. Art was never a profitable enterprise for more than an infinitesimal percentage of people. Finally, let me contradict myself by suggesting that many people actually exercise artistic talent quite frequently but they just don't acknowledge the fact. The issue boils down to the ancient question: What is Art? I doubt that we can agree on an answer, but let me leave you with one last thought. Next time you're flying a kite (preferably a single-line kite :-), think of that kite-flying event as being an artistic act. Think of yourself as a sculptor and your life as sculpture. For that matter, next time you do *anything* . . . Felix yen@stsci.edu = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 08:14:36 -1000 From: steveth@netcom.com (Steve Thomas) Message-Id: Organization: VisionAire, San Francisco, CA Subject: Re: Art & Kites (was "The AKA and the Future of Kiting") In article <1993Jun13.024735.27742@stsci.edu> yen@stsci.edu (Felix Yen) writes: > >Steve Thomas (steveth@netcom.com) writes: >> [...] >> The simple fact of the matter is that only a small percentage of >> the population is endowed with truly artistic talent--this is why >> have DO NOT have "Monday Night Sculpting", but we DO, of course, >> have "Monday Night Football" showing on prime-time ABC. >> [...] > >This presumably should read "... this is why we DO NOT have ..." > >The elided text made a lot of good points, but this one sentence >really rubs me the wrong way. First, you would have me believe >that artistic talent is something we are endowed with (or not). >Then, you would have me believe that few of us were endowed with >this talent. You hint that artistic talent cannot be acquired, >i.e. that one cannot learn to be artistic. And you close the >sentence with an explanation that just doesn't fly. After all, >the percentage of the population capable of playing American >football at a professional level is also very small. And there >are obvious reasons why sculpting doesn't command a large portion >of the television schedule, reasons that have nothing to do with >the percentage of sculptors among us, e.g. the amount of time >needed to complete a sculpture. There aren't a lot of TV shows >devoted to furniture refinishing either, but you don't expect me >to believe that "only a small percentage of the population" is >capable of refinishing a coat tree, do you? > Reading this part of my post again caused me to really think about what I was thinking here. The context I was building up was that "art" tends to create small, exclusive groups of "artistic people", because of the "personal-taste" nature of of Art. Sports, on the other hand, have defined rules that everybody usually (almost always) agrees upon. I didn't mean to get into the subject you got into... -- _______ Steve Thomas steveth@netcom.com "You'll never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator." -- Lisa Simpson = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =