Do production woodturnings hurt the perception of our art?

[Tom K]

Very interesting thread!

Within every medium a few great artists emerge. The rest of us keep hacking away and occaisionally get it right, but never often enough to draw much attention to ourselves 🙂

My opinion is that every wood turning that get out of our shops and into someone elses home or business or gallery advances the general awareness of wood turning. And then maybe more folks will start turning and there will be a few more great ones..who knows maybe the greatest hasnt even picked up a gouge yet.

Changing the subject, sorta, Ive been looking through all of the various magazines the my SO gets on interior and home design and think its absolutely amazing how few turnings I can find. Today I looked through one called "Country Home" and found one wood bowl. Just one! I bet there were one hundred different ceramic pieces. Why arent our "products" getting placed with these magazines?

Tom

 

[Larry Marley]

Sometimes, people buy a turning just because they like it, and they don't even mind if someone else bought a similar turning just because they also liked it.

I think it is OK to take the car for a Sunday drive, not because you are trying to take the art of driving to the next level, but because you simply enjoy the drive.

As a turner, the pieces that have been the most rewarding for me have been the ones that took me outside of my comfort zone. But to brood about what other people have or have not done with their craft, for me, just rings shallow.

It's the simple and graceful curve that draws the eye and begs a touch.

 

[wdcarrier]

Seems to me there's a whole passel of common paintings and prints of paintings out there but it hasn't seemed to deter art aficionados from paying millions for an original Picasso.

 

[WODAD]

I wonder does that gallery owner sell only original works of art or does he offer prints as well? I like to stress that at the shows I do, every piece is an original some are similar but that's as close as it gets. I did a "Fine Arts" show last fall as was placed next to a wildlife painter who had just recieved national recognition for a piece. Later in the show he was complaining to another artist that he thought the show was for fine arts and not crafts and was pretty upset. I took it personally. Later I happened to be visiting with a photographer and shared the comment with him and he shared this "famous" artist's secret, he paints his background then uses a projector to place the animal and simply paints the image catching the fine detail and excellent proportions. Sure enough, same bird, buffalo, etc. different sizes, different settings. So I made sure the rest of the show that I would boldly proclaim, "this isn't a picture and I can't make prints, you're getting the real deal here!"

It was fun 😀

 

[Larry Marley]

Now that's just funny.

 

[MichaelMouse]

I did a "Fine Arts" show last fall as was placed next to a wildlife painter who had just recieved national recognition for a piece. Later in the show he was complaining to another artist that he thought the show was for fine arts and not crafts and was pretty upset. I took it personally.

Yeah, love those kind of pretensions. Guy's selling prints he didn't make, whether photos or ink, where the only difference is in the number he pencils in. And he's worried that something I made freehand is just craft?

Really want to get them going, make picture frames. It's just "craft," but all those "art" pieces need one.