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Subject: MAYBE I SHOULD BE AN ARTIST
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Journal Entry: Since the forum has been a little dead lately, I'm going to pose a question on it that has perplexed me for some time, but I'm going to give a little background here on this journal first. About a month and a half ago, a town about 20 miles from where I live had an "Art On The Square" show.  Well, first of all, this town does not have a town square as I know them to be.  It has a fountain in the middle of an intersection and I guess this is what they are referring to as a square.  Anyway, back to the story. I am now quoting from the local newspaper, Belleville News-Democrat: "Art on the Square was named the top art show in the nation last year because of its eye-popping sales figures, and this year, the show did better than ever." (I'd like to know who named it the top art show in the nation) "The event's 105 artists averaged (this is hard for me to imagine) $11,875 in sales in 2008, $1,033 better than the average take last year of $10,842 per artist.  A total of $1,246,955 worth of paintings, sculptures and photographs were sold this year, compared to about $1.1 million in 2007." I really have only one word for this and that is "WOW".  Oh, by the way, the comments, in parenthesis above were mine, not the newspapers. Can you imagine working one weekend doing something you love and making almost $12,000.  I realize that a lot of work would have been done to prepare for this one weekend. My wife and I use to participate in Craft Fairs and was lucky to make our expenses.  If we made $300 for the weekend, we thought we were really doing good.  People who go to craft shows aren't prepared to spend a lot of money.  In fact they try to talk you down in price and think they are getting cheated if they have to pay more than what the materials cost you.  Maybe I am exaggerating a little, but not much. We have attended, as spectators, several Art Shows and I was amazed at what some people were paying for the "stuff" they were buying and the prices the artists were charging.  Some of these people are the same people who wouldn't pay you anything at a craft show, but would pay an arm and a leg at a art show, for something they wanted. Now, the question I'm posing is, are you a craftsman or an artist?  I have always considered myself as a craftsman.  Most everything I do, I do to the best of my ability.  In fact, I probably go to the extreme of wanting it to be perfect in every way.  I always work off of plans or a tangible idea.  I believe an artist is someone who has a vision and can imagine and design whatever it is they are creating.  I would like to know how some of you define craftsman and artists. After reading the article, I think I shall have to rethink my title of craftsman and change it to artist.