I wake up often over analyzing an idea and thinking of how to express it visually and now I will add words to this struggle.  I have been dreaming of what the differences in arts and crafts are and I am inviting you on the journey that I am taking to articulate these ideas.

 

I am aware that the arts and crafts of a civilization tell its story, writings, functional containers, architecture, paintings, jewels …. So I have surmised that creatives are historians.

 

Yet I still have a question that looms about what defines Artist vs Craftsperson and do they overlap?  

 

Artists are the thinkers, inventors, instigators, that bring thoughts to life.  People always act like art is magical and I have accepted that it is, to have a tube of paint, a piece of burnt wood in your hand, to make marks that bring the essence of what  lives in our heads and looms  beneath the surface to reality.  This is a skill and a way of thinking … to truly create from the inspirations of experiencing the world around us.  It is a somatic experience that requires a tremendous expenditure of energy, life force and is a gift without measure that we spend our lives trying to master.

 

Craftsperson is about creating form, function, and beauty, such a lovely way of arranging things around themselves.  Creating narratives and weaving tales in witty ways with thousands of hours invested perfecting production.

 

I am wondering if I can become both and if so what will this profession be called?  I am crying a little as I feel my way through these words. I struggle so often to have a language visually to communicate my ideas. Words are my least favorite medium, because they are so tricky and change meanings from language to language, even region to region.  Hence my saying, “words are skins for intentions”.

 

I am grateful you have decided to join me in my process as an artist. I welcome you and your feedback as I strive for clarity in my “ Art is life”.  

 

I have named this letter and my organization- Imprint, because I was fascinated with the word.

 

It is not only about making a mark, but also an object of habitual trust.  I am striving to trust my process and support that of other creatives I have met.

 

Shall we begin?