What is Art,
Design, & Craft?
Art is highly subjective, meaning our love or dislike for art can be influenced or based on our feelings and emotions. Use of color, style, or medium may or may not be our aesthetic choice but that doesn’t make it any less of a piece of art to someone else.
Art can be anything you wish. Art can be anything your eye finds appealing whether it is meant to be artistic work on canvas or a simple patch of moss growing in between the sidewalk cracks. Art can be beautifully planned or it can be a beautiful disaster like the aftermath of strange artifacts left after a house fire. Art can also be mistake or a total accident. Art can be heard as music or instruments, or seen like a painting or sculpture, or felt like an emotion. Art can be felt by evoking an emotion through color, images, texture, and also depth.
The medium used to depict art can also bring on emotions or feelings for example a watercolor may feel lighter and airy where an acrylic painting will be more bold and heavy feeling. A work of art can be an artisan rug woven, a beautiful tailored trouser, wire sculpture, wooden carving, or body art. Art can be natural like a fallen maple leaf in Autumn, or forged by humans like a hammered metal shaped into a delicate ring. Art can be abstract, or realistic. Art can be created by those trained or untrained because it is in an opinion and everyone’s taste is unique.
Design is a well thought out form of communication. Design is fixing something or finding a solution for a problem. Finding a way to create something that is able to communicate what a person or client needs. Design is listening to a problem or asking questions to find a problem or solution to a problem and to put together pieces like a box of puzzles and creating something that solves that problem is into a finished puzzle. Design is like creating a story or having a message through an image. Design is visually pleasing and good design not only looks visually pleasing but also fits the client/company’s aesthetic. Design should fit the client/company goals and their identity, and/or company culture. Design can also be adaptable to different areas and evolve and grow with time. In my opinion Design is something that must be well thought out and planned, with information from client about their needs, what they are trying to accomplish so the need can be met. Design can be artistic but they are different because there are more rules with design versus art. Art is an opinion and design can be good or bad. I believe design does take planning and good design does require some sort of skill or knowledge.
Craft is something you make with your hands or by hand, not something made by a machine or robot. Craft can be made with a computer or tool or some sort of electrical tool but if still made by someone. For example, writing can be a craft and the tool can be typewriter, computer, or a pen. A builder can craft a wooden table and he/she may still need to use a hammer or a saw to assist in crafting said table. Crafts are something you can create. Craft is something that does require some planning but I don’t think you have to have as much knowledge or skills depending on the craft in question. For example, I think you’d need some skills and knowledge to craft and bind a book like a leather book; however, a child doesn’t need much knowledge to cut out some shapes and glue to a Christmas ornament. It may take some dexterity and coordination but a child wouldn’t need to learn much more than using scissors and follow some basic instructions to craft something with their hands given the necessary supplies. They are both crafts, just different types and different degrees of skill. To me craft can be a hobby or a pastime, perhaps something that a person doesn’t have formal training in but they indeed can have training in their craft depending on their dedication or time or money they spend on their craft.
Beautiful Disaster
Burned book pages from our books during the
Butte Fire in Calaveras County on my childhood home property in 2015.