Many of us claim to be bored and disinterested about the Art and Craft thing. We often feel a need to disclaim any interest in this tiresome non sequitur and feel we must apologize for posting about a 'non-problem'. We dissemble and distance ourselves, but we sure keep on bringing the subject up. Why won't it fade away? Maybe this was answered in Art 101, but not all of us took the course.
Draw you own conclusions, but perhaps one reason is that as woodturners increase in number and decrease in age, their view becomes less limited, and their attitudes are more proactive or at least, less reactive.
Another thing that those fluent in 'Art Speak' know that I don't is why art doesn't progress. Science and most human endeavors progress, but art doesn't. I mean Barry's Husky and George's Nova are far better machines than ancient foot lathes, but the vases of today don't seem any better than Keat's Grecian Urns. Paintings of distorted wristwatches and soup cans, although different, don't really represent progress from the treasures painted on old walls and ceilings of Rome. Same with classical music.
To pick up on William Noble's terse challenge on another thread, I wonder if repeats of a piece of creative art, although turned by the original artist, are truly art or mere reproductions. Can the signature work of a turner-artist, even if the repeats exceed his original creation, be art? Can an artist plagiarize himself? Our lawyers will know, but I bet the rest of us don't.
********************************************************************************************** I'll go ahead and post this much since I started it, but after seeing the pictures tonight of the Sugar Bowl, to continue musing about art and turned wood bowls seems crass and importune. Better to offer prayers and sympathetic understanding for our Gulf Coast neighbors.....and to Send Help.
***********************************************Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter