Thingmaker said:- Best summary I can give is that emotions are our reactions to things. (How's that for insight?)

My art tutor at college reckoned that "Art is the expression of (a) man's reaction to his environment"

Which is quite close....

Saint Francis seems to have got it succinctly, I had forgotten that gem. If you just swap "When I" for "He" it speaks to my condition. Mainly to do with the activity than the person.

Alan

I don't know about all this art stuff, but I consider myself a craftsman. I want to be proud of my work when I am done. When I was a carpenter, my work was precise. No 1/4 inch gaps here and there. Same with my roofing and siding. When I was doing heating and air, I used a tubing bender on the soft copper instead of just soldering in an elbow. Sure the elbow would have been easier, but I wanted it to look as good as I could make it. Same with couplings. I swaged one end of the tubing and soldered tghem together. Now I am trying to learn to be as skillful with my blacksmithing. It will take me a while, but I will get this good in it too. The long and short is, I put my heart into my work. I don't consider it art, but form follows function and I try to make that form as special as possible. If I just did it all the easy way that doesn't look as good or have other problems like more possibilities of leaks or a wall cracking, I don't do it. If this tells you anything about my work, my ex wants me to build her a deck and she is willing to pay me well for it. This is just my definition mind you, but it is a very large part of who I am. If i can't make stuff, fix stuff or create, I literally get depressed.

I consider myself both, though more a craftsmen. In circles where I can hold my own amongst other smiths / potential clientele, I use the term "artist blacksmith." In circles like IFI, the ABANA conference, etc, I don't like to use the term, as I am nowhere near the talent level of some of the guys on here.

Just like in my shop I'm the master blacksmith, but in another skilled smith's shop, I am an apprentice or MAYBE journeyman level workman.

That's the way I look at it.