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Add to FavoritesIs Jewelry an Art-form or just a craft? To even begin to make a judgment about the question one must first define what is art as apposed to craft. Once you have discerned this then you can analyze each objectively.
Art is a creative process that is integral to the individual who is trying to create something. It requires visualizing what is wanted and then translate that mental image into something substantive. Whether the medium is a painting, or sculptures in bronze, wax, wood and the list goes on. An inert product is manipulated into something that either is emotionally engendered by the person, or is meant to engender it in others. Each medium of expression touches the person who uses it or those who find a resonant note in themselves while examining it.
Craft relates to an individual who has skill, i.e. craftsman, in rendering an item from abilities that are achieved from either formal training, or a trial and error learning process. Many people can, with great skill, complete a project but are unable to conceive that project. Just as the Artist can conceive the idea but may not be unable to translate it and has to have a craftsman/artisan bring it to fruition.
I have dealt with many artist that design a piece of jewelry but who have no talent in bringing it to a workable product. The craftsman can tell them what will or will not work depending what is trying to be achieved. This also happens in reverse, when a craftsman ask for help in designing a piece.
You can not separate these two forms without understanding that both can, and have, often been melded into a single individual. If you have ever been to a jewelry store, looking to have a piece of jewelry made for yourself, you will quickly realize that you can run into all three aspects. You will find the sales person that fancy themselves as the creative individual who will draw out and design the item for you using your guidance. Their is also the person who will craft the item with great skill if you give them a picture. There is also that person who will happily sit for several hours drawing or carving out the design you have in mind giving suggestions and insight until he has a working piece. He will have you come back at different points to refine the item until the piece is finished to your satisfaction. He embodies both aspects of artist and craftsman.
Often I've heard the jewelry salesman say "I'll have my jeweler, or benchman, get on this right away." After a conference with the guy in the back, or if your unlucky enough that they have to send it off to someone, they will possibly call you back after several days saying "Well that piece you wanted isn't working out the way you wanted it. If you can come in we'll go over the problem and see what you think." You then spend weeks going back and forth with the salesman before you get the finished piece and then decide it wasn't what you really wanted after all. The salesman prided himself on his ability to create, relying on the craftsman to make, but it was you the individual who actually conceived the idea of this nebulous piece to please the artist in you.
If you search you will find painters who can reproduce any piece of art with great expertise but are unable to come up with the ineffable quality that makes a good painting. Or the editor that can turn a written work into a masterpiece but has never written or published a work of their own.
So, is jewelry an art form? Absolutely. Just as in every other art form irregardless of who crafted it, if it doesn't speak to the person viewing it, it won't be bought. I've seen a hundred people pickup and examine a piece only to have them put it down. Their explanation was, generally, "It's O.K. but... I don't know, it's not what I had in mind." Then you have the person who sees the piece and exclaims, "Oh, that is exactly what I was looking for." Artist deal with the same public vagaries. With a craft product it is more "That's what I want but I'm not sure if its right for my space," or "It's great. Can you paint it blue." and "I saw one of those when I was a kid. They don't make them like they used to, do they?"
Learn more about this author, Lee Hall.
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Craft
There is no doubt that the terms 'art' and 'craft' are interlinked. This makes the process of defining jewelry-making as an art or a craft incredibly difficult. The Cambridge dictionary defines the word craft as an "activity needing skill and experience, especially in relation to making objects." Art on the other hand can be defined in its simplest terms as the "expression of creativity or imagination." Both of these definitions are applicable to jewelry-making.
An individual may use artistic skills to create a piece of jewelry, they design the piece using imagination and the creation of a piece of jewelry will without doubt involve much creativity. However, the actual act of jewelry-making is by definition a craft, in order to create jewelry the maker must have the skills and experience necessary to create the item of jewelry. Jewelry-making can cross over into art, sometimes a piece of jewelry is made that is so beautiful or elaborate that it would be displayed rather than worn.
Crafts are designed with functionality in mind, a piece needs to be beautiful but also usable. An artist designing a piece of jewelry for display would be unlikely to care if the earring was too heavy to be worn on the human ear if it was being created purely in the name of art. To an artist the aesthetic look of the piece is more important than functionality.
The British philosopher RG Collingwood argued that a craft is easily definable in that "the craftsman knows what he wants to make before he makes it." He argued that a craftsman would set out to make an item and would plan it; this precise planning is what differentiates a craft from art. In this case a jewelry maker decides they are going to make a necklace, the craftsman plans what they are going to use, how they are going to do it and uses this precise planning to make the piece of jewelry. The more planning the maker puts in the better the end product.
Art is all about evoking peoples feeling and while you can produce a piece of jewelry to say "I love you" it is unlikely that a jewelry maker would create an item of jewelry which would express the agony evoked when looking at Munch's The Scream. Art is all about getting people thinking and empathizing with what they see. While wearing jewelry can make you feel better its purpose is not to alter the feelings of those who may see it.
Additionally, not all jewelry-makers use a vast amount of creativity and imagination, some makers produce unique artistic design but you only need to look in a budget jeweler's window to find a pair of plain gold coffee bean ear studs. Jewelry can be mass produced and this repetition and recreation of a piece involves no creativity or imagination just the ability to copy.
As a result of this I believe that jewelry making as a process is a craft, not an art form, but without doubt some pieces of jewelry can be made that are so individual and unique they could be displayed as art.
Learn more about this author, Louise Nilon.
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