by Andrea Theisson

Created on: May 11, 2010

This is question of semantics, but the differences are huge between skill and the kind of talent that makes great art.  Natural gifts can lead to trained skills, which create real art, after years of practice and perfection, if that is translated into something unique.  Humanity has a basic trait for creativity, and that can be enhanced by motor skills and co-ordination to fine-tune the skills to make art.  There is a natural gift to learn these skills.  Yet, the greatest art has an added element of originality and innovation, a spark that did not happen before.  Skills, artistic or otherwise, can be learned, but true Art is naturally evolved beyond basic skills.

So, maybe the question is what makes skill artistic?  It is originality, and perfection, which does come from practice and experience, but the final decisive trait is that artistic skill is synthesized and taken to another level...the unique.

Some people may consider any well-executed work of craftsmanship an artistic skill.  The true craftsperson will produce enduring quality, yet there are those who require the additional label of ARTISTIC to include a discerning originality, a distinctive style previously unseen.   That spark, that special vision, is natural, and is hard to mimic or fake.  Artistic genius needs to remain distinct from learned skills.  There is an extra embellishment, a mental twist, a quantum jump into new territory or new interpretations in that artistic work.  It goes beyond skill.  It is genuine.  Genius.

Editors use skills.  Writers create.  Art critics and teachers and conservators use skills.  Artists create.  The American Crafts Council addressed this issue years ago with a conference in 1985, The Renaissance of the American Artist-Craftsman, and the general conclusion was that there is no substitute for innovation and the artist touch to traditional crafts.  This makes an entity of its own – Fine Art Crafts, perhaps a phenomenon of this era of non-functional crafts, or arts for arts-sake?

There are those who would love to think that any artistic venture can be learned.  Certainly, they can be copied and practiced and performed, yet the fact remains that the truly artistic gestures and works are one-of-a-kind and not anything that can be learned except after-the-fact.  The experience and training  which come before creation can enhance the outcome, yet the originality and the singular moment of creation has to be naturally achieved, without artifice or affectation.  This is the difference between much of the current kitschy art, the trendy stuff of the moment, and the enduring, uplifting work that makes its place in human memory.

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