by Chanell Gautreaux

Created on: June 20, 2010

At the simplest level a skill is something that must be honed and developed.  To achieve artistic mastery with a particular medium that skill must be further refined to the highest possible level.  With that in mind it is easily arguable that artistic skill is most definitely learned.

This is a concept that is quite easily proved.  Give a toddler, a teen and a twenty-five year old the same materials and have them create a work of art.  While each of them may have their own natural gifts and the toddler’s art may even prove to be “better” than that of either the teen or twenty-five year old, it will be obvious that natural ability goes only so far.

If one were to put those same three “artists” in a classroom or studio setting with someone who can appropriately guide their abilities and have them do the exact same art assignment again with the exact same materials the end result will be pieces of art that are more polished and sophisticated in some manner.

This is because artistic skill is the result of focused and developed artistic talent.  As artistic skill grows an artist’s drawings, sculpture or paintings go through an evolution from being crudely executed to more refined, and eventually to mastery.  The amount of time it takes for this progression to happen depends upon the natural ability and perceptiveness of the artist in question.

The development of artistic skill could take a number of years or even possibly a few decades.  Like anything else it is a process.  It is a labor of love that takes diligence, commitment and perseverance.  It is a challenging journey that encompasses agony and ecstasy, but ultimately, the end completely justifies the means.

It is artistic skill that marks the distinction for most between figurative or narrative, naïve, folk art paintings and highly sophisticated fine art works of the same subject matter presented side by side.  While each work of art has its own aesthetic value and their creators can be considered equally talented, the “unskilled” art is generally seen as quaint and the skilled is given a higher perceived value.

Artistic skill should not be confused with artistic talent.  While everyone is born with some kind of talent or natural ability to do something creative that talent must be carefully nurtured, developed and honed in order to achieve a skilled level of mastery.

Learn more about this author, Chanell Gautreaux.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.