I read the article “Art” in Journal of American Folklore by Gerald Pocius. I wasn’t exactly clear about the guidelines of the homework so I decided to write two questions I would like to ask the artists using the ideas of this article.
1. “The term art often is subtly associated with class, or money, or a particular historical period, and perhaps with categories of writing, performances, or objects. Such popular stereotypes mean that the concept of art for the general public is frequently influenced by deep-seated cultural attitudes” (413). How has the artists’ artworks influenced their lives? How did they start out designing and creating what they are making? Each persons sees and interprets art differently. How has their culture, family, and how they were brought up influenced their perception of art?
2. This next question refers to basically the whole article. “…does an actual category of art exist in every culture? Is the concept of art alien to many people of the world? What exactly is art?” (414)… “…no matter what type of questions we raise, we might think about our concern with art under three different emphases: art as product, art as process, and art as behavior” (418). What do the artists consider as art? As stated in this article, everyone sees art differently. Since we will be meeting many different artists with different talents and artwork, I want to know what they consider as art? Do they have a stronger or more lenient opinion towards what art is?
I agree with you, we should be asking artists what they consider to be art. How do they place their own work in dialogue with other artisans and contemporary artists. This will help us understand the role their work is playing in the way art and craft is viewed in the culture as a whole. You also drew out an important quote, that art is a product, a process and a behaviour. The conceptions of each of these three roles will also differ from community to community.