Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Mark Bowditch
This is actually a rather depressing issue. Traditional crafts, and dare I say pride in the craftsmanship per se, often gets dropped in favor of commercial considerations. As Antonio said, quantity over quality. I doubt that this is a conscious choice by the craftsment, but they have to feed themselves and their families.
I wish that I had an answer, but this is something that must come from within a culture, as Tom said, though outside help would certainly make it grow stronger once it has started.
|
Mark, You must've posted at the same time as my imediately previous post (to thhis one). I so agree with and am moved by all you've said here that I've paused in reading the thread to reply. Actually most craftsmen are intensly aware of the dichotomy of pulls on both the quality/true traditional fanciness of our work, and on the subjects of our work (ex will I make a superb traditional dha with hundreds of hours of carving on an incredibly finely polished and intricate hilt, that it will be very hard to find someone who can afford, or will I make a bunch of simpler, perhaps even lower quality in using terms, ones that I can readily sell all I make of? It's the issue of what artists call "selling out", and of course, in the real world, it is what many have to do to survive, while a few of great strength and vitality can outproduce and somehow outshine society's disaproval or unwillingness to pay for the heavy costs of true fine fine traditional tradional hand processes, and a few particularly skillful, personable artists using particularly socially accepted methods (and the occasional though very rare, actual non-scene outsider) get rich and famous, making fance, which has dictates, too, and limitting ones; mostly of style, fads, what have you, etc., rather than of cost, although some of the very fancy stuff I've seen made had all sorts of "cut corner" penny pinchingness evident, often particularly when it comes to "field" usefulness. oh, the art and craftsmanship market is a wild thing. I did a bunch of work in fancy custom wood and paint (too much for my health though), you definitely get a perspective; the issue is very much on the minds of many craftsmen; we talk with each other about it often, actually.