UPSB v3
Philosophy / Art & Craft
-
Date: Fri, Sep 21 2007 16:11:39
I realise that there are usually two sides to any given discipline: first the craft, secondly the art.
Let's take PS as an example. One has to practise a lot in order to develop a sizeable repertoire of tricks - this is the craft of pen spinning.. Only when one has mastered some tricks can he creatively explore the possibilities of linking them into combos or freestyling- this is the art of pen spinning. My point is that one cannot do without the other; you may have the creative impetus, but without the appropriate skill you cannot be called a pen spinner.
Anyways (as I mentioned in the interview I did for firebird), pen spinning has given me a wider perspective in my approach to other areas of my life. I now see that virtually anything is achievable, provided you work hard to learn the craft of whatever it is: from drawing to playing the piano to writing and even making a film. I used to think that unless I had the talent to, say, draw, I could never do it. After all, it is an art. But I was wrong, as with everything else, it is also a craft, so essentially everything else is also a skill.
What about talent? It certainly affects your aptitude towards picking up skills, and with prodigious talent you'll certainly go far. However, it seems to me that certain 'talents' such as musical hearing cannot be picked up (for the tone deaf). The creative (art) side of a discipline also seems pretty much inherent as opposed to developing a skill. (anyone have more info on this?)
As for skill limitations, I mostly see physical ones, especially those that involve sports. Still, the limit of human potential is extremely hard to gauge but I'll wager most (if not all) have not and will not reach it in their lifetime.
Discuss. -
Date: Fri, Sep 21 2007 16:26:40
About talent.. My math teacher told us that math is 99% of hard work and 1% of talent. I think pen spinning is similar to maths. There is no such thing as talent only hard work.
-
Date: Fri, Sep 21 2007 16:28:57
I've actually never thought about craft & art in that way. Somehow it has always been there in the back of my head, I've thought "hell, I need to do something new! learn this, learn that!" but always thought it would not work, since the things in questions all are considered as art forms. Now I think different, I could actually go back to drawing and become somewhat good again, or start playing the guitar.
I don't know..
Also, you need a different level of expertise in the different crafts to be able to make art out of them. Like you said, for penspinning it's mastering some tricks, for other things the road to being able using the artform might be much longer then that. -
Date: Fri, Sep 21 2007 20:40:29
I've always said that pen spinning is a combination of the body and the mind. mind being the art, body being the craft.
it seems to me also that it's almost impossible for one to only be only devoted to one side of the art. But at the same time, it's also very rare for someone to possess mastery of both, which is why a collab liked the Paired Collab is possible, to be able to combine ppl with different expertise together.
as far as talent is concerned, i see it as a catalyst for both the craft and the art. It can help you progress faster, and having a naturally creative mind will allow you to have a lot of ideas to explore. Of course, you still need to take the time to study them after. -
Date: Sat, Sep 22 2007 22:32:54
I don't agree completely.
I believe that you can still be creative without knowing any tricks. Of course, the creativity won't be anything technical, but like how to do magic with the pen or recordingangles.
I got friends that only tried TA, but still manage to come up with something new creative to do. Most of the times, it's not as good as the ideas from someone that's good at the crafting of PS, but it's still creative.
Most of the ideas should come from the ones that know the art, but I don't want to say that people without any base of tricks can't help the art develop. -
Date: Tue, Oct 2 2007 16:39:26
As far as the art & craft talk is concerned, I have nothing to add. I pretty much agree that one cannot do without the other, in the base sense. You can't make combos unless you have the skill, but also you need to either create the combos or gain inspiration from others. This is essentially art. Of course, if you wish to be a good artist, you need to have your craft honed. Just like in art, you have good artists, and you have bad arists. Each range has their own ratios of artistic license to craftsmanship and skill.
However, I would like to say that talent is an advantage, but through hard work and a great field of scope, one can become just as good as any prodigious talent out there. Not everyone has the attributes needed to climb their way to the top, but those that do can certainly become one of the greats. I believe there's only 2 things talented people have that most others need to develop: a great understanding of the craft at its most fundamental level, and a mind that's able to analyze through the next innovation. These two skills are purely mental and can be trained if one was well-equipped for it.