Does Art have to be conscious? 
This is actually a serious question. I have always said that some gardeners can be artists, some builders are artists, a zooped up old car can be art, my bedroom table can be art, a perfect line of shiny mens shoes in the wardrobe can be art. Is a perfectly mown lawn, a sculptured tree, a patchwork quilt, a beautiful ball gown, or a perfect suit – art? A worn out frayed holey farmers coat on a hook, left there for years because it looks like a story. Or does it only become art when it is captured and rendered and framed for display?
I grew up with artists. I know some wonderful painters. I long to hang the photography of some of my stunning blog friends. My most difficult but compelling boyfriend was an artist. I worked for artists when I was modelling. I work with animators and film makers and writers and designers. And they are driven and true and Art is their lives. On many social media platforms I see paintings and drawings and sculpture displayed for comment. These are accepted forms of art because they are considered and there is struggle and decisions are made and talent combined with skill is needed then they display them as Art. Many of you get up in the morning have their coffee and walk into your studios to work for the day. You produce art.
But what if you create a stunning vegetable garden. If you hang your laundry on the clothesline so it catches the wind and the colours and pegs are balanced and true. I am wondering if when a child makes a snowman, or I doodle a huge flower in the sand and watch the waves wash it away, or I plate a meal with flair, or you produce a perfect loaf of bread and we all sigh when we see it – is that art. It is transient, almost accidental. But art? And by those terms – are you an artist.
Many of you are Real artists, trained artists. Maybe I need a new word for what I am describing. Maybe that is the real question. 
But can you be an artist without struggle, and practice and training? Can seven stones lazily balanced on top of each other on the side of a desert road, while waiting for someone else to pee behind a cactus, be an Installation? Is art only art if it is captured and presented as art? 
You remember Picasso and his toilet. It was only a toilet until he took it into a gallery – then it was art. But was it art before he found it and put it on a pedestal for inspection?
But he was an artist and the toilet was designed by somebody.
If you are not thinking to yourself “I am an ARTIST”. Then are we Life-ists? 
I do not consider the work I produce here as art – it is documentation – pretty record keeping. But sometimes I can capture other art. Life’s Art.
And on another subject why can I never find a hammer when I need one. 
I will tell you why. Because I leave them in really strange places. Then totally forget where the strange place was. My memory is definitely not a work of art.
Anyway – back to work. I finished the new electric fence for the middle sized pigs yesterday. This area is part of Daisy’s paddock and runs parallel with the drive and will be this summers new vegetable garden. The pigs will hopefully spend the winter rooting up every single plant in there. Pigs do much of their rooting in the autumn and winter, in the summer months they tend more to grazing the grass. In winter the protein levels are so low, or nonexistent, in the grass above the ground that they are compelled to dig up the roots and eat those instead.
This is a useful skill, when properly managed, and their task for now is to clear this plot, then I will have fewer weeds to deal with when I create the garden. Well, that is the plan anyway. I am fairly sure that once they realise they can Do a Poppy and slide under the non electric fence side we will have an escape on our hands. But until they notice the flaw in my plan they will do good work.
Or maybe they have packed a lunch and are already on their way down the drive! TonTon is hot pursuit no doubt.
The high for today is 34f/1c. Not too warm and very windy. Glad I got that fence finished yesterday.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
88 responses to “Is that art?”
See I don’t agree with you on one point. What you do, what you post, the pictures you take and how you describe it – that’s art. You have way more talent than you think sweet friend. XOXO – Bacon
Sweet Bacon – which reminds me I have to get some bacon out of the freezer for the weekend! Ha ha ha – sorry Bacon – had to say it! My bad!! c
Snorts and rolls with piggy laughter. It’s okay sweet friend ❤ Mommy explains to me all of the time that I'm not *that* kind of bacon. XOXO – Bacon
Since your comments here (and not just this one!) prove that you have an artistic as well as a rather aristocratic (Artistocratic?) bent, I wonder if your namesake isn’t Sir Francis Bacon anyway. 🙂
Kathryn
aaww – I only wish sweet friend! XOXO – Bacon
The post reminded me of the debates from art appreciation class in college–how do you define art? who is an artist and why? when is something not considered art? is art simply creation, and if you create something then can you label it art? I rather enjoy existential debates such as this… 🙂
The pigs, by the way, seem to be doing a marvelous job!
I love that word existential too.. c
Beauty or Art is in the eye of the beholder. I’m left cold by some installations but will stop and wonder at the ‘art’ of a ploughed field. Land Art is one of my favourite forms – the ephemeral ice arch or petals in the grass – works by Andy Goldsworthy or Richard Long. I went to one exhibition that was cow dung on glass, which was much, much better than it sounds.
At least the yellow on your hammer means you can see it from a distance.
Land Art – an excellent contribution. As to the hammer i will actually choose brightly coloured tools (especially secateurs) that have neon coloured handles, easier to see when they turn up in the COMPOST! c
So we go to the handy dandy dictionary for a definition: Art — the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
That being said, I believe it can be accomplished and/or appreciated by any and all of us, in all the circumstances you described. Appreciation is perhaps done on an intellectual level if one is trained as an artist, but certainly everyone can appreciate art on an emotional level. And I think all things created are a form of art… some ‘good’ art will occur at times by chance, but for someone to produce again and again, then that is a talent and/or skill.
Ha! My most difficult, yet compelling, boyfriend was also an artist. The arrogance was a little tough to take at times but I did learn a great deal, am glad that period in my life ended but wouldn’t wipe the slate clean, not for a second. Cooling down here also, and hope you have a lovely day too. ~ Mame 🙂
I learnt a lot from my troublesome artist boyfriend too , I had a darkroom in his studio – we about drove each other to drink! But the discussions were excellent.. c
Art is in the eye of the beholder….someone said that- I believe we are all artists as we take care even folding laundry. Your blog is a work of art weaving
words with stunning images. That young pig with the stunning orange body and brilliant white face is amazing art!
As for the hammer- I think we all do that when our minds are busy with our internal work check off list!
Have a lovely day!
Those hammers – I cannot tell you how many I have bought and now I can only find ONE – c
Some of your animal companions are definitely smart enough to have ‘borrowed’ all those missing hammers and be working on some project in secret. Possibly just prising open various doors and gates they weren’t supposed to breach… 😉
Definitions of ‘art’ always talk about humans… but it seems that some animals are ‘artists’.
There are dogs, elephants, pigs, dolphins etc. which paint – and you can see there is a thought process going on both as they paint and in the results.
If you have a spare second, follow this link – you’ll see the cutest little pigs covered with paint… and wonderful art. The painting done by a dolphin is very interesting and beautiful. http://www.sharenator.com/14_animals_that_can_paint/
This is interesting – Vogelkop Gardener Bowerbird nests are highly decorated to help the males build woo females. In some places they’re tall towers made of sticks resting upon a round mat of dead black moss, decorated with snail shells, acorns, and stones. In other places, they’re woven towers built upon a platform of green moss, adorned with fruits, flowers, and severed butterfly wings.
What really makes this ‘art’ is each bird has their own tastes and prefer certain colors. Objects are moved and the birds will return to change the arrangement. And get this – . “Decorating decisions are not automatic but involved trials and ‘changes of mind,’” wrote UCLA physiologist Jared Diamond, one of the first researchers to intensively study the birds’ complex bowers. Diamond discovered that bower building was not innate, at least not entirely. The younger birds had to learn how to build the best bowers, either through trial and error, or by watching more experienced birds, or both.”
So – by using the definition itself – animals can be artists!!
PS When I taught young children I learned that a painting which looks like a bit of a mess is actually the child’s attempt at representational art. If asked, they could tell you what each ‘blob’ was meant to be. (You’re a mother – you already know this!) ; o )
Now that is definitely a tack I have not taken – wonderful addition to the discussion -especially the birds – I will check out the link thank you Cecile.. c
I thought of you when I the two adorable white piggy faces… smeared in paint! ; o )
Art is found wherever the act of creation is practiced. That act starts with observation, and sometimes that’s all that is needed – to see the beauty of the old jacket hanging on the back of the door, or the glory of a perfect loaf of bread. Some take this observation and appreciation further, and create the environment for this observation to occur; they paint, sculpt, spin, sew, take photos which capture the essence of something observed. We are all artists in a small way, but Artists (with a big A) are those who make it their life’s practice to observe, create and celebrate. Your blog is a prime example of observation and celebration of the world around you. I reckon you deserve a big A….
Just a little ‘a’ for me. And thank you – excellent thoughts.. c
What you describe, c, is what I call ‘artistry’. >
Artistry – thank you Misky – a good word.. c
They say left handed people are more artistic because they use the right side of their brain more, I don’t know. I am especially drawn to folk art of all kinds. I also love realistic art. If it speaks to me, I like it. I suppose that is the emotional aspect of art. I took an art history class in college and learned so much. It was very interesting. I find myself wanting to “make” something often. Maybe that is art wanting to be realized, whether it be painted furniture, crocheted hats, a quilt, or a book display in my library that is just right. Which makes me think of the people that do window designs for big department like on 5th Ave in New York City. But I digress. Thank you for pulling me out of my left brain this morning. I needed that. Those pigs photo almost tell a story. “Pig 1: I found something delicious here..yum yum…..Pig 2: hey, what did you find and move over so I can have some too!” So, you will be planting a garden in the field on the right by the barn (point of view of coming up the driveway)? Will you still have a garden behind the house? That is why the hammer gets lost….thinking about something else and then something else while doing a task. I do it all the time! Have a good day! Don’t forget to get out the bacon.
Yes you are exactly right – a new garden on the right. right and right. This new garden will be for the veg that we grow in bigger quantities for the restaurant. Nice long straight arty rows!! c
I love reading the comments almost as much as your posts. I think didirksd said it quite well. You are an artist in the way you write and the photographs you take. I think most of us have a basic, innate need to create. I consider myself a crafter. I borrow ideas and try to duplicate them to some marginal degree. I don’t have that initial vision though the desire is always there. You take raw life and make us see the beauty in it. I think art starts in the heart and manifests outward. This was a lovely read and I always love my visits here. Thank you . Have a wonderfilled day. Marlene
Afternoon Marlene – great comment – I hope you are getting some sun now? After all your rotton weather?
Sun pops in and out but mostly dry till the 1st. Then rain for 10 days. I don’t have to shovel it and can drive in it. 🙂
If Tracey Emin can put a pile of rubbish together in the Tate and call it art..then everything is art depending on how you see it. I see a pile of trash, Tracey sees something I do not..weird lady
I LOVE the Tate – especially the gift shop – in fact I love all art gallery gift shops, sometimes more than the exhibitions! Now that is weird! c
Hah, now that really struck a chord! I, too, have been known to spend more time in the museum/cathedral/opera house gift shop than in the actual place. My family all know to expect some weird and wonderful gifts from my global travels. I’ve really enjoyed this conversation and agree that you are a talented photographer and a word-weaver par excellence.
I have found some of the niftiest stuff in our local hospital gift shop!
By dictionary definition, not all artists are craftsmen and not all craftsmen are artists; I would extrapolate and extend it to say that not all created things are artful and not all artful things are created. But ultimately, as I said many times when teaching, it’s a heck of a lot easier to define what art might *not* be than what it *is*—the discussion remains interesting because it’s essentially unanswerable. Our experiences not only differ from others’ but shift over time to change our attitudes toward the many aspects of sensory and intellectual experience we’d try to define as art-or-not. Beauty? Utility? Intent? Happy accident? Price? Emotional content? Newness? So many questions, so impossible to make finite. That, to me, is the delight of the whole thing, and what makes my life richer is the perpetual search. Every time I think to address the question I am likely to enliven and add pleasure to the moment, to the day, simply because I pay greater attention to those things I do find artful in my own ways.
Beautifully put – thank you Kathryn. This is a great discussion – and definitely a richer thought shared with you all. c
When I was just a schoolgirl wanting to get into one of NZ’s two prestigious art schools, my teacher told me art was very simple. It is the Greek word for ‘skill’.
When you see it that way you can appreciate any creative endeavour without judging or judgment. Enjoy a childs’ creative work for its skill in context, just as much as Duchamp’s ‘Fontana’, it is the context which gives meaning to the work.
Then the conversation begins….. and you have Art.
Yes it was Duchamp – thank you, I write too fast and too early. I am trying to think what I was thinking of calling up Picasso. Anyway yes – skill – technique? Your photography is wonderful – all your images are real works of art.. c
Well, I don’t know if it’s art, but I think the picture of your out-of-place hammer is quite nice. Personally, I think it’s art not because it’s presented as art, but because it’s perceived that way.
Yes – that is an excellent way of looking at art.. c
It is fun to contemplate and discuss, but in the end it matters not how each or all of us define art or even who does it or how it comes about. It is enough to appreciate our human ability to see, create and discuss it! A colleague once stated he just did the work for himself, if someone else wanted to call him an artist, that was fine, it was not for him to say. I tend to agree.