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?”
Were you thinking of Marcel Duchamp and his urinal?
Oh my goodness you are right – it was Duchamp. I was thinking of the painting of the toilet – was there a painting? by Picasso. have I lost my mind? But also did he not use found objects and use them? I had better get back into my reading – thank you for pointing that out for me.. c
To me art is the formal way that we view beauty. But beauty is everywhere. I can stare at gardens for hours. Its something about the play of color and the play of wind and, of course, the scents. If it is well-balanced (whether formal or informal), then it becomes irresistable. I thnk artist take beauty and create art — but we all love and appreciate beauty. And, I do count some landscape artists and chefs in the category of artists. I think the way some chefs plate their creations — so beautiful and the flavors so complimentary or surprising… well, that’s art to me. I don’t consider myself an artist, but I sure appreciate beauty. Your photos are beautiful and go beyond “just documentary.” Many of them could hang on a gallery wall.
[J] Art is more than just being pleasing to the eye – which is the province of the architectural/interior/graphic designer. It’s true that it’s no more than a hundred years ago that art was more likely to be used to signify skill. The Artful Dodger was so named by Dickens for his skill in evading capture. That meaning lives on even now in words and fixed expressions like ‘artful’ (meaning skilled in manipulation or deceipt), ‘he has the art of hitting the nail on the head everytime’ (metaphorically, perhaps also literally). These days art means a work which is the result of excercise of skill and forethought, and is intended to support a metaphysical as well as literal interpretation. In short it is not accidental. However it may give the appearance or illusion of being so, even to the creator, when the work in question where the creator’s skills and aesthetic sense are so deeply ingrained, so profound, as to result in works of art being created without apparent conscious effort or will – as if by accident.
Howard Nemerov said once, when asked by a student journalist what it is like to be a poet, “I feel like a poet while I am writing a poem, and for about five minutes afterwards.” I hope the student appreciated the humor and didn’t feel put down, thinking he shouldn’t have asked such a question. But at least one message got through to me: art is something you do with what you’ve got; it makes you feel good. Everything else is life, and just as good. Perhaps another message was about the difference between experiencing art, whether from inside or out, and talking about it.* A third message could have to do with a kind of humility about your work. Let it speak for itself. No need to promote or defend. It’s all good, unless it’s all for show. The funny thing is, I read several of Nemerov’s books and essays over the years, and now I can remember only two of his poems , and those only vaguely. But that little exchange with the journalist sure stayed with me. It helped me maintain perspective on my own work (teaching) and kept me from taking myself too seriously.
* I do like the “talking about it” too. Often it expands the experience. So I look forward to the comments here. Many new ideas or alternate views, but always upbeat. And concise. ( Can you imagine being in a book club type group with more than 60 persons, all eager to talk? ) As in a poem, the form exerts it’s own artistic control.
I can’t answer the question about art, but I do know that we humans like beauty and beauty is its own thing.
Hi Celi. Do you think of nature as art or only when it is presented to you as such? Nature creates beautiful art but is nature an artist? One can certainly appreciate the art in nature just by observing it I think, and it doesn’t even have to be captured with a camera or a brush or a piece of clay. Something to ponder, for sure.
My mother was a professional artist and draftsman (did very complex drafting drawings during World War II while my father spent 4 years in North Africa and Italy in the Army Corps of Engineers). She always said that art was anything natural or created by any living creature that provoked an emotional response upon seeing or hearing or feeling it, and that every one was an artist. I think she was right. The dictionary definition is a bit too limited. I’ve seen art works by various animals which are very bit as good and moving in some way as those produced by people. There are natural works (rocks with roots and dead leaves, a blossom, a landscape, etc.) which are unquestionably works of art for me. The sound of rain, a baby cooing, the deep sigh of a horse after the saddle is removed and grooming begins, those are all art for me as much as a symphony or song. I suspect it is more a means of looking, hearing, feeling our surroundings and the things in them.
Might I suggest wearing a carpenter’s apron (also called a nail apron) while working around the farmy? It is a very handy item. My father was a master carpenter and I learned just how useful that belt with the various pockets can be, plus there’s a place to slip your hammer so it’s always there, just hang up the apron when you come in and all the tools, roll of wire or string, roll of tape, pliers, pruners, hammer are there too. They used to be made of leather, some with a heavy cotton web belt, now they are made of all kinds of modern materials, the usefulness is the same though. [ http://www.menards.com/main/tools-hardware/tool-storage/tool-bags-belts/tmcguire-nicholas-ool-and-nail-apron/p-1444452496742-c-9186.htm?tid=-5266320866771124196 ] I have a several, one for housecleaning, one for carpentry/home repairs, one for gardening/yard work, one for travel (it’s great to belt around the passenger seat of the the truck if you’re alone on a long drive for stuff like candy bars, phone, sun glasses and whatever else.
Stay dry and warm, snow and colder coming.
There are artists in India that create fantastic paintings on the floor with coloured sand – to emphasise the transience of everything. Definitely all of life can be art! Your posts for example! 💚
You beautifully described life Celi. Is life not art?
Ah so you leave things in strange places too! 😃
This is so beautiful. Could you check my blog and give me a feedback. Please don’t refrain from telling where I could improve. Thank You. http://www.thesurrealrealist.com
Art is so subjective. In your post it appears you are struggling to define what art is, but is it helpful to have boundaries? Why can’t a garden be art? I go back and forth with this debate as well, but I always stop to think- does it matter? If it’s art, it’s art. If someone calls it art, isn’t it? I think boundaries can be restrictive and ultimately limit people from considering themselves creative, and therefore participating in creative activities.
Then again, from another perspective, Richard Serra in an interview once said design is NOT art because it’s functional, ultimately serving some sort of purpose. He said art is useless, it has no purpose, but that’s what’s great about it. I found myself kind of agreeing with him. Once again, I found myself asking the same question you are asking, “what even is art??”
What a great comment! Thank you.. c