Art & Amateurs
Dec. 14th, 2009 06:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerOne of the really charming things about English towns is that all of them - even Pickering, which is too small to have its own postcards - have art galleries. (The kind where people sell art, not the art museum kind, although an awful lot of towns have those too.)
Now, admittedly, a lot of this art is kind of tacky; but that's part of the charm. I like the idea of artists selling their sketches of badgers in tweed strolling through an idealized English countryside, and taking their children out for a nice afternoon at an amusement park or the movies or whatever on the proceeds.
There is this idea, I think, that making art is hard; that art is something that only professionals can or should produce; and that amateur artists (visual, musical, literary, etc.) are wasting their time, because "that's never going to make any money."
And it is difficult to make professional quality art; but art doesn't have to be professional quality to be worthwhile. A lot of people can sing or paint or write well enough to make their audience smile, and even if they never make a penny I think making people happy is a good enough reason to do anything.
And I like the fact that these galleries give amateur artists a chance to make a little cash.
***
On a completely shallow note, I've found this great new online game: Winterbells, which involves bouncing a little bunny character from bell to bell, trying to get as a high a score as you can.
It's totally addictive. Also, the background is strangely aesthetically pleasing. Just in case anyone else out there is looking for a way to procrastinate on final papers, Yuletide fic, or any of the many other things one could procrastinate on at this festive season of the year.
Now, admittedly, a lot of this art is kind of tacky; but that's part of the charm. I like the idea of artists selling their sketches of badgers in tweed strolling through an idealized English countryside, and taking their children out for a nice afternoon at an amusement park or the movies or whatever on the proceeds.
There is this idea, I think, that making art is hard; that art is something that only professionals can or should produce; and that amateur artists (visual, musical, literary, etc.) are wasting their time, because "that's never going to make any money."
And it is difficult to make professional quality art; but art doesn't have to be professional quality to be worthwhile. A lot of people can sing or paint or write well enough to make their audience smile, and even if they never make a penny I think making people happy is a good enough reason to do anything.
And I like the fact that these galleries give amateur artists a chance to make a little cash.
***
On a completely shallow note, I've found this great new online game: Winterbells, which involves bouncing a little bunny character from bell to bell, trying to get as a high a score as you can.
It's totally addictive. Also, the background is strangely aesthetically pleasing. Just in case anyone else out there is looking for a way to procrastinate on final papers, Yuletide fic, or any of the many other things one could procrastinate on at this festive season of the year.
