Gut is a weird concept. It’s a biological location, but it’s also an abstract word for something nobody knows how to describe, we just know that it’s important. We are supposed to follow our guts. Listen to our guts. I get annoyed when people use phrases like “I love your guts out” or “I’m going to run my guts rotten” because nobody would ever say “I love your pancreas out” or “I’m going to run my mental and emotional meridian rotten.”
It just doesn’t work like that.
When I was in art school there was a more-than-slightly obnoxious Scottish drawing instructor who liked to torment his students into “drawing from the gut” which usually meant looking at your finished work while getting yelled from behind one ear, in the path projectile spittle, eventually leading to a saliva drenched canvas. One time he made everyone in class draw trees while holding conte crayons between our teeth. I hated him. But I will say, as much as I hated him, and he wasn’t a very good teacher, I feel indebted him because he gouged a nugget of something into my brain that has never left. In his spittles streamed Scottish brogue he yelled at nobody in particular; “Pretty speaks to your mind, art speaks to your gut.”
That rule applies to just about everything I suppose; music, writing, dramatic performances…even boring stuff like business, or complicated stuff like relationships. The world is filled with plenty of fantastic, beautiful, interesting, pretty things, but very few of them itch your gut, and when it’s art.
Sometimes people ask me the difference between art and craft, and I suppose that standard applies too. Just because you make something with your hands doesn’t make it art, but when you make it from your heart, from your guts, that’s when it’s art. There are artists who make crafts, and crafters who make art. I usually don’t feel much need to compartmentalize the two, but the other day I was flipping through pinterest and I saw an image of one of Anne Ten Donkelaar’s flower collages and the caption read “This would make a great craft project” and I nearly leaped out of my bathrobe and through the screen to say THAT IS NOT CRAFT THAT IS ART.
Pretty speaks to your mind, art speaks to your gut.
So. Ten minutes of cyber stalking later, I come to scour her website and am totally blown away by these delicate works of art. I believe they are mostly photos of flowers that are then cut and glued pieces onto real pieces of dried twigs and grasses, then mounted on pins and frames. You can see the shadows…
Is that not incredible?
This soooooo speaks to my gut.
I’m tempted to try and DIY something similar on my own, but I don’t want to. I want to remember the impact and the feeling I have just looking at these works as they are, over the internet, on my laptop, speaking to my gut. That’s art.
Go see more incredible art over at Anne Ten Donkelaar’s website. Because even if you aren’t into to flower collages, she has a number in the middle of her name and that is really badass. I’m pretty sure that’s just a Dutch name thing, but I’m not above switching my name to Aunt Seven Peaches.
It could happen.
This is a great post, Aunt Seven Peaches. Thoughtful and thought-provoking. Thank you for introducing this artist to us.
I had an art teacher tell me that one of my projects was too “crafty.” She explained that my project was actually usable. (The assignment was to make some kind of art box.) Her advice was to add more pieces to it so that the box could not be used as a box. Then it would be “art.”
If that’s art, then I prefer to consider myself a “crafter.” I actually refer to myself as a “fabric engineer.” It suits me better.
Yeah no, that wasn’t an art teacher.
Wooooooowwwwww. Blown away!
I second (hee hee) adding seven to your name. Sounds so euro spy awesome.
Euro spy. That’s exactly what I said!
Stunning.
I love art/craft that is so meticulous and mind-bending detailed.
You can feel the determination, tenacity, in-the-zone energy behind the commitment to creativity this perfect.
If you would have asked me if flower collage is an art or craft, I would have said craft. But after seeing the pics, I have to say it’s art.
Same here.
This flower art is stunning and inspiring! Thanks for telling us about it. Did you see the broken butterflies collection and her inspiration for that art? Fascinating!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY and many more too! Mary Beth
I did! Aren’t they amazing??
I struggle with art v craft as well. When people like my craft room I get a little defensive, but I craft in that room so…. I like that the Arts and Crafts movement didn’t try to differentiate….
Ooh, these are beautiful! This is something I would be willing to give a try. My efforts could never be as amazing as hers, but it might be fun to attempt. Some of her blooms remind me of quilling (which yes, is another one of those 70’s-era crafty things that I still love to do), so methinks this might be worth a go. Thanks for the inspiration.
wow….wow….wowser!
Beautiful work! As a crafter, I feel that most of my projects are a work of art. I spend a lot of time piecing everything together and seeing it all the way to the end and feeling that strong instinct of loving what I’ve done, that it is a work of art to me. I’m not gluing popsicle sticks with fourth graders, I’m creating a true honest work of art. Although there are some things that are not art and are crafts, I don’t think that means the work should be seen as less important or less meaningful.
Hot damn. Those are incredible!
I finished art school 5 years ago, and am now back at school to get my teaching certification. One of the best parts is I get to take art classes I didn’t fit in the first time around. I was so excited to learn a new skill and be able to participate in critiques. Got my hopes up too much. They consisted of half the girls in the class telling everyone their paintings were “pretty”. I appreciate that, but do you know how much time I spent on this 11×14 painting of my cat? It is not pretty.
I hate that word when it comes to art.
Sorry for the ramble. This just struck a chord after spending a whole semester trying to explain to a fellow art student why pretty was not alright with me.
We call that fussy cutting in the scrapbooking community and that is very skillful cutting right there! Some of the best I’ve ever seen. It also has a flow to it and a radiance that makes it beautiful and most certainly art!
Wow! thank you, thank you straight from my gut. These are a stunning and I feel I could look at them all day and find new favorite parts. Happy Sunday! jen http://www.satsumadesigns.com
Such a great post. I remember in college being terrified of presenting my things to teachers because I couldn’t always find the line between arts and crafts. One teacher encouraged me to seek a master’s degree in art while another made it clear he hated everything I ever made. These days it’s such a freeing feeling not worrying whether I’m making arts or crafts but just making my world a little more beautiful (and having fun trying). Besides who really gets to stand as the gatekeeper of art and say “yes that’s art” and “no that’s not.”
That artist is awesome – thanks for your great site and for sharing this inspiration. Your post reminded me of Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park With George,” which is all about art; in particular when George Seurat explains to his mother, “Pretty isn’t beautiful. Pretty is what changes… what the eye arranges, is what is beautiful.”
For me, “art” and “beauty” both cause some kind of visceral reaction. While I LIKE pretty things in general, whether I think something’s particularly “pretty” (or not) isn’t doesn’t seem as important then.