[Artists-making-art] Artists-making-art Digest, Vol 16, Issue 6

[Lynda Lambert]

Ann, this is so interesting to me!  

I am creating a handout for my audience when I deliver the two conference presentations in March. I would love to include your information on the drawing boards with link to it, if that would be ok with you.  I will be speaking to a general academic audience at the university, students, and of course art majors and art profs. who could greatly profit from this information.  May I do this with your permission?  

I have been working on my presentations every day, developing them and this is something that is breaking ground for me, as well, as I have never done an academic presentation since my sight loss. Prior to that, I lectured regularly in the university in Humanities, English Literature, Communications, and taught studio art courses. I thought I would never again be capable of doing such presentations - and I am awake at night thinking about what I am about to do - worrying about details, etc.  This will be the first time I have ever lectured from my memory, with just a few stepping-stone notes from my Milestone.  Normally, I did power point presentations, and I am going to re-learn how to do this again, as I know I will be doing more presentations in the future. I want to begin preparing for it. I do not read Braille, as I chose to concentrate on doing my art and put all my efforts into that, rather than into learning Braille  which would have taken me away from the studio and I am not willing to ever give up studio time for any reason. Day by day, I am honing in on my presentation and I know I will be fully prepared and confident when the day arrives, March 4th, and I am speaking to my audience. I have always loved lecturing and doing academic presentations at academic conferences - so even though I am a bit nervous about it, I am very excited to be back to what I love to do once again.  My next goal, after I get through this, is to relearn how to do power point presentations again and to begin to develop them. Little by little, step by step, we go forward.

Your drawing classes make se so excited because I know that drawing is the core of everything - absolutely everything.  Thank God for Betty Edwards!  

Lynda
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ann at acunningham.com 
  To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons 
  Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2014 5:51 PM
  Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] Artists-making-art Digest, Vol 16, Issue 6


  At the Colorado Center for the Blind, we have focused on drawing for the last year. That does not mean that anyone has had a year of instruction but that everyone in the program now graduates with 12 hours of drawing along with all the other requirements for graduation. 


  A student finish up his forth week of instruction, each class is three hours, this Friday. It was remarkable to see what he was able to achieve in that short amount of time. He has been blind since birth and had never drawn before and by the end he was drawing images of people in earth houses from his research and experimentation with symbols. Canes getting stuck in snow from experience and an explanation of snow crystals. German Shepard and panda bears, from models. And a Camero car from his own experience and a sketch I made for him that he studied and then used for his interpretation. He derived a lot of joy from drawing and clearly found that this is an expressive art form that is a great match for him.


  Students use the Sensational BlackBoard to create their raised line drawings. Complete disclosure, I make and sell these raised line drawing boards because I needed them for our classes. They are designed to use regular copy paper, a penny apiece, but you can use the plastic papers if you like, about 25 cents a sheet. I like to use 100% cotton vellum, it is a little more expensive around 7 cents a sheet, but it is so smooth and fluid to draw on I think it is the most fun. 


  In our class we work on expressing emotions as well Approximate Persepctive™a method of organizing perspective pictures that has developed over the years at the Center, since 1999. The expressing emotions classes were inspired by Dr. Betty Edward's book Drawing on the Artist Within. The perspective concepts are all based in experience not theory.









  Ann Cunningham
  Tactile Art - a creative way to see the world!
  303 238 4760
  ann at acunningham.com
  http://www.acunningham.com
  http://www.sensationalbooks.com 



    -------- Original Message --------
    Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] Artists-making-art Digest, Vol 16,
    Issue 6
    From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    Date: Sat, February 08, 2014 5:03 pm
    To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>

    As a drawing teacher, I understood that if my sighted students did not 
    understand the object they were drawing by using all their senses, then they 
    did not understand that thing at all. Because the sense of sight is so 
    powerful and takes over all the other senses, a sighted person just takes a 
    very quick glance at things and THINKS she understands it and she does not 
    at all. The drawing will be merely superficial and will not show the 
    nuances of it, as it is in space, it's weight, etc. When blindfolded, the 
    student begins to understand the object on deeper levels of understanding. 
    What happens is that by relying only on sight, the student cannot really SEE 
    a thing at all - but they think they can. So blindfolding the student had 
    nothing to do with how a blind person experiences the thing, it had to do 
    with really SEEING the thing. Seeing is something that is experienced over a 
    very long period of time - it required that the person slow way down, and 
    focus on the moment in time as they touch the object - and they are at the 
    same time, learning how it really looks. Sight alone cannot do this for us. 
    This is very interesting to me because I had never been around a blind person 
    in my life, with the exception of two different people whom I had only very 
    limited time with. I would not have made the connection between sight loss 
    and the drawing experience at that time at all. Only in hind sight, after 
    my own sight loss, can I truly understand how important these lessons were.

    Lynda
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: "Laurie Porter" <free.spirit1 at live.com>
    To: <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2014 6:40 PM
    Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] Artists-making-art Digest, Vol 16, Issue 6


    > The idea that all children blind or sighted can draw pictures fascinates 
    > me. I was legally blind all my life until 2003 when I lost all my sight. 
    > both of my parents were blind, and I recall them never knowing how to 
    > draw anything However, fundimentally all children, blind or sighted learn 
    > basics like drawing a circle or square then later other shapes. I might 
    > have been a better drawer if I had access to tactual shapes. I was 
    > encouraged to use my vision to do everything but my parents lacked the 
    > ability to teach me how to process things visually which comes to all 
    > children at a very early age. this is a very interesting 
    > sight, -----Original Message----- 
    > From: artists-making-art-request at nfbnet.org
    > Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2014 2:03 PM
    > To: artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > Subject: Artists-making-art Digest, Vol 16, Issue 6
    >
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    > Today's Topics:
    >
    > 1. Re: drawing the internal dialogue (Lynda Lambert)
    > 2. Re: drawing the internal dialogue (Sahar's Beaded Creations)
    > 3. Re: drawing the internal dialogue (Patricia C. Estes)
    > 4. Re: Artists-making-art Digest, Vol 16, Issue 5 (Laurie Porter)
    >
    >
    > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 1
    > Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2014 08:56:25 -0500
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] drawing the internal dialogue
    > Message-ID: <2E945A7FA30F4110A726835349F4841D at Lambert>
    > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
    >
    > Patricia, you bring up the most fascinating things. This is another one of 
    > those things that is so enjoyable to think about. Drawing! We do not need 
    > sight to draw, I am absolutely sure of that. In fact, in many of my 
    > drawing courses, I had students draw blindfolded. They had to feel the 
    > objects, then return to the easel to do their drawings. They could walk 
    > over to feel it as often as they liked during the process, but they were 
    > not permitted to have a physical "look" at it with the eyes. The drawings 
    > they made were astounding - so full of livingness and so magical. You are 
    > making me remember those things that I had not thought of for a very long 
    > time - and this is great for me because I am going to be a speaker at a 
    > conference on disabilities and inclusion in March, and this is exactly 
    > what I needed to be thinking about as I prep for that lecture.
    >
    > If anyone else has some examples of experiences for me, that I could share 
    > with the audience, please let me know. I want to really make my audience 
    > understand that blind people have the same passions for art and art making 
    > as anyone else. We just have to learn adaptive ways of working, but we can 
    > do it, and we love to do it and it brings us great joy.
    >
    > yes, I used Drawing From the Right Side of the Brain as a textbook for 
    > Drawing courses at the college! I also used "The Natural Way to Draw" by 
    > Nicolaides. I have worked my way through both of these books for years on 
    > end. Drawing is the core of everything we do as artists and without a good 
    > foundation in drawing, it's difficult to move on - it is the structure on 
    > which we build everything else no matter the medium we work with. Drawing 
    > puts us in touch with the internal dialogue and we become more aware and 
    > connected with the object we are drawing.
    >
    > The interesting thing about drawing, to me, has always been that all 
    > children seem to know how to draw by instinct. How does that "fit" in your 
    > experience, Patricia? I have never encountered a child who did not know 
    > how to draw and make pictures - I have always thought we are born with 
    > these abilities. I think a child born blind would have this same 
    > inclination, if provided with the tools and opportunities early on, but 
    > that is a guess on my part. I would love to know more about this by 
    > someone who has had the experience as a very small child without sight. 
    > Drawing is more, far more, than the thing that is left on the page after 
    > the person has made it. It is a whole body experience - physical and 
    > spiritual experience, in my experiences. So, it seems to me that no sight 
    > is needed to make drawings. I like to say, about my own work, that the 
    > "thing that is on display on the gallery wall is the residue left behind 
    > as I was making art." It is not the art itself, it is the tracks that 
    > show I was there. The art was what transpired within me as I worked on it 
    > and the piece in the gallery is the evidence that I was there.
    >
    > I have to say that without my extensive drawing background, I would not be 
    > who I am today as a blind person. I have a small amount of peripheral 
    > vision that is enough that I can detect movement. Those movements are 
    > "gestures" and it is through the gestures around me that I navigate the 
    > world and that I identify people and things. It is the essence of 
    > everything - gesture. When I am making my art these days, it is because I 
    > am accustomed to using gesture and can continue to do that without sight. 
    > Touch is gesture, and that is how I understand what I touch. I feel it's 
    > internal and external gesture.
    >
    > OH, that is so funny about your 5 year old's comment about using his "girl 
    > brain." This is what I found so fascinating when I was reading this book, 
    > that the entire structure of the brain is very different in males and 
    > females. Each individual part of the brain is different between the 
    > sexes - so it is a physical as well as psychological difference. She 
    > explored many different nuances that really helped me as a blind person as 
    > well, as I was reading. It gave me new insight into different aspects we 
    > encounter due to sight loss. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has 
    > interest in learning more about how the brain functions, and it is 
    > explored in a way that a non-science person like me coulnd understand and 
    > enjoy.
    >
    > This is all certainly another aspect of the discussion on difference 
    > between art and crafts thought process and ways of "seeing." Lynda
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Patricia C. Estes
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 8:54 PM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Linda, the brain is so fascinating-or is it the mind?? My first real 
    > understanding of it (before I studied holistic psychology and energy 
    > medicine) was when our youngest was caught doing something or other that 
    > five year olds do, and he burst into tears and managed to blurt out 
    > emphatically, "My girl brain made me do it!"
    > Yes, Luke, I know what you mean! But he didn't go to school, yet, and we 
    > didn't have a TV...I think he just *knew*.
    > Dr. Christian Northrop teaches about the female brain, too. Her example 
    > is that she and her, then, husband were flying somewhere and she noticed 
    > that she was reading "Enriching the Mother/Daughter Relationship" and he 
    > was reading "How to get the most out of your Band Saw."
    > To bring art into this, I am sure you are familiar with the book,"Drawing 
    > on the Right side of the Brain." Pretty fascinating, if one has time to 
    > complicate one's life by experimenting with drawing things upside down.
    > Energetically, if you want to engage both hemispheres, Brain Gym says to 
    > "think of an X." And to relax the mind, think of two parallel lines.
    >
    > OK, I'm taking my parallel lines and heading to bed,
    > Patty
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Lynda Lambert
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 1:48 PM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Patricia, I just finished reading the book "The Female Brain" by Luann 
    > Brizendine, and OH, HOw I wish I had this wonderful information a long 
    > time ago. Raising my brood of children would have been so much easier if I 
    > had known these things about the differences between male and female 
    > brains. And, my goodness, I would have been a much better teacher, too. I 
    > would have a better understanding of my fellow human beings - but at least 
    > I do understand a lot more about it now since reading this book. It was so 
    > enlightening to me and I was telling my husband all about it as we would 
    > ride along in the truck. One day he said to me, "I guess it is like this 
    > conversation we are having right now in this truck." This was his insight 
    > as I was rapidly sharing so much information as he sat quietly 
    > listening...lol I said, "Yes, now I understand this conversation here in 
    > this truck so much better." We laughed.
    >
    > Of course we are both crafters and artists - one feeds into the other. 
    > We all begin somewhere - and for me, it begins with my mother taking an 
    > afternoon to teach me how to do some embroidery stitches and to creat a 
    > picture on a linen tea towel - I was probably 8 years old. Then, it 
    > continues on with my precious neighbor taking an hour each morning, one 
    > summer, to teach me how to read a pattern and how to sew a blouse, skirt, 
    > and then an entire outfit - I was about 10. We learn from those around us, 
    > and how lucky we were to have them in our life. What I do today, is an 
    > homage to those women in my life so long ago. I celebrate them with every 
    > stitch I make in my art these days. And, I say "thank you" to them for 
    > giving me the beginnings of who I am today, and who I am becoming with 
    > each new day and each new idea I work with.
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > 
    > http://www.amazon.com/Louann-Brizendine/e/B001H6RZB8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1391798400&sr=1-1
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Patricia C. Estes
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 1:26 PM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Hooray for "outrageous and for all of you for taking the time to 
    > articulate these distinctions.
    > I absolutely agree and have been an artist and crafter 
    > simultaneously. I am back to my art and love the discovery of it-but I 
    > will admit, my left brain does like rules and instructions-but my Girl 
    > Brain is winning! (no put down to Boy Brains, just a family joke).
    >
    > Right on! Right on, Linda!
    > pece out
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Lynda Lambert
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 11:44 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Well, this is an outrageous conversation, I know. lol I better 
    > get back to the studio before I cause a riot, but this should be a good 
    > place for a discussion like this.
    >
    > That is great, Ann! So true. There is really not a fine line 
    > between the two, it is very clear and distinct. And artist or a crafter 
    > can take the exact same materials, but the mind that works with them is 
    > quite different and the results are quite different. It's really about 
    > "ideas" and "concepts" and what we are thinking about as we work, and 
    > where we go with the materials in our process of working. In Pittsburgh, 
    > PA there is a very fine museum/gallery called the Society of Contemporary 
    > Crafts - now, what is done there, and shown there is high art. So there is 
    > crafts and there is CRAFT, too. There is the "crafter" and there is the 
    > "Craftsman." very distinct differences between them - and as a sculptor 
    > you would be very aware of this, too.
    >
    > I was so fortunate to teach in a small private college (Geneva 
    > College, in western PA) where I was free to teach across disciplines, as 
    > I have my MFA in painting/printmaking, and my MA in English Literature. 
    > Because of this background, I was very marketable for a good position. I 
    > was able to create multi-discipline courses - alway a combination of 
    > literature and art, as well as studio courses in painting, fiber arts, 
    > printmaking, drawing. It was a dream of a job, working in 
    > interdisciplinary studies and doing so many projects with profs in other 
    > disciplines. I was very active in conferences on interdisciplinary 
    > studies. I created an European experience for art and literature 
    > students and we lived in Austria every summer and then traveled to other 
    > countries. I even had an art exhibition in Austria for my students every 
    > summer. They worked so hard in the studio and out on location every day, 
    > and at the end of the month they had a show - so much fun. I also did 
    > this with Puerto Rico, and students came to PR with me each spring as part 
    > of their course in Puerto Rico Culture - which I have continued to visit 
    > every March even though I am now retired. It bacame how we spent our 
    > spring time.
    >
    > OK, back to my studio where I am working my tail off to get a piece 
    > done today!
    > Lynda
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Ann at acunningham.com
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 9:08 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Lynda, Nice answer to craft and art. If someone who is reading 
    > this is still torn I wouldn't be surprised though since there are all 
    > sorts of shades in the continuum.
    >
    >
    > I was talking to my daughter and a friend one day. I went off on 
    > a tangent tangling all sorts of events together rather randomly. They 
    > started laughing and saying something akin to how do you make it from day 
    > to day. And I said you guys are pilots and for you to be a good pilot you 
    > know and follow rules. That is what they pay you for. I am an artist and I 
    > am paid to break the rules. No one wants to hear from me if it has already 
    > been done.
    >
    >
    > What did you teach before you retired? Ann
    >
    >
    > Ann Cunningham
    > Tactile Art - a creative way to see the world!
    > 303 238 4760
    > ann at acunningham.com
    > http://www.acunningham.com
    > http://www.sensationalbooks.com
    >
    >
    >
    > -------- Original Message --------
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    > Date: Fri, February 07, 2014 6:03 am
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > ?
    > Hi Laurie,
    > So nice to see you here. I did not start this group though, I 
    > am like you, I just came on to ask a question about something I needed to 
    > know and was so glad to meet Ann who helped me with my question. I am 
    > furiously working right now (oops, split that infinitive!) getting work 
    > done for the opening of a two-person exhibition at a museum - the show is 
    > called _Vision and Revision: Two artists with limited sight, not limited 
    > vision_ It is my pottery and mixed-media fiber works, and a legally blind 
    > painter. It opens one month from today, and if I stop to think about what 
    > else has to be done yet, I'll get nervous. So, I won't do that, but just 
    > will keep on working on the details. The show will appear at two locations 
    > this year and will have a video that plays in the gallery with the art 
    > works, Braille labeling, and artist's talks. I will even be teaching in 
    > the gallery one afternoon, for the Women in the Arts course at Geneva 
    > College. That is where I taught when I was a professor of fine arts and 
    > humanities, before I retired. I'll be lecturing on the historical context 
    > of my work and where the ideas have come from when creating it.
    >
    > To make matters even more difficult, I am scheduled to speak at 
    > a conference at Slippery Rock University of PA for two sessions, the day 
    > before we hang our show. So, I have those presentations to be working on 
    > every day now, too. I officially retired from teaching 5 1/2 years ago, 
    > but I am still very much involved in everything but being in the 
    > classroom.
    >
    > Here is my response to the question you have asked. The gap 
    > between an artist and a crafter is like crossing the ocean, it is that 
    > wide. Some basic things may be similar between the two, but most things 
    > are very far apart philisophically.
    >
    > Both work with the hands, and both love working with the hands 
    > and most have done it all their life.
    > Both love the materials, and the handling of them, and the 
    > satisfaction of the finished product that comes out of it.
    >
    > While the crafter will usually be satisfied with beginning 
    > something and knowing where the end will be, the artist begins with no 
    > notion of where the end will be or even if it will be. the crafter has a 
    > clearly defined path to the finished product. The artist has only some 
    > inklings of possible outcomes, but has to find them as she works.
    >
    > The other very big thing I see as a difference between them is 
    > that the crafter has 'rules" to follow and seldom will ever deviate from 
    > those rules, as they are set in stone in her mind. On the other hand, the 
    > mature artist has learned that there are no rules at all. They may begin 
    > in the early stages by learning techniques, but eventually with the years 
    > of working, the light comes on in her brain when she discovers one day - 
    > she is free of all rules when making art. Everything can be challenged, 
    > everything can be changed, and everything is fair game, for the artist. Is 
    > there any other profession in this world where there are no rules? It's 
    > the most exhilerating feeling to know that there are absolutely no rules 
    > whatsoever for me. Wow, makes me take a deep breath just to say it. Free, 
    > free, free, at last!
    >
    > Laurie, the biggest difference between art and a craft is where 
    > the person eventually takes the techniques, I think.
    >
    > A crafter seldom takes things to a different level but is 
    > usually content to learn something then duplicate it endlessly, then moves 
    > on to learn something else and does that again with it. The artist can 
    > take crafts materials (which is what you and I both do) and techniques, 
    > and then take them far beyond because they will combine their techniques 
    > and materials with the imagination. If you can teach it, it is usually a 
    > craft. If you cannot teach it, it is normally art. Art can begin by 
    > learning some techniques, or using craft materials, but then the person 
    > begins to ask the "what if" questions, and takes lots of risks, failures, 
    > and bends in the road on the way to it becoming a work of art. It is a 
    > "mind set" that is never satisfied with just the learning of something 
    > new, but one that constantly questions, experiments, and never knows where 
    > the "end" will be, or even if it will be. A "crafter" will never 
    > understand what I have just said and will most likely be huffing and 
    > puffing and angry with it. An "artist" is standing and applauding what I 
    > have said. It is that simple, and that complex. The artist thrives on 
    > change and making new discoveries and each work leads to other querstions 
    > and more change and more new discoveries.
    >
    > One can see the difference when you look at work in types of 
    > environments. One will be setting at a craft show with a table full of 
    > things that are basically all the same while the other will have work on 
    > display in a gallery or museum. Each has decided where they "fit" and 
    > each is very happy with where they are. They are different animals, with 
    > different ideas, and different end results and outcomes. Each one has 
    > decided their own path and each one is comfortable with the decision she 
    > has made.
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Laurie Porter
    > To: Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 7:26 PM
    > Subject: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Hi Folks:
    >
    > I?d like to introduce myself. I?m a blind person from 
    > wisconsin who is a fledgling and budding beginner artist. my medium is 
    > beadwork. I make pictures and tapestries out of tiny little seed beads 
    > sewn together with thread. but most of my work is in making jewlry, but I 
    > have always looked upon my beadwork as an art form.
    >
    > so, I have a basic question. What is the difference between 
    > an art and a craft? I do believe that all crafts are forms of art but are 
    > all arts considered crafts? Thanks linda and all of you for getting this 
    > list going as it is something I?ve always dreamed of seeing in our efforts 
    > to bring blind people together who love to both create and appreciate the 
    > visual arts.
    >
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
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    > ------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 2
    > Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2014 09:41:10 -0600
    > From: "Sahar's Beaded Creations" <sahar at inebraska.com>
    > To: "'An exploration of art by and for blind persons'"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] drawing the internal dialogue
    > Message-ID: <024c01cf24e4$31086190$931924b0$@inebraska.com>
    > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
    >
    > Hello, Lynda,
    >
    >
    >
    > I remember drawing as a small child, and I really think I would have been 
    > able to develop the skill had that skill been cultivated. I think that 
    > the teachers figured blind people couldn?t draw, so I don?t remember them 
    > involving us in that after Kindergarten. However, that?s not why I wrote. 
    > I wrote because I wondered if you?d ever heard of the totally blind 
    > Turkish painter, Asraf. Apparently, who can paint in vivid detail. I 
    > find that truly fascinating. He might be someone you might want to look 
    > up. Take care.
    >
    >
    >
    > Warm regards,
    >
    > Sahar Husseini
    >
    > For hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind jewelry, please visit my Website at 
    > <http://www.saharscreations.com> www.saharscreations.com Find me on 
    > Facebook at <http://www.facebook.com/saharscreations> 
    > www.facebook.com/saharscreations And remember, "Obstacles don't have to 
    > stop you.
    >
    > If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up.
    >
    > Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."
    >
    > Michael Jordan
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > From: Artists-making-art [mailto:artists-making-art-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
    > Behalf Of Lynda Lambert
    > Sent: Saturday, February 8, 2014 7:56 AM
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] drawing the internal dialogue
    >
    >
    >
    > Patricia, you bring up the most fascinating things. This is another one of 
    > those things that is so enjoyable to think about. Drawing! We do not need 
    > sight to draw, I am absolutely sure of that. In fact, in many of my 
    > drawing courses, I had students draw blindfolded. They had to feel the 
    > objects, then return to the easel to do their drawings. They could walk 
    > over to feel it as often as they liked during the process, but they were 
    > not permitted to have a physical "look" at it with the eyes. The drawings 
    > they made were astounding - so full of livingness and so magical. You are 
    > making me remember those things that I had not thought of for a very long 
    > time - and this is great for me because I am going to be a speaker at a 
    > conference on disabilities and inclusion in March, and this is exactly 
    > what I needed to be thinking about as I prep for that lecture.
    >
    >
    >
    > If anyone else has some examples of experiences for me, that I could share 
    > with the audience, please let me know. I want to really make my audience 
    > understand that blind people have the same passions for art and art making 
    > as anyone else. We just have to learn adaptive ways of working, but we can 
    > do it, and we love to do it and it brings us great joy.
    >
    >
    >
    > yes, I used Drawing From the Right Side of the Brain as a textbook for 
    > Drawing courses at the college! I also used "The Natural Way to Draw" by 
    > Nicolaides. I have worked my way through both of these books for years on 
    > end. Drawing is the core of everything we do as artists and without a good 
    > foundation in drawing, it's difficult to move on - it is the structure on 
    > which we build everything else no matter the medium we work with. Drawing 
    > puts us in touch with the internal dialogue and we become more aware and 
    > connected with the object we are drawing.
    >
    >
    >
    > The interesting thing about drawing, to me, has always been that all 
    > children seem to know how to draw by instinct. How does that "fit" in your 
    > experience, Patricia? I have never encountered a child who did not know 
    > how to draw and make pictures - I have always thought we are born with 
    > these abilities. I think a child born blind would have this same 
    > inclination, if provided with the tools and opportunities early on, but 
    > that is a guess on my part. I would love to know more about this by 
    > someone who has had the experience as a very small child without sight. 
    > Drawing is more, far more, than the thing that is left on the page after 
    > the person has made it. It is a whole body experience - physical and 
    > spiritual experience, in my experiences. So, it seems to me that no sight 
    > is needed to make drawings. I like to say, about my own work, that the 
    > "thing that is on display on the gallery wall is the residue left behind 
    > as I was making art." It is not the art itself, it is the tracks that 
    > show I was there. The art was what transpired within me as I worked on it 
    > and the piece in the gallery is the evidence that I was there.
    >
    >
    >
    > I have to say that without my extensive drawing background, I would not be 
    > who I am today as a blind person. I have a small amount of peripheral 
    > vision that is enough that I can detect movement. Those movements are 
    > "gestures" and it is through the gestures around me that I navigate the 
    > world and that I identify people and things. It is the essence of 
    > everything - gesture. When I am making my art these days, it is because I 
    > am accustomed to using gesture and can continue to do that without sight. 
    > Touch is gesture, and that is how I understand what I touch. I feel it's 
    > internal and external gesture.
    >
    >
    >
    > OH, that is so funny about your 5 year old's comment about using his "girl 
    > brain." This is what I found so fascinating when I was reading this book, 
    > that the entire structure of the brain is very different in males and 
    > females. Each individual part of the brain is different between the 
    > sexes - so it is a physical as well as psychological difference. She 
    > explored many different nuances that really helped me as a blind person as 
    > well, as I was reading. It gave me new insight into different aspects we 
    > encounter due to sight loss. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has 
    > interest in learning more about how the brain functions, and it is 
    > explored in a way that a non-science person like me coulnd understand and 
    > enjoy.
    >
    >
    >
    > This is all certainly another aspect of the discussion on difference 
    > between art and crafts thought process and ways of "seeing." Lynda
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    >
    > From: Patricia C. Estes <mailto:pece03 at gmail.com>
    >
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons 
    > <mailto:artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 8:54 PM
    >
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    >
    > Linda, the brain is so fascinating-or is it the mind?? My first real 
    > understanding of it (before I studied holistic psychology and energy 
    > medicine) was when our youngest was caught doing something or other that 
    > five year olds do, and he burst into tears and managed to blurt out 
    > emphatically, "My girl brain made me do it!"
    >
    > Yes, Luke, I know what you mean! But he didn't go to school, yet, and we 
    > didn't have a TV...I think he just *knew*.
    >
    > Dr. Christian Northrop teaches about the female brain, too. Her example is 
    > that she and her, then, husband were flying somewhere and she noticed that 
    > she was reading "Enriching the Mother/Daughter Relationship" and he was 
    > reading "How to get the most out of your Band Saw."
    >
    > To bring art into this, I am sure you are familiar with the book,"Drawing 
    > on the Right side of the Brain." Pretty fascinating, if one has time to 
    > complicate one's life by experimenting with drawing things upside down.
    >
    > Energetically, if you want to engage both hemispheres, Brain Gym says to 
    > "think of an X." And to relax the mind, think of two parallel lines.
    >
    >
    >
    > OK, I'm taking my parallel lines and heading to bed,
    >
    > Patty
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    >
    > From: Lynda Lambert <mailto:llambert at zoominternet.net>
    >
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons 
    > <mailto:artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 1:48 PM
    >
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    >
    > Patricia, I just finished reading the book "The Female Brain" by Luann 
    > Brizendine, and OH, HOw I wish I had this wonderful information a long 
    > time ago. Raising my brood of children would have been so much easier if I 
    > had known these things about the differences between male and female 
    > brains. And, my goodness, I would have been a much better teacher, too. I 
    > would have a better understanding of my fellow human beings - but at least 
    > I do understand a lot more about it now since reading this book. It was so 
    > enlightening to me and I was telling my husband all about it as we would 
    > ride along in the truck. One day he said to me, "I guess it is like this 
    > conversation we are having right now in this truck." This was his insight 
    > as I was rapidly sharing so much information as he sat quietly 
    > listening...lol I said, "Yes, now I understand this conversation here in 
    > this truck so much better." We laughed.
    >
    >
    >
    > Of course we are both crafters and artists - one feeds into the other. We 
    > all begin somewhere - and for me, it begins with my mother taking an 
    > afternoon to teach me how to do some embroidery stitches and to creat a 
    > picture on a linen tea towel - I was probably 8 years old. Then, it 
    > continues on with my precious neighbor taking an hour each morning, one 
    > summer, to teach me how to read a pattern and how to sew a blouse, skirt, 
    > and then an entire outfit - I was about 10. We learn from those around us, 
    > and how lucky we were to have them in our life. What I do today, is an 
    > homage to those women in my life so long ago. I celebrate them with every 
    > stitch I make in my art these days. And, I say "thank you" to them for 
    > giving me the beginnings of who I am today, and who I am becoming with 
    > each new day and each new idea I work with.
    >
    >
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    >
    >
    > http://www.amazon.com/Louann-Brizendine/e/B001H6RZB8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1391798400 
    > <http://www.amazon.com/Louann-Brizendine/e/B001H6RZB8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1391798400&sr=1-1> 
    > &sr=1-1
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    >
    > From: Patricia C. Estes <mailto:pece03 at gmail.com>
    >
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons 
    > <mailto:artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 1:26 PM
    >
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    >
    > Hooray for "outrageous and for all of you for taking the time to 
    > articulate these distinctions.
    >
    > I absolutely agree and have been an artist and crafter simultaneously. I 
    > am back to my art and love the discovery of it-but I will admit, my left 
    > brain does like rules and instructions-but my Girl Brain is winning! (no 
    > put down to Boy Brains, just a family joke).
    >
    >
    >
    > Right on! Right on, Linda!
    >
    > pece out
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    >
    > From: Lynda Lambert <mailto:llambert at zoominternet.net>
    >
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons 
    > <mailto:artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 11:44 AM
    >
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    >
    > Well, this is an outrageous conversation, I know. lol I better get back 
    > to the studio before I cause a riot, but this should be a good place for a 
    > discussion like this.
    >
    >
    >
    > That is great, Ann! So true. There is really not a fine line between the 
    > two, it is very clear and distinct. And artist or a crafter can take the 
    > exact same materials, but the mind that works with them is quite different 
    > and the results are quite different. It's really about "ideas" and 
    > "concepts" and what we are thinking about as we work, and where we go with 
    > the materials in our process of working. In Pittsburgh, PA there is a 
    > very fine museum/gallery called the Society of Contemporary Crafts - now, 
    > what is done there, and shown there is high art. So there is crafts and 
    > there is CRAFT, too. There is the "crafter" and there is the "Craftsman." 
    > very distinct differences between them - and as a sculptor you would be 
    > very aware of this, too.
    >
    >
    >
    > I was so fortunate to teach in a small private college (Geneva College, in 
    > western PA) where I was free to teach across disciplines, as I have my 
    > MFA in painting/printmaking, and my MA in English Literature. Because of 
    > this background, I was very marketable for a good position. I was able to 
    > create multi-discipline courses - alway a combination of literature and 
    > art, as well as studio courses in painting, fiber arts, printmaking, 
    > drawing. It was a dream of a job, working in interdisciplinary studies and 
    > doing so many projects with profs in other disciplines. I was very active 
    > in conferences on interdisciplinary studies. I created an European 
    > experience for art and literature students and we lived in Austria every 
    > summer and then traveled to other countries. I even had an art exhibition 
    > in Austria for my students every summer. They worked so hard in the 
    > studio and out on location every day, and at the end of the month they had 
    > a show - so much fun. I also did this with Puerto Rico, and students came 
    > to PR with me each spring as part of their course in Puerto Rico Culture - 
    > which I have continued to visit every March even though I am now retired. 
    > It bacame how we spent our spring time.
    >
    >
    >
    > OK, back to my studio where I am working my tail off to get a piece done 
    > today!
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    >
    > From: Ann at acunningham.com <mailto:Ann at acunningham.com>
    >
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons 
    > <mailto:artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 9:08 AM
    >
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    >
    > Lynda, Nice answer to craft and art. If someone who is reading this is 
    > still torn I wouldn't be surprised though since there are all sorts of 
    > shades in the continuum.
    >
    >
    >
    > I was talking to my daughter and a friend one day. I went off on a tangent 
    > tangling all sorts of events together rather randomly. They started 
    > laughing and saying something akin to how do you make it from day to day. 
    > And I said you guys are pilots and for you to be a good pilot you know and 
    > follow rules. That is what they pay you for. I am an artist and I am paid 
    > to break the rules. No one wants to hear from me if it has already been 
    > done.
    >
    >
    >
    > What did you teach before you retired? Ann
    >
    >
    >
    > Ann Cunningham
    >
    > Tactile Art - a creative way to see the world!
    >
    > 303 238 4760
    >
    > ann at acunningham.com <mailto:ann at acunningham.com>
    >
    > http://www.acunningham.com
    >
    > http://www.sensationalbooks.com
    >
    >
    >
    > -------- Original Message --------
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net 
    > <mailto:llambert at zoominternet.net> >
    > Date: Fri, February 07, 2014 6:03 am
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org ><mailto:artists-making-art at nfbnet.org> >
    >
    > ?
    >
    > Hi Laurie,
    >
    > So nice to see you here. I did not start this group though, I am like 
    > you, I just came on to ask a question about something I needed to know and 
    > was so glad to meet Ann who helped me with my question. I am furiously 
    > working right now (oops, split that infinitive!) getting work done for the 
    > opening of a two-person exhibition at a museum - the show is called 
    > _Vision and Revision: Two artists with limited sight, not limited vision_ 
    > It is my pottery and mixed-media fiber works, and a legally blind painter. 
    > It opens one month from today, and if I stop to think about what else has 
    > to be done yet, I'll get nervous. So, I won't do that, but just will keep 
    > on working on the details. The show will appear at two locations this year 
    > and will have a video that plays in the gallery with the art works, 
    > Braille labeling, and artist's talks. I will even be teaching in the 
    > gallery one afternoon, for the Women in the Arts course at Geneva College. 
    > That is where I taught when I was a professor of fine arts and humanities, 
    > before I retired. I'll be lecturing on the historical context of my work 
    > and where the ideas have come from when creating it.
    >
    >
    >
    > To make matters even more difficult, I am scheduled to speak at a 
    > conference at Slippery Rock University of PA for two sessions, the day 
    > before we hang our show. So, I have those presentations to be working on 
    > every day now, too. I officially retired from teaching 5 1/2 years ago, 
    > but I am still very much involved in everything but being in the 
    > classroom.
    >
    >
    >
    > Here is my response to the question you have asked. The gap between an 
    > artist and a crafter is like crossing the ocean, it is that wide. Some 
    > basic things may be similar between the two, but most things are very far 
    > apart philisophically.
    >
    >
    >
    > Both work with the hands, and both love working with the hands and most 
    > have done it all their life.
    >
    > Both love the materials, and the handling of them, and the satisfaction of 
    > the finished product that comes out of it.
    >
    >
    >
    > While the crafter will usually be satisfied with beginning something and 
    > knowing where the end will be, the artist begins with no notion of where 
    > the end will be or even if it will be. the crafter has a clearly defined 
    > path to the finished product. The artist has only some inklings of 
    > possible outcomes, but has to find them as she works.
    >
    >
    >
    > The other very big thing I see as a difference between them is that the 
    > crafter has 'rules" to follow and seldom will ever deviate from those 
    > rules, as they are set in stone in her mind. On the other hand, the mature 
    > artist has learned that there are no rules at all. They may begin in the 
    > early stages by learning techniques, but eventually with the years of 
    > working, the light comes on in her brain when she discovers one day - she 
    > is free of all rules when making art. Everything can be challenged, 
    > everything can be changed, and everything is fair game, for the artist. Is 
    > there any other profession in this world where there are no rules? It's 
    > the most exhilerating feeling to know that there are absolutely no rules 
    > whatsoever for me. Wow, makes me take a deep breath just to say it. Free, 
    > free, free, at last!
    >
    >
    >
    > Laurie, the biggest difference between art and a craft is where the person 
    > eventually takes the techniques, I think.
    >
    >
    >
    > A crafter seldom takes things to a different level but is usually content 
    > to learn something then duplicate it endlessly, then moves on to learn 
    > something else and does that again with it. The artist can take crafts 
    > materials (which is what you and I both do) and techniques, and then take 
    > them far beyond because they will combine their techniques and materials 
    > with the imagination. If you can teach it, it is usually a craft. If you 
    > cannot teach it, it is normally art. Art can begin by learning some 
    > techniques, or using craft materials, but then the person begins to ask 
    > the "what if" questions, and takes lots of risks, failures, and bends in 
    > the road on the way to it becoming a work of art. It is a "mind set" that 
    > is never satisfied with just the learning of something new, but one that 
    > constantly questions, experiments, and never knows where the "end" will 
    > be, or even if it will be. A "crafter" will never understand what I have 
    > just said and will most likely be huffing and puffing and angry with it. 
    > An "artist" is standing and applauding what I have said. It is that 
    > simple, and that complex. The artist thrives on change and making new 
    > discoveries and each work leads to other querstions and more change and 
    > more new discoveries.
    >
    >
    >
    > One can see the difference when you look at work in types of environments. 
    > One will be setting at a craft show with a table full of things that are 
    > basically all the same while the other will have work on display in a 
    > gallery or museum. Each has decided where they "fit" and each is very 
    > happy with where they are. They are different animals, with different 
    > ideas, and different end results and outcomes. Each one has decided their 
    > own path and each one is comfortable with the decision she has made.
    >
    >
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    >
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    >
    > From: Laurie Porter <mailto:free.spirit1 at live.com>
    >
    > To: Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org <mailto:Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 7:26 PM
    >
    > Subject: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    >
    > Hi Folks:
    >
    >
    >
    > I?d like to introduce myself. I?m a blind person from wisconsin who is a 
    > fledgling and budding beginner artist. my medium is beadwork. I make 
    > pictures and tapestries out of tiny little seed beads sewn together with 
    > thread. but most of my work is in making jewlry, but I have always looked 
    > upon my beadwork as an art form.
    >
    >
    >
    > so, I have a basic question. What is the difference between an art and a 
    > craft? I do believe that all crafts are forms of art but are all arts 
    > considered crafts? Thanks linda and all of you for getting this list going 
    > as it is something I?ve always dreamed of seeing in our efforts to bring 
    > blind people together who love to both create and appreciate the visual 
    > arts.
    >
    >
    > _____
    >
    >
    > _______________________________________________
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    > Artists-making-art:
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    >
    >
    > _____
    >
    >
    > _______________________________________________
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    >
    > _____
    >
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    > ------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 3
    > Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2014 11:28:45 -0500
    > From: "Patricia C. Estes" <pece03 at gmail.com>
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] drawing the internal dialogue
    > Message-ID: <FBEE8CE951524EB0A97347CAF39B9E92 at Wellness>
    > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
    >
    > Good morning,
    > Linda, I am glad to be of some "help" in your preparation!! I guess I 
    > needed a Job!
    > The discussions have been intriguing...in the sense that I am being 
    > reminded of things I already know. Everyone's input has been fun!
    > About drawing: APH has a tactile board for raised line drawings/math 
    > assignments, etc. This is what I would put in the hands of a blind 
    > child-the stylus can be used for lines and a type of "shading." And of 
    > course, it would also be useful for a blind child to do the same thing as 
    > a sighted child, as you mentioned: feel the object and draw it.
    > (OK, get ready, I digress a bit: This reminds me of the work I have done 
    > as an Infant Massage Instructor-there are certain, simple strokes that we 
    > teach the parents and the result is calming, of course ...well, unless 
    > said baby being massaged is done!... but one of the many objectives of 
    > this massage stroke is "to help the infant to organize his/her world." In 
    > this case:"These things are part of me...legs, arms...and this is me here 
    > and that is someone else over there." At which point the baby realizes 
    > that they are getting some undivided attention and they get all excited! 
    > And with a blind child, especially, or the newly blinded, this art 
    > exercise in observing one's world would be really helpful in sorting out, 
    > organizing and internalizing. But it would be helpful for *anyone* to do, 
    > and for the same reasons!)
    > I like that your intent is not to try to get students to experience what 
    > life is like as a blind person!! It is just an art play!
    >
    > OK...about drawing/sketching, I think that is as essential as learning the 
    > basics of music before playing in an orchestra. As much as we'd love to 
    > skip right over the practice sessions, that just is no other way. And I do 
    > think that there are "work arounds" for blind artists of any age who have 
    > never seen, to learn perspective and to share it. (Ann would know lots 
    > about this). Because of my background in classical sketching with my mom, 
    > I could branch out to design and suggest/gesture the images...like fashion 
    > design and even like impressionistic painting. Reducing the "story" to the 
    > most interesting lines/colors. (which will be different for each artist 
    > and viewer).
    >
    > Best wishes-
    > Patty
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Lynda Lambert
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2014 8:56 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] drawing the internal dialogue
    >
    >
    > Patricia, you bring up the most fascinating things. This is another one 
    > of those things that is so enjoyable to think about. Drawing! We do not 
    > need sight to draw, I am absolutely sure of that. In fact, in many of my 
    > drawing courses, I had students draw blindfolded. They had to feel the 
    > objects, then return to the easel to do their drawings. They could walk 
    > over to feel it as often as they liked during the process, but they were 
    > not permitted to have a physical "look" at it with the eyes. The drawings 
    > they made were astounding - so full of livingness and so magical. You are 
    > making me remember those things that I had not thought of for a very long 
    > time - and this is great for me because I am going to be a speaker at a 
    > conference on disabilities and inclusion in March, and this is exactly 
    > what I needed to be thinking about as I prep for that lecture.
    >
    > If anyone else has some examples of experiences for me, that I could 
    > share with the audience, please let me know. I want to really make my 
    > audience understand that blind people have the same passions for art and 
    > art making as anyone else. We just have to learn adaptive ways of working, 
    > but we can do it, and we love to do it and it brings us great joy.
    >
    > yes, I used Drawing From the Right Side of the Brain as a textbook for 
    > Drawing courses at the college! I also used "The Natural Way to Draw" by 
    > Nicolaides. I have worked my way through both of these books for years on 
    > end. Drawing is the core of everything we do as artists and without a good 
    > foundation in drawing, it's difficult to move on - it is the structure on 
    > which we build everything else no matter the medium we work with. Drawing 
    > puts us in touch with the internal dialogue and we become more aware and 
    > connected with the object we are drawing.
    >
    > The interesting thing about drawing, to me, has always been that all 
    > children seem to know how to draw by instinct. How does that "fit" in your 
    > experience, Patricia? I have never encountered a child who did not know 
    > how to draw and make pictures - I have always thought we are born with 
    > these abilities. I think a child born blind would have this same 
    > inclination, if provided with the tools and opportunities early on, but 
    > that is a guess on my part. I would love to know more about this by 
    > someone who has had the experience as a very small child without sight. 
    > Drawing is more, far more, than the thing that is left on the page after 
    > the person has made it. It is a whole body experience - physical and 
    > spiritual experience, in my experiences. So, it seems to me that no sight 
    > is needed to make drawings. I like to say, about my own work, that the 
    > "thing that is on display on the gallery wall is the residue left behind 
    > as I was making art." It is not the art itself, it is the tracks that 
    > show I was there. The art was what transpired within me as I worked on it 
    > and the piece in the gallery is the evidence that I was there.
    >
    > I have to say that without my extensive drawing background, I would not 
    > be who I am today as a blind person. I have a small amount of peripheral 
    > vision that is enough that I can detect movement. Those movements are 
    > "gestures" and it is through the gestures around me that I navigate the 
    > world and that I identify people and things. It is the essence of 
    > everything - gesture. When I am making my art these days, it is because I 
    > am accustomed to using gesture and can continue to do that without sight. 
    > Touch is gesture, and that is how I understand what I touch. I feel it's 
    > internal and external gesture.
    >
    > OH, that is so funny about your 5 year old's comment about using his 
    > "girl brain." This is what I found so fascinating when I was reading this 
    > book, that the entire structure of the brain is very different in males 
    > and females. Each individual part of the brain is different between the 
    > sexes - so it is a physical as well as psychological difference. She 
    > explored many different nuances that really helped me as a blind person as 
    > well, as I was reading. It gave me new insight into different aspects we 
    > encounter due to sight loss. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has 
    > interest in learning more about how the brain functions, and it is 
    > explored in a way that a non-science person like me coulnd understand and 
    > enjoy.
    >
    > This is all certainly another aspect of the discussion on difference 
    > between art and crafts thought process and ways of "seeing." Lynda
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Patricia C. Estes
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 8:54 PM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Linda, the brain is so fascinating-or is it the mind?? My first real 
    > understanding of it (before I studied holistic psychology and energy 
    > medicine) was when our youngest was caught doing something or other that 
    > five year olds do, and he burst into tears and managed to blurt out 
    > emphatically, "My girl brain made me do it!"
    > Yes, Luke, I know what you mean! But he didn't go to school, yet, and 
    > we didn't have a TV...I think he just *knew*.
    > Dr. Christian Northrop teaches about the female brain, too. Her example 
    > is that she and her, then, husband were flying somewhere and she noticed 
    > that she was reading "Enriching the Mother/Daughter Relationship" and he 
    > was reading "How to get the most out of your Band Saw."
    > To bring art into this, I am sure you are familiar with the 
    > book,"Drawing on the Right side of the Brain." Pretty fascinating, if one 
    > has time to complicate one's life by experimenting with drawing things 
    > upside down.
    > Energetically, if you want to engage both hemispheres, Brain Gym says 
    > to "think of an X." And to relax the mind, think of two parallel lines.
    >
    > OK, I'm taking my parallel lines and heading to bed,
    > Patty
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Lynda Lambert
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 1:48 PM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Patricia, I just finished reading the book "The Female Brain" by 
    > Luann Brizendine, and OH, HOw I wish I had this wonderful information a 
    > long time ago. Raising my brood of children would have been so much easier 
    > if I had known these things about the differences between male and female 
    > brains. And, my goodness, I would have been a much better teacher, too. I 
    > would have a better understanding of my fellow human beings - but at least 
    > I do understand a lot more about it now since reading this book. It was so 
    > enlightening to me and I was telling my husband all about it as we would 
    > ride along in the truck. One day he said to me, "I guess it is like this 
    > conversation we are having right now in this truck." This was his insight 
    > as I was rapidly sharing so much information as he sat quietly 
    > listening...lol I said, "Yes, now I understand this conversation here in 
    > this truck so much better." We laughed.
    >
    > Of course we are both crafters and artists - one feeds into the 
    > other. We all begin somewhere - and for me, it begins with my mother 
    > taking an afternoon to teach me how to do some embroidery stitches and to 
    > creat a picture on a linen tea towel - I was probably 8 years old. Then, 
    > it continues on with my precious neighbor taking an hour each morning, one 
    > summer, to teach me how to read a pattern and how to sew a blouse, skirt, 
    > and then an entire outfit - I was about 10. We learn from those around us, 
    > and how lucky we were to have them in our life. What I do today, is an 
    > homage to those women in my life so long ago. I celebrate them with every 
    > stitch I make in my art these days. And, I say "thank you" to them for 
    > giving me the beginnings of who I am today, and who I am becoming with 
    > each new day and each new idea I work with.
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > 
    > http://www.amazon.com/Louann-Brizendine/e/B001H6RZB8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1391798400&sr=1-1
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Patricia C. Estes
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 1:26 PM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Hooray for "outrageous and for all of you for taking the time to 
    > articulate these distinctions.
    > I absolutely agree and have been an artist and crafter 
    > simultaneously. I am back to my art and love the discovery of it-but I 
    > will admit, my left brain does like rules and instructions-but my Girl 
    > Brain is winning! (no put down to Boy Brains, just a family joke).
    >
    > Right on! Right on, Linda!
    > pece out
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Lynda Lambert
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 11:44 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Well, this is an outrageous conversation, I know. lol I better 
    > get back to the studio before I cause a riot, but this should be a good 
    > place for a discussion like this.
    >
    > That is great, Ann! So true. There is really not a fine line 
    > between the two, it is very clear and distinct. And artist or a crafter 
    > can take the exact same materials, but the mind that works with them is 
    > quite different and the results are quite different. It's really about 
    > "ideas" and "concepts" and what we are thinking about as we work, and 
    > where we go with the materials in our process of working. In Pittsburgh, 
    > PA there is a very fine museum/gallery called the Society of Contemporary 
    > Crafts - now, what is done there, and shown there is high art. So there is 
    > crafts and there is CRAFT, too. There is the "crafter" and there is the 
    > "Craftsman." very distinct differences between them - and as a sculptor 
    > you would be very aware of this, too.
    >
    > I was so fortunate to teach in a small private college (Geneva 
    > College, in western PA) where I was free to teach across disciplines, as 
    > I have my MFA in painting/printmaking, and my MA in English Literature. 
    > Because of this background, I was very marketable for a good position. I 
    > was able to create multi-discipline courses - alway a combination of 
    > literature and art, as well as studio courses in painting, fiber arts, 
    > printmaking, drawing. It was a dream of a job, working in 
    > interdisciplinary studies and doing so many projects with profs in other 
    > disciplines. I was very active in conferences on interdisciplinary 
    > studies. I created an European experience for art and literature 
    > students and we lived in Austria every summer and then traveled to other 
    > countries. I even had an art exhibition in Austria for my students every 
    > summer. They worked so hard in the studio and out on location every day, 
    > and at the end of the month they had a show - so much fun. I also did 
    > this with Puerto Rico, and students came to PR with me each spring as part 
    > of their course in Puerto Rico Culture - which I have continued to visit 
    > every March even though I am now retired. It bacame how we spent our 
    > spring time.
    >
    > OK, back to my studio where I am working my tail off to get a 
    > piece done today!
    > Lynda
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Ann at acunningham.com
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 9:08 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Lynda, Nice answer to craft and art. If someone who is reading 
    > this is still torn I wouldn't be surprised though since there are all 
    > sorts of shades in the continuum.
    >
    >
    > I was talking to my daughter and a friend one day. I went off 
    > on a tangent tangling all sorts of events together rather randomly. They 
    > started laughing and saying something akin to how do you make it from day 
    > to day. And I said you guys are pilots and for you to be a good pilot you 
    > know and follow rules. That is what they pay you for. I am an artist and I 
    > am paid to break the rules. No one wants to hear from me if it has already 
    > been done.
    >
    >
    > What did you teach before you retired? Ann
    >
    >
    > Ann Cunningham
    > Tactile Art - a creative way to see the world!
    > 303 238 4760
    > ann at acunningham.com
    > http://www.acunningham.com
    > http://www.sensationalbooks.com
    >
    >
    >
    > -------- Original Message --------
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    > Date: Fri, February 07, 2014 6:03 am
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > ?
    > Hi Laurie,
    > So nice to see you here. I did not start this group though, 
    > I am like you, I just came on to ask a question about something I needed 
    > to know and was so glad to meet Ann who helped me with my question. I am 
    > furiously working right now (oops, split that infinitive!) getting work 
    > done for the opening of a two-person exhibition at a museum - the show is 
    > called _Vision and Revision: Two artists with limited sight, not limited 
    > vision_ It is my pottery and mixed-media fiber works, and a legally blind 
    > painter. It opens one month from today, and if I stop to think about what 
    > else has to be done yet, I'll get nervous. So, I won't do that, but just 
    > will keep on working on the details. The show will appear at two locations 
    > this year and will have a video that plays in the gallery with the art 
    > works, Braille labeling, and artist's talks. I will even be teaching in 
    > the gallery one afternoon, for the Women in the Arts course at Geneva 
    > College. That is where I taught when I was a professor of fine arts and 
    > humanities, before I retired. I'll be lecturing on the historical context 
    > of my work and where the ideas have come from when creating it.
    >
    > To make matters even more difficult, I am scheduled to speak 
    > at a conference at Slippery Rock University of PA for two sessions, the 
    > day before we hang our show. So, I have those presentations to be working 
    > on every day now, too. I officially retired from teaching 5 1/2 years 
    > ago, but I am still very much involved in everything but being in the 
    > classroom.
    >
    > Here is my response to the question you have asked. The gap 
    > between an artist and a crafter is like crossing the ocean, it is that 
    > wide. Some basic things may be similar between the two, but most things 
    > are very far apart philisophically.
    >
    > Both work with the hands, and both love working with the 
    > hands and most have done it all their life.
    > Both love the materials, and the handling of them, and the 
    > satisfaction of the finished product that comes out of it.
    >
    > While the crafter will usually be satisfied with beginning 
    > something and knowing where the end will be, the artist begins with no 
    > notion of where the end will be or even if it will be. the crafter has a 
    > clearly defined path to the finished product. The artist has only some 
    > inklings of possible outcomes, but has to find them as she works.
    >
    > The other very big thing I see as a difference between them 
    > is that the crafter has 'rules" to follow and seldom will ever deviate 
    > from those rules, as they are set in stone in her mind. On the other hand, 
    > the mature artist has learned that there are no rules at all. They may 
    > begin in the early stages by learning techniques, but eventually with the 
    > years of working, the light comes on in her brain when she discovers one 
    > day - she is free of all rules when making art. Everything can be 
    > challenged, everything can be changed, and everything is fair game, for 
    > the artist. Is there any other profession in this world where there are no 
    > rules? It's the most exhilerating feeling to know that there are 
    > absolutely no rules whatsoever for me. Wow, makes me take a deep breath 
    > just to say it. Free, free, free, at last!
    >
    > Laurie, the biggest difference between art and a craft is 
    > where the person eventually takes the techniques, I think.
    >
    > A crafter seldom takes things to a different level but is 
    > usually content to learn something then duplicate it endlessly, then moves 
    > on to learn something else and does that again with it. The artist can 
    > take crafts materials (which is what you and I both do) and techniques, 
    > and then take them far beyond because they will combine their techniques 
    > and materials with the imagination. If you can teach it, it is usually a 
    > craft. If you cannot teach it, it is normally art. Art can begin by 
    > learning some techniques, or using craft materials, but then the person 
    > begins to ask the "what if" questions, and takes lots of risks, failures, 
    > and bends in the road on the way to it becoming a work of art. It is a 
    > "mind set" that is never satisfied with just the learning of something 
    > new, but one that constantly questions, experiments, and never knows where 
    > the "end" will be, or even if it will be. A "crafter" will never 
    > understand what I have just said and will most likely be huffing and 
    > puffing and angry with it. An "artist" is standing and applauding what I 
    > have said. It is that simple, and that complex. The artist thrives on 
    > change and making new discoveries and each work leads to other querstions 
    > and more change and more new discoveries.
    >
    > One can see the difference when you look at work in types of 
    > environments. One will be setting at a craft show with a table full of 
    > things that are basically all the same while the other will have work on 
    > display in a gallery or museum. Each has decided where they "fit" and 
    > each is very happy with where they are. They are different animals, with 
    > different ideas, and different end results and outcomes. Each one has 
    > decided their own path and each one is comfortable with the decision she 
    > has made.
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Laurie Porter
    > To: Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 7:26 PM
    > Subject: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Hi Folks:
    >
    > I?d like to introduce myself. I?m a blind person from 
    > wisconsin who is a fledgling and budding beginner artist. my medium is 
    > beadwork. I make pictures and tapestries out of tiny little seed beads 
    > sewn together with thread. but most of my work is in making jewlry, but I 
    > have always looked upon my beadwork as an art form.
    >
    > so, I have a basic question. What is the difference between 
    > an art and a craft? I do believe that all crafts are forms of art but are 
    > all arts considered crafts? Thanks linda and all of you for getting this 
    > list going as it is something I?ve always dreamed of seeing in our efforts 
    > to bring blind people together who love to both create and appreciate the 
    > visual arts.
    >
    > ----------------------------------------------------------------
    >
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    > ------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 4
    > Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2014 14:03:46 -0600
    > From: Laurie Porter <free.spirit1 at live.com>
    > To: <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] Artists-making-art Digest, Vol 16,
    > Issue 5
    > Message-ID: <BLU177-DS22E118870BD6FD8E1EEB3AD960 at phx.gbl>
    > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
    > reply-type=original
    >
    > Linda:
    >
    > thanks so much for this definition of the difference between art and 
    > craft.
    > I think I am now truly where I belong, and given this explanation, I know
    > now why I have never been satisfied with just finishing a crafting 
    > project.
    > I've always found it to be decidedly limiting in imagination, creativity 
    > and
    > origionality. .
    >
    > I have been so impressed with the messages I've read on this list so far.
    > It sounds like there is some wonderful energy on this listand am looking
    > forward read ing more.
    >
    >
    > -----Original Message----- 
    > From: artists-making-art-request at nfbnet.org
    > Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2014 6:00 AM
    > To: artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > Subject: Artists-making-art Digest, Vol 16, Issue 5
    >
    > Send Artists-making-art mailing list submissions to
    > artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
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    >
    > Today's Topics:
    >
    > 1. Re: arts or crafts new member (Lynda Lambert)
    > 2. Re: arts or crafts new member (Ann at acunningham.com)
    > 3. Re: arts or crafts new member (Jewel)
    > 4. Re: arts or crafts new member (Lynda Lambert)
    > 5. Re: arts or crafts new member (Lynda Lambert)
    > 6. Re: arts or crafts new member (Patricia C. Estes)
    > 7. Re: arts or crafts new member (Lynda Lambert)
    > 8. Re: arts or crafts new member (Patricia C. Estes)
    >
    >
    > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 1
    > Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2014 08:03:18 -0500
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > Message-ID: <6FA5C73038C44B4D9FE3E40F647EF6C7 at Lambert>
    > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
    >
    > Hi Laurie,
    > So nice to see you here. I did not start this group though, I am like 
    > you,
    > I just came on to ask a question about something I needed to know and was 
    > so
    > glad to meet Ann who helped me with my question. I am furiously working
    > right now (oops, split that infinitive!) getting work done for the opening
    > of a two-person exhibition at a museum - the show is called _Vision and
    > Revision: Two artists with limited sight, not limited vision_ It is my
    > pottery and mixed-media fiber works, and a legally blind painter. It opens
    > one month from today, and if I stop to think about what else has to be 
    > done
    > yet, I'll get nervous. So, I won't do that, but just will keep on working 
    > on
    > the details. The show will appear at two locations this year and will have 
    > a
    > video that plays in the gallery with the art works, Braille labeling, and
    > artist's talks. I will even be teaching in the gallery one afternoon, for
    > the Women in the Arts course at Geneva College. That is where I taught 
    > when
    > I was a professor of fine arts and humanities, before I retired. I'll be
    > lecturing on the historical context of my work and where the ideas have 
    > come
    > from when creating it.
    >
    > To make matters even more difficult, I am scheduled to speak at a 
    > conference
    > at Slippery Rock University of PA for two sessions, the day before we hang
    > our show. So, I have those presentations to be working on every day now,
    > too. I officially retired from teaching 5 1/2 years ago, but I am still
    > very much involved in everything but being in the classroom.
    >
    > Here is my response to the question you have asked. The gap between an
    > artist and a crafter is like crossing the ocean, it is that wide. Some 
    > basic
    > things may be similar between the two, but most things are very far apart
    > philisophically.
    >
    > Both work with the hands, and both love working with the hands and most 
    > have
    > done it all their life.
    > Both love the materials, and the handling of them, and the satisfaction of
    > the finished product that comes out of it.
    >
    > While the crafter will usually be satisfied with beginning something and
    > knowing where the end will be, the artist begins with no notion of where 
    > the
    > end will be or even if it will be. the crafter has a clearly defined path
    > to the finished product. The artist has only some inklings of possible
    > outcomes, but has to find them as she works.
    >
    > The other very big thing I see as a difference between them is that the
    > crafter has 'rules" to follow and seldom will ever deviate from those 
    > rules,
    > as they are set in stone in her mind. On the other hand, the mature artist
    > has learned that there are no rules at all. They may begin in the early
    > stages by learning techniques, but eventually with the years of working, 
    > the
    > light comes on in her brain when she discovers one day - she is free of 
    > all
    > rules when making art. Everything can be challenged, everything can be
    > changed, and everything is fair game, for the artist. Is there any other
    > profession in this world where there are no rules? It's the most
    > exhilerating feeling to know that there are absolutely no rules whatsoever
    > for me. Wow, makes me take a deep breath just to say it. Free, free, free,
    > at last!
    >
    > Laurie, the biggest difference between art and a craft is where the person
    > eventually takes the techniques, I think.
    >
    > A crafter seldom takes things to a different level but is usually content 
    > to
    > learn something then duplicate it endlessly, then moves on to learn
    > something else and does that again with it. The artist can take crafts
    > materials (which is what you and I both do) and techniques, and then take
    > them far beyond because they will combine their techniques and materials
    > with the imagination. If you can teach it, it is usually a craft. If you
    > cannot teach it, it is normally art. Art can begin by learning some
    > techniques, or using craft materials, but then the person begins to ask 
    > the
    > "what if" questions, and takes lots of risks, failures, and bends in the
    > road on the way to it becoming a work of art. It is a "mind set" that is
    > never satisfied with just the learning of something new, but one that
    > constantly questions, experiments, and never knows where the "end" will 
    > be,
    > or even if it will be. A "crafter" will never understand what I have just
    > said and will most likely be huffing and puffing and angry with it. An
    > "artist" is standing and applauding what I have said. It is that simple, 
    > and
    > that complex. The artist thrives on change and making new discoveries and
    > each work leads to other querstions and more change and more new
    > discoveries.
    >
    > One can see the difference when you look at work in types of environments.
    > One will be setting at a craft show with a table full of things that are
    > basically all the same while the other will have work on display in a
    > gallery or museum. Each has decided where they "fit" and each is very 
    > happy
    > with where they are. They are different animals, with different ideas, and
    > different end results and outcomes. Each one has decided their own path 
    > and
    > each one is comfortable with the decision she has made.
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Laurie Porter
    > To: Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 7:26 PM
    > Subject: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Hi Folks:
    >
    > I?d like to introduce myself. I?m a blind person from wisconsin who is a
    > fledgling and budding beginner artist. my medium is beadwork. I make
    > pictures and tapestries out of tiny little seed beads sewn together with
    > thread. but most of my work is in making jewlry, but I have always looked
    > upon my beadwork as an art form.
    >
    > so, I have a basic question. What is the difference between an art and a
    > craft? I do believe that all crafts are forms of art but are all arts
    > considered crafts? Thanks linda and all of you for getting this list going
    > as it is something I?ve always dreamed of seeing in our efforts to bring
    > blind people together who love to both create and appreciate the visual
    > arts.
    >
    >
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
    >
    > _______________________________________________
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    > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org
    > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
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    > ------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 2
    > Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2014 07:08:33 -0700
    > From: <Ann at acunningham.com>
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > Message-ID:
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    >
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    > ------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 3
    > Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2014 11:23:35 -0500
    > From: Jewel <herekittykat2 at gmail.com>
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > Message-ID:
    > <CABORmNtm3Wu6C=MnMC68NHdt1eSgDN2T1hyq7dvCWkbROEPn8A at mail.gmail.com>
    > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
    >
    > I absolutely loved this explanation of arts versus crafts. I was also
    > wondering the difference, so this really makes it clear to me. I do
    > polymer clay. While I start with an expectation that it will be some
    > sort of elephant or a horse or whatever, who knows what twists and
    > turns will happen along the way. By the way, I'm currently working on
    > a Harry Potter style house elf holding a tray that can hold business
    > ccards. The house elf is done, but the tray still needs to be
    > finished.
    > Jewel
    >
    > On 2/7/14, Ann at acunningham.com <Ann at acunningham.com> wrote:
    >> Lynda, Nice answer to craft and art. If someone who is reading this is
    >> still
    >> torn I wouldn't be surprised though since there are all sorts of shades 
    >> in
    >> the continuum.
    >>
    >> I was talking to my daughter and a friend one day. I went off on a 
    >> tangent
    >> tangling all sorts of events together rather randomly. They started
    >> laughing
    >> and saying something akin to how do you make it from day to day. And I
    >> said
    >> you guys are pilots and for you to be a good pilot you know and follow
    >> rules. That is what they pay you for. I am an artist and I am paid to
    >> break
    >> the rules. No one wants to hear from me if it has already been done.
    >>
    >> What did you teach before you retired? Ann
    >>
    >> Ann Cunningham
    >> Tactile Art - a creative way to see the world!
    >> 303 238 4760
    >> ann at acunningham.com
    >> http://www.acunningham.com
    >> http://www.sensationalbooks.com
    >>
    >>
    >>> -------- Original Message --------
    >>> Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >>> From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    >>> Date: Fri, February 07, 2014 6:03 am
    >>> To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    >>> <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >>>
    >>>
    >>> Hi Laurie,
    >>> So nice to see you here. I did not start this group though, I am like
    >>> you, I just came on to ask a question about something I needed to know
    >>> and
    >>> was so glad to meet Ann who helped me with my question. I am furiously
    >>> working right now (oops, split that infinitive!) getting work done for
    >>> the
    >>> opening of a two-person exhibition at a museum - the show is called
    >>> _Vision and Revision: Two artists with limited sight, not limited
    >>> vision_ It is my pottery and mixed-media fiber works, and a legally
    >>> blind
    >>> painter. It opens one month from today, and if I stop to think about 
    >>> what
    >>> else has to be done yet, I'll get nervous. So, I won't do that, but just
    >>> will keep on working on the details. The show will appear at two
    >>> locations
    >>> this year and will have a video that plays in the gallery with the art
    >>> works, Braille labeling, and artist's talks. I will even be teaching in
    >>> the gallery one afternoon, for the Women in the Arts course at Geneva
    >>> College. That is where I taught when I was a professor of fine arts and
    >>> humanities, before I retired. I'll be lecturing on the historical 
    >>> context
    >>> of my work and where the ideas have come from when creating it.
    >>>
    >>> To make matters even more difficult, I am scheduled to speak at a
    >>> conference at Slippery Rock University of PA for two sessions, the day
    >>> before we hang our show. So, I have those presentations to be working on
    >>> every day now, too. I officially retired from teaching 5 1/2 years ago,
    >>> but I am still very much involved in everything but being in the
    >>> classroom.
    >>>
    >>> Here is my response to the question you have asked. The gap between an
    >>> artist and a crafter is like crossing the ocean, it is that wide. Some
    >>> basic things may be similar between the two, but most things are very 
    >>> far
    >>> apart philisophically.
    >>>
    >>> Both work with the hands, and both love working with the hands and most
    >>> have done it all their life.
    >>> Both love the materials, and the handling of them, and the satisfaction
    >>> of
    >>> the finished product that comes out of it.
    >>>
    >>> While the crafter will usually be satisfied with beginning something and
    >>> knowing where the end will be, the artist begins with no notion of where
    >>> the end will be or even if it will be. the crafter has a clearly 
    >>> defined
    >>> path to the finished product. The artist has only some inklings of
    >>> possible outcomes, but has to find them as she works.
    >>>
    >>> The other very big thing I see as a difference between them is that the
    >>> crafter has 'rules" to follow and seldom will ever deviate from those
    >>> rules, as they are set in stone in her mind. On the other hand, the
    >>> mature
    >>> artist has learned that there are no rules at all. They may begin in 
    >>> the
    >>> early stages by learning techniques, but eventually with the years of
    >>> working, the light comes on in her brain when she discovers one day
    >>> - she is free of all rules when making art. Everything can be 
    >>> challenged,
    >>> everything can be changed, and everything is fair game, for the artist.
    >>> Is
    >>> there any other profession in this world where there are no rules? It's
    >>> the most exhilerating feeling to know that there are absolutely no rules
    >>> whatsoever for me. Wow, makes me take a deep breath just to say it. 
    >>> Free,
    >>> free, free, at last!
    >>>
    >>> Laurie, the biggest difference between art and a craft is where the
    >>> person
    >>> eventually takes the techniques, I think.
    >>>
    >>> A crafter seldom takes things to a different level but is usually 
    >>> content
    >>> to learn something then duplicate it endlessly, then moves on to learn
    >>> something else and does that again with it. The artist can take crafts
    >>> materials (which is what you and I both do) and techniques, and then 
    >>> take
    >>> them far beyond because they will combine their techniques and materials
    >>> with the imagination. If you can teach it, it is usually a craft. If 
    >>> you
    >>> cannot teach it, it is normally art. Art can begin by learning some
    >>> techniques, or using craft materials, but then the person begins to ask
    >>> the "what if" questions, and takes lots of risks, failures, and bends in
    >>> the road on the way to it becoming a work of art. It is a "mind set" 
    >>> that
    >>> is never satisfied with just the learning of something new, but one that
    >>> constantly questions, experiments, and never knows where the "end" will
    >>> be, or even if it will be. A "crafter" will never understand what I 
    >>> have
    >>> just said and will most likely be huffing and puffing and angry with it.
    >>> An "artist" is standing and applauding what I have said. It is that
    >>> simple, and that complex. The artist thrives on change and making new
    >>> discoveries and each work leads to other querstions and more change and
    >>> more new discoveries.
    >>>
    >>> One can see the difference when you look at work in types of
    >>> environments. One will be setting at a craft show with a table full of
    >>> things that are basically all the same while the other will have work 
    >>> on
    >>> display in a gallery or museum. Each has decided where they "fit" and
    >>> each is very happy with where they are. They are different animals, with
    >>> different ideas, and different end results and outcomes. Each one has
    >>> decided their own path and each one is comfortable with the decision she
    >>> has made.
    >>>
    >>> Lynda
    >>>
    >>> Lynda
    >>>
    >>>
    >>>>
    >>>> ----- Original Message -----
    >>>> From: Laurie Porter
    >>>> To: Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    >>>> Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 7:26 PM
    >>>> Subject: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >>>>
    >>>> Hi Folks:
    >>>>
    >>>> I'd like to introduce myself. I'm a blind person from wisconsin who is 
    >>>> a
    >>>> fledgling and budding beginner artist. my medium is beadwork. I make
    >>>> pictures and tapestries out of tiny little seed beads sewn together
    >>>> with
    >>>> thread. but most of my work is in making jewlry, but I have always
    >>>> looked
    >>>> upon my beadwork as an art form.
    >>>>
    >>>> so, I have a basic question. What is the difference between an art and 
    >>>> a
    >>>> craft? I do believe that all crafts are forms of art but are all arts
    >>>> considered crafts? Thanks linda and all of you for getting this list
    >>>> going as it is something I've always dreamed of seeing in our efforts 
    >>>> to
    >>>> bring blind people together who love to both create and appreciate the
    >>>> visual arts.
    >>>> ________________________________
    >>>> _______________________________________________
    >>>> Artists-making-art mailing list
    >>>> Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    >>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org
    >>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
    >>>> Artists-making-art:
    >>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org/llambert%40zoominternet.net
    >>>
    >>> ________________________________
    >>> _______________________________________________
    >>> Artists-making-art mailing list
    >>> Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    >>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org
    >>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
    >>> Artists-making-art:
    >>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org/ann%40acunningham.com
    >
    >
    >
    > ------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 4
    > Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2014 11:44:39 -0500
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > Message-ID: <00EE5DF7276148B7B8D3EE072C8258A0 at Lambert>
    > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
    >
    > Well, this is an outrageous conversation, I know. lol I better get back 
    > to
    > the studio before I cause a riot, but this should be a good place for a
    > discussion like this.
    >
    > That is great, Ann! So true. There is really not a fine line between the
    > two, it is very clear and distinct. And artist or a crafter can take the
    > exact same materials, but the mind that works with them is quite different
    > and the results are quite different. It's really about "ideas" and
    > "concepts" and what we are thinking about as we work, and where we go with
    > the materials in our process of working. In Pittsburgh, PA there is a 
    > very
    > fine museum/gallery called the Society of Contemporary Crafts - now, what 
    > is
    > done there, and shown there is high art. So there is crafts and there is
    > CRAFT, too. There is the "crafter" and there is the "Craftsman." very
    > distinct differences between them - and as a sculptor you would be very
    > aware of this, too.
    >
    > I was so fortunate to teach in a small private college (Geneva College, in
    > western PA) where I was free to teach across disciplines, as I have my 
    > MFA
    > in painting/printmaking, and my MA in English Literature. Because of this
    > background, I was very marketable for a good position. I was able to 
    > create
    > multi-discipline courses - alway a combination of literature and art, as
    > well as studio courses in painting, fiber arts, printmaking, drawing. It 
    > was
    > a dream of a job, working in interdisciplinary studies and doing so many
    > projects with profs in other disciplines. I was very active in 
    > conferences
    > on interdisciplinary studies. I created an European experience for art 
    > and
    > literature students and we lived in Austria every summer and then traveled
    > to other countries. I even had an art exhibition in Austria for my 
    > students
    > every summer. They worked so hard in the studio and out on location every
    > day, and at the end of the month they had a show - so much fun. I also 
    > did
    > this with Puerto Rico, and students came to PR with me each spring as part
    > of their course in Puerto Rico Culture - which I have continued to visit
    > every March even though I am now retired. It bacame how we spent our 
    > spring
    > time.
    >
    > OK, back to my studio where I am working my tail off to get a piece done
    > today!
    > Lynda
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Ann at acunningham.com
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 9:08 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Lynda, Nice answer to craft and art. If someone who is reading this is
    > still torn I wouldn't be surprised though since there are all sorts of
    > shades in the continuum.
    >
    >
    > I was talking to my daughter and a friend one day. I went off on a 
    > tangent
    > tangling all sorts of events together rather randomly. They started 
    > laughing
    > and saying something akin to how do you make it from day to day. And I 
    > said
    > you guys are pilots and for you to be a good pilot you know and follow
    > rules. That is what they pay you for. I am an artist and I am paid to 
    > break
    > the rules. No one wants to hear from me if it has already been done.
    >
    >
    > What did you teach before you retired? Ann
    >
    >
    > Ann Cunningham
    > Tactile Art - a creative way to see the world!
    > 303 238 4760
    > ann at acunningham.com
    > http://www.acunningham.com
    > http://www.sensationalbooks.com
    >
    >
    >
    > -------- Original Message --------
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    > Date: Fri, February 07, 2014 6:03 am
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > ?
    > Hi Laurie,
    > So nice to see you here. I did not start this group though, I am like
    > you, I just came on to ask a question about something I needed to know and
    > was so glad to meet Ann who helped me with my question. I am furiously
    > working right now (oops, split that infinitive!) getting work done for the
    > opening of a two-person exhibition at a museum - the show is called 
    > _Vision
    > and Revision: Two artists with limited sight, not limited vision_ It is 
    > my
    > pottery and mixed-media fiber works, and a legally blind painter. It opens
    > one month from today, and if I stop to think about what else has to be 
    > done
    > yet, I'll get nervous. So, I won't do that, but just will keep on working 
    > on
    > the details. The show will appear at two locations this year and will have 
    > a
    > video that plays in the gallery with the art works, Braille labeling, and
    > artist's talks. I will even be teaching in the gallery one afternoon, for
    > the Women in the Arts course at Geneva College. That is where I taught 
    > when
    > I was a professor of fine arts and humanities, before I retired. I'll be
    > lecturing on the historical context of my work and where the ideas have 
    > come
    > from when creating it.
    >
    > To make matters even more difficult, I am scheduled to speak at a
    > conference at Slippery Rock University of PA for two sessions, the day
    > before we hang our show. So, I have those presentations to be working on
    > every day now, too. I officially retired from teaching 5 1/2 years ago, 
    > but
    > I am still very much involved in everything but being in the classroom.
    >
    > Here is my response to the question you have asked. The gap between an
    > artist and a crafter is like crossing the ocean, it is that wide. Some 
    > basic
    > things may be similar between the two, but most things are very far apart
    > philisophically.
    >
    > Both work with the hands, and both love working with the hands and most
    > have done it all their life.
    > Both love the materials, and the handling of them, and the satisfaction
    > of the finished product that comes out of it.
    >
    > While the crafter will usually be satisfied with beginning something 
    > and
    > knowing where the end will be, the artist begins with no notion of where 
    > the
    > end will be or even if it will be. the crafter has a clearly defined path
    > to the finished product. The artist has only some inklings of possible
    > outcomes, but has to find them as she works.
    >
    > The other very big thing I see as a difference between them is that the
    > crafter has 'rules" to follow and seldom will ever deviate from those 
    > rules,
    > as they are set in stone in her mind. On the other hand, the mature artist
    > has learned that there are no rules at all. They may begin in the early
    > stages by learning techniques, but eventually with the years of working, 
    > the
    > light comes on in her brain when she discovers one day - she is free of 
    > all
    > rules when making art. Everything can be challenged, everything can be
    > changed, and everything is fair game, for the artist. Is there any other
    > profession in this world where there are no rules? It's the most
    > exhilerating feeling to know that there are absolutely no rules whatsoever
    > for me. Wow, makes me take a deep breath just to say it. Free, free, free,
    > at last!
    >
    > Laurie, the biggest difference between art and a craft is where the
    > person eventually takes the techniques, I think.
    >
    > A crafter seldom takes things to a different level but is usually
    > content to learn something then duplicate it endlessly, then moves on to
    > learn something else and does that again with it. The artist can take 
    > crafts
    > materials (which is what you and I both do) and techniques, and then take
    > them far beyond because they will combine their techniques and materials
    > with the imagination. If you can teach it, it is usually a craft. If you
    > cannot teach it, it is normally art. Art can begin by learning some
    > techniques, or using craft materials, but then the person begins to ask 
    > the
    > "what if" questions, and takes lots of risks, failures, and bends in the
    > road on the way to it becoming a work of art. It is a "mind set" that is
    > never satisfied with just the learning of something new, but one that
    > constantly questions, experiments, and never knows where the "end" will 
    > be,
    > or even if it will be. A "crafter" will never understand what I have just
    > said and will most likely be huffing and puffing and angry with it. An
    > "artist" is standing and applauding what I have said. It is that simple, 
    > and
    > that complex. The artist thrives on change and making new discoveries and
    > each work leads to other querstions and more change and more new
    > discoveries.
    >
    > One can see the difference when you look at work in types of
    > environments. One will be setting at a craft show with a table full of
    > things that are basically all the same while the other will have work on
    > display in a gallery or museum. Each has decided where they "fit" and 
    > each
    > is very happy with where they are. They are different animals, with
    > different ideas, and different end results and outcomes. Each one has
    > decided their own path and each one is comfortable with the decision she 
    > has
    > made.
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Laurie Porter
    > To: Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 7:26 PM
    > Subject: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Hi Folks:
    >
    > I?d like to introduce myself. I?m a blind person from wisconsin who 
    > is
    > a fledgling and budding beginner artist. my medium is beadwork. I make
    > pictures and tapestries out of tiny little seed beads sewn together with
    > thread. but most of my work is in making jewlry, but I have always looked
    > upon my beadwork as an art form.
    >
    > so, I have a basic question. What is the difference between an art 
    > and
    > a craft? I do believe that all crafts are forms of art but are all arts
    > considered crafts? Thanks linda and all of you for getting this list going
    > as it is something I?ve always dreamed of seeing in our efforts to bring
    > blind people together who love to both create and appreciate the visual
    > arts.
    >
    > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
    > _______________________________________________
    > Artists-making-art mailing list
    > Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org
    > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
    > Artists-making-art:
    > 
    > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org/llambert%40zoominternet.net
    >
    > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    > _______________________________________________
    > Artists-making-art mailing list
    > Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org
    > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
    > Artists-making-art:
    > 
    > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org/ann%40acunningham.com
    >
    >
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
    >
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    > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org
    > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
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    >
    > ------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 5
    > Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2014 11:47:54 -0500
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > Message-ID: <687BD2626016484AB96E97E715BA11BD at Lambert>
    > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
    > reply-type=original
    >
    > Yes, Jewell, the material does not matter - we can go any way we want to
    > with it. It is the ideas we work with that determine what will happen 
    > along
    > the way, plus allowing the medium to lead us - finding that "life of it's
    > own" that is there for us - a surprise or two along the way. Your project
    > sounds wonderful. Lynda
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: "Jewel" <herekittykat2 at gmail.com>
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 11:23 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    >>I absolutely loved this explanation of arts versus crafts. I was also
    >> wondering the difference, so this really makes it clear to me. I do
    >> polymer clay. While I start with an expectation that it will be some
    >> sort of elephant or a horse or whatever, who knows what twists and
    >> turns will happen along the way. By the way, I'm currently working on
    >> a Harry Potter style house elf holding a tray that can hold business
    >> ccards. The house elf is done, but the tray still needs to be
    >> finished.
    >> Jewel
    >>
    >> On 2/7/14, Ann at acunningham.com <Ann at acunningham.com> wrote:
    >>> Lynda, Nice answer to craft and art. If someone who is reading this is
    >>> still
    >>> torn I wouldn't be surprised though since there are all sorts of shades
    >>> in
    >>> the continuum.
    >>>
    >>> I was talking to my daughter and a friend one day. I went off on a
    >>> tangent
    >>> tangling all sorts of events together rather randomly. They started
    >>> laughing
    >>> and saying something akin to how do you make it from day to day. And I
    >>> said
    >>> you guys are pilots and for you to be a good pilot you know and follow
    >>> rules. That is what they pay you for. I am an artist and I am paid to
    >>> break
    >>> the rules. No one wants to hear from me if it has already been done.
    >>>
    >>> What did you teach before you retired? Ann
    >>>
    >>> Ann Cunningham
    >>> Tactile Art - a creative way to see the world!
    >>> 303 238 4760
    >>> ann at acunningham.com
    >>> http://www.acunningham.com
    >>> http://www.sensationalbooks.com
    >>>
    >>>
    >>>> -------- Original Message --------
    >>>> Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >>>> From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    >>>> Date: Fri, February 07, 2014 6:03 am
    >>>> To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    >>>> <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >>>>
    >>>>
    >>>> Hi Laurie,
    >>>> So nice to see you here. I did not start this group though, I am like
    >>>> you, I just came on to ask a question about something I needed to know
    >>>> and
    >>>> was so glad to meet Ann who helped me with my question. I am furiously
    >>>> working right now (oops, split that infinitive!) getting work done for
    >>>> the
    >>>> opening of a two-person exhibition at a museum - the show is called
    >>>> _Vision and Revision: Two artists with limited sight, not limited
    >>>> vision_ It is my pottery and mixed-media fiber works, and a legally
    >>>> blind
    >>>> painter. It opens one month from today, and if I stop to think about
    >>>> what
    >>>> else has to be done yet, I'll get nervous. So, I won't do that, but 
    >>>> just
    >>>> will keep on working on the details. The show will appear at two
    >>>> locations
    >>>> this year and will have a video that plays in the gallery with the art
    >>>> works, Braille labeling, and artist's talks. I will even be teaching in
    >>>> the gallery one afternoon, for the Women in the Arts course at Geneva
    >>>> College. That is where I taught when I was a professor of fine arts and
    >>>> humanities, before I retired. I'll be lecturing on the historical
    >>>> context
    >>>> of my work and where the ideas have come from when creating it.
    >>>>
    >>>> To make matters even more difficult, I am scheduled to speak at a
    >>>> conference at Slippery Rock University of PA for two sessions, the day
    >>>> before we hang our show. So, I have those presentations to be working 
    >>>> on
    >>>> every day now, too. I officially retired from teaching 5 1/2 years 
    >>>> ago,
    >>>> but I am still very much involved in everything but being in the
    >>>> classroom.
    >>>>
    >>>> Here is my response to the question you have asked. The gap between an
    >>>> artist and a crafter is like crossing the ocean, it is that wide. Some
    >>>> basic things may be similar between the two, but most things are very
    >>>> far
    >>>> apart philisophically.
    >>>>
    >>>> Both work with the hands, and both love working with the hands and most
    >>>> have done it all their life.
    >>>> Both love the materials, and the handling of them, and the satisfaction
    >>>> of
    >>>> the finished product that comes out of it.
    >>>>
    >>>> While the crafter will usually be satisfied with beginning something 
    >>>> and
    >>>> knowing where the end will be, the artist begins with no notion of 
    >>>> where
    >>>> the end will be or even if it will be. the crafter has a clearly
    >>>> defined
    >>>> path to the finished product. The artist has only some inklings of
    >>>> possible outcomes, but has to find them as she works.
    >>>>
    >>>> The other very big thing I see as a difference between them is that the
    >>>> crafter has 'rules" to follow and seldom will ever deviate from those
    >>>> rules, as they are set in stone in her mind. On the other hand, the
    >>>> mature
    >>>> artist has learned that there are no rules at all. They may begin in
    >>>> the
    >>>> early stages by learning techniques, but eventually with the years of
    >>>> working, the light comes on in her brain when she discovers one day
    >>>> - she is free of all rules when making art. Everything can be
    >>>> challenged,
    >>>> everything can be changed, and everything is fair game, for the artist.
    >>>> Is
    >>>> there any other profession in this world where there are no rules? It's
    >>>> the most exhilerating feeling to know that there are absolutely no 
    >>>> rules
    >>>> whatsoever for me. Wow, makes me take a deep breath just to say it.
    >>>> Free,
    >>>> free, free, at last!
    >>>>
    >>>> Laurie, the biggest difference between art and a craft is where the
    >>>> person
    >>>> eventually takes the techniques, I think.
    >>>>
    >>>> A crafter seldom takes things to a different level but is usually
    >>>> content
    >>>> to learn something then duplicate it endlessly, then moves on to learn
    >>>> something else and does that again with it. The artist can take crafts
    >>>> materials (which is what you and I both do) and techniques, and then
    >>>> take
    >>>> them far beyond because they will combine their techniques and 
    >>>> materials
    >>>> with the imagination. If you can teach it, it is usually a craft. If
    >>>> you
    >>>> cannot teach it, it is normally art. Art can begin by learning some
    >>>> techniques, or using craft materials, but then the person begins to ask
    >>>> the "what if" questions, and takes lots of risks, failures, and bends 
    >>>> in
    >>>> the road on the way to it becoming a work of art. It is a "mind set"
    >>>> that
    >>>> is never satisfied with just the learning of something new, but one 
    >>>> that
    >>>> constantly questions, experiments, and never knows where the "end" will
    >>>> be, or even if it will be. A "crafter" will never understand what I
    >>>> have
    >>>> just said and will most likely be huffing and puffing and angry with 
    >>>> it.
    >>>> An "artist" is standing and applauding what I have said. It is that
    >>>> simple, and that complex. The artist thrives on change and making new
    >>>> discoveries and each work leads to other querstions and more change and
    >>>> more new discoveries.
    >>>>
    >>>> One can see the difference when you look at work in types of
    >>>> environments. One will be setting at a craft show with a table full of
    >>>> things that are basically all the same while the other will have work
    >>>> on
    >>>> display in a gallery or museum. Each has decided where they "fit" and
    >>>> each is very happy with where they are. They are different animals, 
    >>>> with
    >>>> different ideas, and different end results and outcomes. Each one has
    >>>> decided their own path and each one is comfortable with the decision 
    >>>> she
    >>>> has made.
    >>>>
    >>>> Lynda
    >>>>
    >>>> Lynda
    >>>>
    >>>>
    >>>>>
    >>>>> ----- Original Message -----
    >>>>> From: Laurie Porter
    >>>>> To: Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    >>>>> Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 7:26 PM
    >>>>> Subject: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >>>>>
    >>>>> Hi Folks:
    >>>>>
    >>>>> I'd like to introduce myself. I'm a blind person from wisconsin who is
    >>>>> a
    >>>>> fledgling and budding beginner artist. my medium is beadwork. I make
    >>>>> pictures and tapestries out of tiny little seed beads sewn together
    >>>>> with
    >>>>> thread. but most of my work is in making jewlry, but I have always
    >>>>> looked
    >>>>> upon my beadwork as an art form.
    >>>>>
    >>>>> so, I have a basic question. What is the difference between an art and
    >>>>> a
    >>>>> craft? I do believe that all crafts are forms of art but are all arts
    >>>>> considered crafts? Thanks linda and all of you for getting this list
    >>>>> going as it is something I've always dreamed of seeing in our efforts
    >>>>> to
    >>>>> bring blind people together who love to both create and appreciate the
    >>>>> visual arts.
    >>>>> ________________________________
    >>>>> _______________________________________________
    >>>>> Artists-making-art mailing list
    >>>>> Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    >>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org
    >>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
    >>>>> Artists-making-art:
    >>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org/llambert%40zoominternet.net
    >>>>
    >>>> ________________________________
    >>>> _______________________________________________
    >>>> Artists-making-art mailing list
    >>>> Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    >>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org
    >>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
    >>>> Artists-making-art:
    >>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org/ann%40acunningham.com
    >>
    >> _______________________________________________
    >> Artists-making-art mailing list
    >> Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    >> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org
    >> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
    >> Artists-making-art:
    >> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org/llambert%40zoominternet.net
    >>
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > ------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 6
    > Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2014 13:26:55 -0500
    > From: "Patricia C. Estes" <pece03 at gmail.com>
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > Message-ID: <95E84F42EA7F4ADFA9DF888A9D45EA90 at Wellness>
    > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
    >
    > Hooray for "outrageous and for all of you for taking the time to 
    > articulate
    > these distinctions.
    > I absolutely agree and have been an artist and crafter simultaneously. I 
    > am
    > back to my art and love the discovery of it-but I will admit, my left 
    > brain
    > does like rules and instructions-but my Girl Brain is winning! (no put 
    > down
    > to Boy Brains, just a family joke).
    >
    > Right on! Right on, Linda!
    > pece out
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Lynda Lambert
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 11:44 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Well, this is an outrageous conversation, I know. lol I better get back
    > to the studio before I cause a riot, but this should be a good place for a
    > discussion like this.
    >
    > That is great, Ann! So true. There is really not a fine line between the
    > two, it is very clear and distinct. And artist or a crafter can take the
    > exact same materials, but the mind that works with them is quite different
    > and the results are quite different. It's really about "ideas" and
    > "concepts" and what we are thinking about as we work, and where we go with
    > the materials in our process of working. In Pittsburgh, PA there is a 
    > very
    > fine museum/gallery called the Society of Contemporary Crafts - now, what 
    > is
    > done there, and shown there is high art. So there is crafts and there is
    > CRAFT, too. There is the "crafter" and there is the "Craftsman." very
    > distinct differences between them - and as a sculptor you would be very
    > aware of this, too.
    >
    > I was so fortunate to teach in a small private college (Geneva College, 
    > in
    > western PA) where I was free to teach across disciplines, as I have my 
    > MFA
    > in painting/printmaking, and my MA in English Literature. Because of this
    > background, I was very marketable for a good position. I was able to 
    > create
    > multi-discipline courses - alway a combination of literature and art, as
    > well as studio courses in painting, fiber arts, printmaking, drawing. It 
    > was
    > a dream of a job, working in interdisciplinary studies and doing so many
    > projects with profs in other disciplines. I was very active in 
    > conferences
    > on interdisciplinary studies. I created an European experience for art 
    > and
    > literature students and we lived in Austria every summer and then traveled
    > to other countries. I even had an art exhibition in Austria for my 
    > students
    > every summer. They worked so hard in the studio and out on location every
    > day, and at the end of the month they had a show - so much fun. I also 
    > did
    > this with Puerto Rico, and students came to PR with me each spring as part
    > of their course in Puerto Rico Culture - which I have continued to visit
    > every March even though I am now retired. It bacame how we spent our 
    > spring
    > time.
    >
    > OK, back to my studio where I am working my tail off to get a piece done
    > today!
    > Lynda
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Ann at acunningham.com
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 9:08 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Lynda, Nice answer to craft and art. If someone who is reading this is
    > still torn I wouldn't be surprised though since there are all sorts of
    > shades in the continuum.
    >
    >
    > I was talking to my daughter and a friend one day. I went off on a
    > tangent tangling all sorts of events together rather randomly. They 
    > started
    > laughing and saying something akin to how do you make it from day to day.
    > And I said you guys are pilots and for you to be a good pilot you know and
    > follow rules. That is what they pay you for. I am an artist and I am paid 
    > to
    > break the rules. No one wants to hear from me if it has already been done.
    >
    >
    > What did you teach before you retired? Ann
    >
    >
    > Ann Cunningham
    > Tactile Art - a creative way to see the world!
    > 303 238 4760
    > ann at acunningham.com
    > http://www.acunningham.com
    > http://www.sensationalbooks.com
    >
    >
    >
    > -------- Original Message --------
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    > Date: Fri, February 07, 2014 6:03 am
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > ?
    > Hi Laurie,
    > So nice to see you here. I did not start this group though, I am 
    > like
    > you, I just came on to ask a question about something I needed to know and
    > was so glad to meet Ann who helped me with my question. I am furiously
    > working right now (oops, split that infinitive!) getting work done for the
    > opening of a two-person exhibition at a museum - the show is called 
    > _Vision
    > and Revision: Two artists with limited sight, not limited vision_ It is 
    > my
    > pottery and mixed-media fiber works, and a legally blind painter. It opens
    > one month from today, and if I stop to think about what else has to be 
    > done
    > yet, I'll get nervous. So, I won't do that, but just will keep on working 
    > on
    > the details. The show will appear at two locations this year and will have 
    > a
    > video that plays in the gallery with the art works, Braille labeling, and
    > artist's talks. I will even be teaching in the gallery one afternoon, for
    > the Women in the Arts course at Geneva College. That is where I taught 
    > when
    > I was a professor of fine arts and humanities, before I retired. I'll be
    > lecturing on the historical context of my work and where the ideas have 
    > come
    > from when creating it.
    >
    > To make matters even more difficult, I am scheduled to speak at a
    > conference at Slippery Rock University of PA for two sessions, the day
    > before we hang our show. So, I have those presentations to be working on
    > every day now, too. I officially retired from teaching 5 1/2 years ago, 
    > but
    > I am still very much involved in everything but being in the classroom.
    >
    > Here is my response to the question you have asked. The gap between 
    > an
    > artist and a crafter is like crossing the ocean, it is that wide. Some 
    > basic
    > things may be similar between the two, but most things are very far apart
    > philisophically.
    >
    > Both work with the hands, and both love working with the hands and
    > most have done it all their life.
    > Both love the materials, and the handling of them, and the
    > satisfaction of the finished product that comes out of it.
    >
    > While the crafter will usually be satisfied with beginning something
    > and knowing where the end will be, the artist begins with no notion of 
    > where
    > the end will be or even if it will be. the crafter has a clearly defined
    > path to the finished product. The artist has only some inklings of 
    > possible
    > outcomes, but has to find them as she works.
    >
    > The other very big thing I see as a difference between them is that
    > the crafter has 'rules" to follow and seldom will ever deviate from those
    > rules, as they are set in stone in her mind. On the other hand, the mature
    > artist has learned that there are no rules at all. They may begin in the
    > early stages by learning techniques, but eventually with the years of
    > working, the light comes on in her brain when she discovers one day - she 
    > is
    > free of all rules when making art. Everything can be challenged, 
    > everything
    > can be changed, and everything is fair game, for the artist. Is there any
    > other profession in this world where there are no rules? It's the most
    > exhilerating feeling to know that there are absolutely no rules whatsoever
    > for me. Wow, makes me take a deep breath just to say it. Free, free, free,
    > at last!
    >
    > Laurie, the biggest difference between art and a craft is where the
    > person eventually takes the techniques, I think.
    >
    > A crafter seldom takes things to a different level but is usually
    > content to learn something then duplicate it endlessly, then moves on to
    > learn something else and does that again with it. The artist can take 
    > crafts
    > materials (which is what you and I both do) and techniques, and then take
    > them far beyond because they will combine their techniques and materials
    > with the imagination. If you can teach it, it is usually a craft. If you
    > cannot teach it, it is normally art. Art can begin by learning some
    > techniques, or using craft materials, but then the person begins to ask 
    > the
    > "what if" questions, and takes lots of risks, failures, and bends in the
    > road on the way to it becoming a work of art. It is a "mind set" that is
    > never satisfied with just the learning of something new, but one that
    > constantly questions, experiments, and never knows where the "end" will 
    > be,
    > or even if it will be. A "crafter" will never understand what I have just
    > said and will most likely be huffing and puffing and angry with it. An
    > "artist" is standing and applauding what I have said. It is that simple, 
    > and
    > that complex. The artist thrives on change and making new discoveries and
    > each work leads to other querstions and more change and more new
    > discoveries.
    >
    > One can see the difference when you look at work in types of
    > environments. One will be setting at a craft show with a table full of
    > things that are basically all the same while the other will have work on
    > display in a gallery or museum. Each has decided where they "fit" and 
    > each
    > is very happy with where they are. They are different animals, with
    > different ideas, and different end results and outcomes. Each one has
    > decided their own path and each one is comfortable with the decision she 
    > has
    > made.
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Laurie Porter
    > To: Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 7:26 PM
    > Subject: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Hi Folks:
    >
    > I?d like to introduce myself. I?m a blind person from wisconsin who
    > is a fledgling and budding beginner artist. my medium is beadwork. I make
    > pictures and tapestries out of tiny little seed beads sewn together with
    > thread. but most of my work is in making jewlry, but I have always looked
    > upon my beadwork as an art form.
    >
    > so, I have a basic question. What is the difference between an art
    > and a craft? I do believe that all crafts are forms of art but are all 
    > arts
    > considered crafts? Thanks linda and all of you for getting this list going
    > as it is something I?ve always dreamed of seeing in our efforts to bring
    > blind people together who love to both create and appreciate the visual
    > arts.
    >
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
    > _______________________________________________
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    > Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org
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    >
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    >
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    >
    >
    > _______________________________________________
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    > ------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 7
    > Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2014 13:48:48 -0500
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > Message-ID: <0C82603A06C14829A1FDF9CA9822F0BB at Lambert>
    > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
    >
    > Patricia, I just finished reading the book "The Female Brain" by Luann
    > Brizendine, and OH, HOw I wish I had this wonderful information a long 
    > time
    > ago. Raising my brood of children would have been so much easier if I had
    > known these things about the differences between male and female brains.
    > And, my goodness, I would have been a much better teacher, too. I would 
    > have
    > a better understanding of my fellow human beings - but at least I do
    > understand a lot more about it now since reading this book. It was so
    > enlightening to me and I was telling my husband all about it as we would
    > ride along in the truck. One day he said to me, "I guess it is like this
    > conversation we are having right now in this truck." This was his insight
    > as I was rapidly sharing so much information as he sat quietly
    > listening...lol I said, "Yes, now I understand this conversation here in
    > this truck so much better." We laughed.
    >
    > Of course we are both crafters and artists - one feeds into the other. We
    > all begin somewhere - and for me, it begins with my mother taking an
    > afternoon to teach me how to do some embroidery stitches and to creat a
    > picture on a linen tea towel - I was probably 8 years old. Then, it
    > continues on with my precious neighbor taking an hour each morning, one
    > summer, to teach me how to read a pattern and how to sew a blouse, skirt,
    > and then an entire outfit - I was about 10. We learn from those around us,
    > and how lucky we were to have them in our life. What I do today, is an
    > homage to those women in my life so long ago. I celebrate them with every
    > stitch I make in my art these days. And, I say "thank you" to them for
    > giving me the beginnings of who I am today, and who I am becoming with 
    > each
    > new day and each new idea I work with.
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > http://www.amazon.com/Louann-Brizendine/e/B001H6RZB8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1391798400&sr=1-1
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Patricia C. Estes
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 1:26 PM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Hooray for "outrageous and for all of you for taking the time to
    > articulate these distinctions.
    > I absolutely agree and have been an artist and crafter simultaneously. I
    > am back to my art and love the discovery of it-but I will admit, my left
    > brain does like rules and instructions-but my Girl Brain is winning! (no 
    > put
    > down to Boy Brains, just a family joke).
    >
    > Right on! Right on, Linda!
    > pece out
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Lynda Lambert
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 11:44 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Well, this is an outrageous conversation, I know. lol I better get
    > back to the studio before I cause a riot, but this should be a good place
    > for a discussion like this.
    >
    > That is great, Ann! So true. There is really not a fine line between 
    > the
    > two, it is very clear and distinct. And artist or a crafter can take the
    > exact same materials, but the mind that works with them is quite different
    > and the results are quite different. It's really about "ideas" and
    > "concepts" and what we are thinking about as we work, and where we go with
    > the materials in our process of working. In Pittsburgh, PA there is a 
    > very
    > fine museum/gallery called the Society of Contemporary Crafts - now, what 
    > is
    > done there, and shown there is high art. So there is crafts and there is
    > CRAFT, too. There is the "crafter" and there is the "Craftsman." very
    > distinct differences between them - and as a sculptor you would be very
    > aware of this, too.
    >
    > I was so fortunate to teach in a small private college (Geneva College,
    > in western PA) where I was free to teach across disciplines, as I have my
    > MFA in painting/printmaking, and my MA in English Literature. Because of
    > this background, I was very marketable for a good position. I was able to
    > create multi-discipline courses - alway a combination of literature and 
    > art,
    > as well as studio courses in painting, fiber arts, printmaking, drawing. 
    > It
    > was a dream of a job, working in interdisciplinary studies and doing so 
    > many
    > projects with profs in other disciplines. I was very active in 
    > conferences
    > on interdisciplinary studies. I created an European experience for art 
    > and
    > literature students and we lived in Austria every summer and then traveled
    > to other countries. I even had an art exhibition in Austria for my 
    > students
    > every summer. They worked so hard in the studio and out on location every
    > day, and at the end of the month they had a show - so much fun. I also 
    > did
    > this with Puerto Rico, and students came to PR with me each spring as part
    > of their course in Puerto Rico Culture - which I have continued to visit
    > every March even though I am now retired. It bacame how we spent our 
    > spring
    > time.
    >
    > OK, back to my studio where I am working my tail off to get a piece 
    > done
    > today!
    > Lynda
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Ann at acunningham.com
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 9:08 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Lynda, Nice answer to craft and art. If someone who is reading this 
    > is
    > still torn I wouldn't be surprised though since there are all sorts of
    > shades in the continuum.
    >
    >
    > I was talking to my daughter and a friend one day. I went off on a
    > tangent tangling all sorts of events together rather randomly. They 
    > started
    > laughing and saying something akin to how do you make it from day to day.
    > And I said you guys are pilots and for you to be a good pilot you know and
    > follow rules. That is what they pay you for. I am an artist and I am paid 
    > to
    > break the rules. No one wants to hear from me if it has already been done.
    >
    >
    > What did you teach before you retired? Ann
    >
    >
    > Ann Cunningham
    > Tactile Art - a creative way to see the world!
    > 303 238 4760
    > ann at acunningham.com
    > http://www.acunningham.com
    > http://www.sensationalbooks.com
    >
    >
    >
    > -------- Original Message --------
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    > Date: Fri, February 07, 2014 6:03 am
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > ?
    > Hi Laurie,
    > So nice to see you here. I did not start this group though, I am
    > like you, I just came on to ask a question about something I needed to 
    > know
    > and was so glad to meet Ann who helped me with my question. I am 
    > furiously
    > working right now (oops, split that infinitive!) getting work done for the
    > opening of a two-person exhibition at a museum - the show is called 
    > _Vision
    > and Revision: Two artists with limited sight, not limited vision_ It is 
    > my
    > pottery and mixed-media fiber works, and a legally blind painter. It opens
    > one month from today, and if I stop to think about what else has to be 
    > done
    > yet, I'll get nervous. So, I won't do that, but just will keep on working 
    > on
    > the details. The show will appear at two locations this year and will have 
    > a
    > video that plays in the gallery with the art works, Braille labeling, and
    > artist's talks. I will even be teaching in the gallery one afternoon, for
    > the Women in the Arts course at Geneva College. That is where I taught 
    > when
    > I was a professor of fine arts and humanities, before I retired. I'll be
    > lecturing on the historical context of my work and where the ideas have 
    > come
    > from when creating it.
    >
    > To make matters even more difficult, I am scheduled to speak at a
    > conference at Slippery Rock University of PA for two sessions, the day
    > before we hang our show. So, I have those presentations to be working on
    > every day now, too. I officially retired from teaching 5 1/2 years ago, 
    > but
    > I am still very much involved in everything but being in the classroom.
    >
    > Here is my response to the question you have asked. The gap between
    > an artist and a crafter is like crossing the ocean, it is that wide. Some
    > basic things may be similar between the two, but most things are very far
    > apart philisophically.
    >
    > Both work with the hands, and both love working with the hands and
    > most have done it all their life.
    > Both love the materials, and the handling of them, and the
    > satisfaction of the finished product that comes out of it.
    >
    > While the crafter will usually be satisfied with beginning 
    > something
    > and knowing where the end will be, the artist begins with no notion of 
    > where
    > the end will be or even if it will be. the crafter has a clearly defined
    > path to the finished product. The artist has only some inklings of 
    > possible
    > outcomes, but has to find them as she works.
    >
    > The other very big thing I see as a difference between them is that
    > the crafter has 'rules" to follow and seldom will ever deviate from those
    > rules, as they are set in stone in her mind. On the other hand, the mature
    > artist has learned that there are no rules at all. They may begin in the
    > early stages by learning techniques, but eventually with the years of
    > working, the light comes on in her brain when she discovers one day - she 
    > is
    > free of all rules when making art. Everything can be challenged, 
    > everything
    > can be changed, and everything is fair game, for the artist. Is there any
    > other profession in this world where there are no rules? It's the most
    > exhilerating feeling to know that there are absolutely no rules whatsoever
    > for me. Wow, makes me take a deep breath just to say it. Free, free, free,
    > at last!
    >
    > Laurie, the biggest difference between art and a craft is where the
    > person eventually takes the techniques, I think.
    >
    > A crafter seldom takes things to a different level but is usually
    > content to learn something then duplicate it endlessly, then moves on to
    > learn something else and does that again with it. The artist can take 
    > crafts
    > materials (which is what you and I both do) and techniques, and then take
    > them far beyond because they will combine their techniques and materials
    > with the imagination. If you can teach it, it is usually a craft. If you
    > cannot teach it, it is normally art. Art can begin by learning some
    > techniques, or using craft materials, but then the person begins to ask 
    > the
    > "what if" questions, and takes lots of risks, failures, and bends in the
    > road on the way to it becoming a work of art. It is a "mind set" that is
    > never satisfied with just the learning of something new, but one that
    > constantly questions, experiments, and never knows where the "end" will 
    > be,
    > or even if it will be. A "crafter" will never understand what I have just
    > said and will most likely be huffing and puffing and angry with it. An
    > "artist" is standing and applauding what I have said. It is that simple, 
    > and
    > that complex. The artist thrives on change and making new discoveries and
    > each work leads to other querstions and more change and more new
    > discoveries.
    >
    > One can see the difference when you look at work in types of
    > environments. One will be setting at a craft show with a table full of
    > things that are basically all the same while the other will have work on
    > display in a gallery or museum. Each has decided where they "fit" and 
    > each
    > is very happy with where they are. They are different animals, with
    > different ideas, and different end results and outcomes. Each one has
    > decided their own path and each one is comfortable with the decision she 
    > has
    > made.
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Laurie Porter
    > To: Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 7:26 PM
    > Subject: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Hi Folks:
    >
    > I?d like to introduce myself. I?m a blind person from wisconsin
    > who is a fledgling and budding beginner artist. my medium is beadwork. I
    > make pictures and tapestries out of tiny little seed beads sewn together
    > with thread. but most of my work is in making jewlry, but I have always
    > looked upon my beadwork as an art form.
    >
    > so, I have a basic question. What is the difference between an 
    > art
    > and a craft? I do believe that all crafts are forms of art but are all 
    > arts
    > considered crafts? Thanks linda and all of you for getting this list going
    > as it is something I?ve always dreamed of seeing in our efforts to bring
    > blind people together who love to both create and appreciate the visual
    > arts.
    >
    > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
    > _______________________________________________
    > Artists-making-art mailing list
    > Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/artists-making-art_nfbnet.org
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    > for Artists-making-art:
    > 
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    >
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    >
    >
    > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
    >
    > _______________________________________________
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    >
    > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
    >
    > _______________________________________________
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    >
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
    >
    > _______________________________________________
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    >
    > ------------------------------
    >
    > Message: 8
    > Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2014 20:54:43 -0500
    > From: "Patricia C. Estes" <pece03 at gmail.com>
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > Message-ID: <35AF1D7D30354C14A11963A2A17E797B at Wellness>
    > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
    >
    > Linda, the brain is so fascinating-or is it the mind?? My first real
    > understanding of it (before I studied holistic psychology and energy
    > medicine) was when our youngest was caught doing something or other that
    > five year olds do, and he burst into tears and managed to blurt out
    > emphatically, "My girl brain made me do it!"
    > Yes, Luke, I know what you mean! But he didn't go to school, yet, and we
    > didn't have a TV...I think he just *knew*.
    > Dr. Christian Northrop teaches about the female brain, too. Her example is
    > that she and her, then, husband were flying somewhere and she noticed that
    > she was reading "Enriching the Mother/Daughter Relationship" and he was
    > reading "How to get the most out of your Band Saw."
    > To bring art into this, I am sure you are familiar with the book,"Drawing 
    > on
    > the Right side of the Brain." Pretty fascinating, if one has time to
    > complicate one's life by experimenting with drawing things upside down.
    > Energetically, if you want to engage both hemispheres, Brain Gym says to
    > "think of an X." And to relax the mind, think of two parallel lines.
    >
    > OK, I'm taking my parallel lines and heading to bed,
    > Patty
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Lynda Lambert
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 1:48 PM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Patricia, I just finished reading the book "The Female Brain" by Luann
    > Brizendine, and OH, HOw I wish I had this wonderful information a long 
    > time
    > ago. Raising my brood of children would have been so much easier if I had
    > known these things about the differences between male and female brains.
    > And, my goodness, I would have been a much better teacher, too. I would 
    > have
    > a better understanding of my fellow human beings - but at least I do
    > understand a lot more about it now since reading this book. It was so
    > enlightening to me and I was telling my husband all about it as we would
    > ride along in the truck. One day he said to me, "I guess it is like this
    > conversation we are having right now in this truck." This was his insight
    > as I was rapidly sharing so much information as he sat quietly
    > listening...lol I said, "Yes, now I understand this conversation here in
    > this truck so much better." We laughed.
    >
    > Of course we are both crafters and artists - one feeds into the other. We
    > all begin somewhere - and for me, it begins with my mother taking an
    > afternoon to teach me how to do some embroidery stitches and to creat a
    > picture on a linen tea towel - I was probably 8 years old. Then, it
    > continues on with my precious neighbor taking an hour each morning, one
    > summer, to teach me how to read a pattern and how to sew a blouse, skirt,
    > and then an entire outfit - I was about 10. We learn from those around us,
    > and how lucky we were to have them in our life. What I do today, is an
    > homage to those women in my life so long ago. I celebrate them with every
    > stitch I make in my art these days. And, I say "thank you" to them for
    > giving me the beginnings of who I am today, and who I am becoming with 
    > each
    > new day and each new idea I work with.
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > 
    > http://www.amazon.com/Louann-Brizendine/e/B001H6RZB8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1391798400&sr=1-1
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Patricia C. Estes
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 1:26 PM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Hooray for "outrageous and for all of you for taking the time to
    > articulate these distinctions.
    > I absolutely agree and have been an artist and crafter simultaneously. 
    > I
    > am back to my art and love the discovery of it-but I will admit, my left
    > brain does like rules and instructions-but my Girl Brain is winning! (no 
    > put
    > down to Boy Brains, just a family joke).
    >
    > Right on! Right on, Linda!
    > pece out
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Lynda Lambert
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 11:44 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Well, this is an outrageous conversation, I know. lol I better get
    > back to the studio before I cause a riot, but this should be a good place
    > for a discussion like this.
    >
    > That is great, Ann! So true. There is really not a fine line between
    > the two, it is very clear and distinct. And artist or a crafter can take 
    > the
    > exact same materials, but the mind that works with them is quite different
    > and the results are quite different. It's really about "ideas" and
    > "concepts" and what we are thinking about as we work, and where we go with
    > the materials in our process of working. In Pittsburgh, PA there is a 
    > very
    > fine museum/gallery called the Society of Contemporary Crafts - now, what 
    > is
    > done there, and shown there is high art. So there is crafts and there is
    > CRAFT, too. There is the "crafter" and there is the "Craftsman." very
    > distinct differences between them - and as a sculptor you would be very
    > aware of this, too.
    >
    > I was so fortunate to teach in a small private college (Geneva
    > College, in western PA) where I was free to teach across disciplines, as 
    > I
    > have my MFA in painting/printmaking, and my MA in English Literature.
    > Because of this background, I was very marketable for a good position. I
    > was able to create multi-discipline courses - alway a combination of
    > literature and art, as well as studio courses in painting, fiber arts,
    > printmaking, drawing. It was a dream of a job, working in 
    > interdisciplinary
    > studies and doing so many projects with profs in other disciplines. I was
    > very active in conferences on interdisciplinary studies. I created an
    > European experience for art and literature students and we lived in 
    > Austria
    > every summer and then traveled to other countries. I even had an art
    > exhibition in Austria for my students every summer. They worked so hard 
    > in
    > the studio and out on location every day, and at the end of the month they
    > had a show - so much fun. I also did this with Puerto Rico, and students
    > came to PR with me each spring as part of their course in Puerto Rico
    > Culture - which I have continued to visit every March even though I am now
    > retired. It bacame how we spent our spring time.
    >
    > OK, back to my studio where I am working my tail off to get a piece
    > done today!
    > Lynda
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Ann at acunningham.com
    > To: An exploration of art by and for blind persons
    > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 9:08 AM
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Lynda, Nice answer to craft and art. If someone who is reading this
    > is still torn I wouldn't be surprised though since there are all sorts of
    > shades in the continuum.
    >
    >
    > I was talking to my daughter and a friend one day. I went off on a
    > tangent tangling all sorts of events together rather randomly. They 
    > started
    > laughing and saying something akin to how do you make it from day to day.
    > And I said you guys are pilots and for you to be a good pilot you know and
    > follow rules. That is what they pay you for. I am an artist and I am paid 
    > to
    > break the rules. No one wants to hear from me if it has already been done.
    >
    >
    > What did you teach before you retired? Ann
    >
    >
    > Ann Cunningham
    > Tactile Art - a creative way to see the world!
    > 303 238 4760
    > ann at acunningham.com
    > http://www.acunningham.com
    > http://www.sensationalbooks.com
    >
    >
    >
    > -------- Original Message --------
    > Subject: Re: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    > From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
    > Date: Fri, February 07, 2014 6:03 am
    > To: "An exploration of art by and for blind persons"
    > <artists-making-art at nfbnet.org>
    >
    > ?
    > Hi Laurie,
    > So nice to see you here. I did not start this group though, I am
    > like you, I just came on to ask a question about something I needed to 
    > know
    > and was so glad to meet Ann who helped me with my question. I am 
    > furiously
    > working right now (oops, split that infinitive!) getting work done for the
    > opening of a two-person exhibition at a museum - the show is called 
    > _Vision
    > and Revision: Two artists with limited sight, not limited vision_ It is 
    > my
    > pottery and mixed-media fiber works, and a legally blind painter. It opens
    > one month from today, and if I stop to think about what else has to be 
    > done
    > yet, I'll get nervous. So, I won't do that, but just will keep on working 
    > on
    > the details. The show will appear at two locations this year and will have 
    > a
    > video that plays in the gallery with the art works, Braille labeling, and
    > artist's talks. I will even be teaching in the gallery one afternoon, for
    > the Women in the Arts course at Geneva College. That is where I taught 
    > when
    > I was a professor of fine arts and humanities, before I retired. I'll be
    > lecturing on the historical context of my work and where the ideas have 
    > come
    > from when creating it.
    >
    > To make matters even more difficult, I am scheduled to speak at a
    > conference at Slippery Rock University of PA for two sessions, the day
    > before we hang our show. So, I have those presentations to be working on
    > every day now, too. I officially retired from teaching 5 1/2 years ago, 
    > but
    > I am still very much involved in everything but being in the classroom.
    >
    > Here is my response to the question you have asked. The gap
    > between an artist and a crafter is like crossing the ocean, it is that 
    > wide.
    > Some basic things may be similar between the two, but most things are very
    > far apart philisophically.
    >
    > Both work with the hands, and both love working with the hands 
    > and
    > most have done it all their life.
    > Both love the materials, and the handling of them, and the
    > satisfaction of the finished product that comes out of it.
    >
    > While the crafter will usually be satisfied with beginning
    > something and knowing where the end will be, the artist begins with no
    > notion of where the end will be or even if it will be. the crafter has a
    > clearly defined path to the finished product. The artist has only some
    > inklings of possible outcomes, but has to find them as she works.
    >
    > The other very big thing I see as a difference between them is
    > that the crafter has 'rules" to follow and seldom will ever deviate from
    > those rules, as they are set in stone in her mind. On the other hand, the
    > mature artist has learned that there are no rules at all. They may begin 
    > in
    > the early stages by learning techniques, but eventually with the years of
    > working, the light comes on in her brain when she discovers one day - she 
    > is
    > free of all rules when making art. Everything can be challenged, 
    > everything
    > can be changed, and everything is fair game, for the artist. Is there any
    > other profession in this world where there are no rules? It's the most
    > exhilerating feeling to know that there are absolutely no rules whatsoever
    > for me. Wow, makes me take a deep breath just to say it. Free, free, free,
    > at last!
    >
    > Laurie, the biggest difference between art and a craft is where
    > the person eventually takes the techniques, I think.
    >
    > A crafter seldom takes things to a different level but is usually
    > content to learn something then duplicate it endlessly, then moves on to
    > learn something else and does that again with it. The artist can take 
    > crafts
    > materials (which is what you and I both do) and techniques, and then take
    > them far beyond because they will combine their techniques and materials
    > with the imagination. If you can teach it, it is usually a craft. If you
    > cannot teach it, it is normally art. Art can begin by learning some
    > techniques, or using craft materials, but then the person begins to ask 
    > the
    > "what if" questions, and takes lots of risks, failures, and bends in the
    > road on the way to it becoming a work of art. It is a "mind set" that is
    > never satisfied with just the learning of something new, but one that
    > constantly questions, experiments, and never knows where the "end" will 
    > be,
    > or even if it will be. A "crafter" will never understand what I have just
    > said and will most likely be huffing and puffing and angry with it. An
    > "artist" is standing and applauding what I have said. It is that simple, 
    > and
    > that complex. The artist thrives on change and making new discoveries and
    > each work leads to other querstions and more change and more new
    > discoveries.
    >
    > One can see the difference when you look at work in types of
    > environments. One will be setting at a craft show with a table full of
    > things that are basically all the same while the other will have work on
    > display in a gallery or museum. Each has decided where they "fit" and 
    > each
    > is very happy with where they are. They are different animals, with
    > different ideas, and different end results and outcomes. Each one has
    > decided their own path and each one is comfortable with the decision she 
    > has
    > made.
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    > Lynda
    >
    >
    > ----- Original Message ----- 
    > From: Laurie Porter
    > To: Artists-making-art at nfbnet.org
    > Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 7:26 PM
    > Subject: [Artists-making-art] arts or crafts new member
    >
    >
    > Hi Folks:
    >
    > I?d like to introduce myself. I?m a blind person from wisconsin
    > who is a fledgling and budding beginner artist. my medium is beadwork. I
    > make pictures and tapestries out of tiny little seed beads sewn together
    > with thread. but most of my work is in making jewlry, but I have always
    > looked upon my beadwork as an art form.
    >
    > so, I have a basic question. What is the difference between an
    > art and a craft? I do believe that all crafts are forms of art but are 
    > all
    > arts considered crafts? Thanks linda and all of you for getting this list
    > going as it is something I?ve always dreamed of seeing in our efforts to
    > bring blind people together who love to both create and appreciate the
    > visual arts.
    >
    > --------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
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