>>> Item number 26238 from WRITERS LOG9402C --- (45 records) ----- <<<
Date:         Tue, 22 Feb 1994 10:24:41 JST
Reply-To:     WRITERS <WRITERS@NDSUVM1.BITNET>
Sender:       WRITERS <WRITERS@NDSUVM1.BITNET>
From:         Mike Barker <barker@AEGIS.OR.JP>
Subject:      TECH:  Another Slice at Art

(Since I'm getting newt's responses to Roger's crits that I don't see
until later and other strange anachronisms in the flow from writers, I
assume there may be some comments on my "definition" out there... but
I'm going to add this comment on my own before I get your comments, just
for anachronistic completeness...)

Empathy tends to be valued for being the ability or faculty of
"bypassing" the normal communication channels and "reading" the other
person - to some extent despite what they may be saying.  The person who
listens to someone order coffee and says, "I see you're upset.  Trouble
with your S.O.?" and proceeds to ask, comment, and in time help with the
hidden fears and problems that others never notice - that's the person
with empathy.

I see art as the complement to this.  Instead of "reading" the other
person, the artist is the one who "writes" (or draws, composes, etc.)
onto our lives.  The words, the techniques, are the same ones that other
people use, but somehow there is more there than the basics.  This is
the person who in doing their art illuminates parts of our lives that we
may never even have seen before.

So, I suppose, I see art as something that comes from the heart and
speaks directly to other lives - whether the words are clear and smooth
or rough and chosen ill, the artist makes them do more work than one
would think possible.  Admittedly, I think the artist can improve their
work by study and careful use of the technique - but in some ways that
isn't really important for them.

(did everyone disappear on a break or something?  hiding behind the
couch again?  you just got back from Christmas/New Year's - how can you
have another break so fast?  that's okay - you leave the list open, and
I'll have fun shadowboxing with myself for a while... just don't turn
out the lights on your way out, please?)

I sure am glad I don't have an aesthetic theory to protect - while I
like what I'm saying, and believe it, I think it would be an absolute
horror to pin down in a philosophical rigorous way...

tink