With sewing, I spent my childhood trying to make things and not doing a very convincing job of it, gradually figuring out what went wrong, learning how to use patterns, observing how things are constructed, and lots of trial and error before I was able to create my own designs and make them work.

Whether or not I have above average creative or musical talent means nothing to me; the time and effort I spent learning how to do what I can do is something I can take credit for. That I grew up in an environment where I was able to explore creative pursuits is something my parents can take credit for. Innate talent gets you nowhere by itself.

Incidentally, one comparison I have often heard between American approaches to music education and Asian approaches is that Americans see musical talent as something that you are either born with or not; whereas Asian cultures see musical ability as learned skills that you acquire through hard work. Needless to say, you set your educational priorities differently when you believe that you teaching a learnable skill than you do when you believe that you are just trying to bring out talent where it already exists and wasting time where it doesn’t. But that’s why we have so many little Chinese kids busting out violin concertos, and not little American kids.

Well, a good friend of mine pointed out 2 years ago that there are MANY types of artistry. That one can be a cartesian artist, and that I shouldn’t be ashamed of that arty part of me.

Lots of us tend to put people – and ourselves – in rigid compartments, cataloguing persons from their job descriptions, looks or bank accounts… Craftsmanship, fit and purpose are sadly seldom recognized by the masses, but so very important in the end. I’m not as eloquent in English as others were here before me, but I share Juliette’s and 3KillerBs’ views wholeheartedly.

I agree with 3KillerBs about that the sort of modern art. It leaves me completely unmoved, probably because I can’t see the exercise of skill in it. Artistic vision comes to nothing without the technical skills and discipline to express that vision. I value both the artistic vision and technical skills that are used to express it.

At a wedding, I once met a jeweller who was wearing several million dollars worth of jewelery that he had made. He sparkled and clanked and glittered gorgeously with his stunning original designs – I was quite overwhelmed by it. I said to him “I know nothing about art but I understand craftsmanship and your work is beautiful.” He was delighted. It was the truest and highest compliment that I could give him. And he complimented me on the outfit I was wearing, which I had sewn. He mentionned both the design and the techniques I had used to make it – he knew very well that skills and creativity go together.

Creativity is also expressed in the creation of practical ie non-artistic objects. I’ve seen elegant creative design in railroad maintenance equipment, aircraft propellors, scissor handles, roof trusses, vacuum cleaners. The sheer ingenuity of people delights me – and you can see it everywhere if your eye is tuned for it.

I am a technical writer and I find the writing of software documentation to be very creative, even though the documentation serves a practical purpose rather than an artistic one. This kind of writing has restrictions that are imposed by the purpose of the document, the needs of the reader, the conventions of technical writing, the delivery medium, and many others. It takes great creativity to remain within those restrictions and write documentation that is clear, simple, unambiguous and (I hope) elegant.

People who work in non-technical fields might be unaware that technical work is often creative as well as practical.

And I grit my teeth and want to scream every time I see praise for “transgressive” artists (though they soil the word by their existence), whose “works” resemble nothing so much as the results of a toddler throwing a tantrum in a trash pile.

I suppose that the fashion equivalent are the designers who, instead of clothing a woman beautifully and fittingly for a given activity rely on the supposed shock value of exposing her flesh and emphasizing, in the most degrading way, her sexuality (which, due to the sheer awfulness of the “design” often ends up making her either seem either neutered or actively repulsive rather than desirable).

Hurray for taste! Hurray for beauty! Hurray for fitness of purpose, for elegance of design, and for daring to embrace the search for truth as we do the work of the day.