I can only speak for myself and I say, "Absolutely" This is my art form, words come, not just from, but through me, inspired.
From where I sit, over here, the urge to express with words on a page feels quite like the urge the urge to employ any other form of creative/artistic expression. Sometimes I play with words molding them into what may fit loosely into a something called "poetry." In this play, how the words look on the page is a much a visual art as it is literary.
I'm a non-fiction writer, and I consider myself an artist. I create something that is meant to inform and inspire emotion. It's a lot like collage (which I also do).
I believe it is, anytime we are able to take ordinary events and weave them into a pattern of words and phrases that is capable of evoking human emotion, we have created art.
I kind of waffle back and forth about whether I'm an artist at all, in any aspect of my life, even though my current primary job title is "fiber artist" — go figure. But I feel being an artist is partly about self-identification — which you might agree with to some extent, from the way you phrased the question? ;) And so when I don't self-identify as an artist due to feeling a consistent lack of creative energy, maybe I'm not an artist.
On the other hand, calling myself "not an artist" really strikes me as wrong. So HMMM. Maybe I'm like a nonpracticing artist during those times when I don't really identify strongly with the word. ;)
As for the question of whether I identify writing with art, writers with artists: To me, writing effectively and powerfully is certainly an art, and therefore writers can certainly be artists. That said, I tend not to actively be thinking of them (us) when I use the word; I usually have a broad array of visual artists in mind when I use that term. If someone were to refer to me as an artist in relation to my writing, I think it would amuse me rather than prompting me to correct anything. But I guess, in my head, "writer" is more appropriately a subset of "creative people" vs. a subset of "artist." I think the same way of Web designers and architects and actors. Not that they can't be artists, and not that what they do isn't an art, but it's partly a question of intent.
At the root of it, the issue for me is that not everyone who does a given creative thing does it effectively and powerfully — or even seeks to do so. IMO art needs to have the potential to communicate powerfully to those who witness it, and there are people who always perform their creative works without inspiration or the potential for powerful communication, and some of them, though it may sound odd, aren't aiming to inspire or evoke anything powerful. Those people, to me, are not artists. There are those who treat writing more as a craft than an art, who are more artisans than artists — that's a perfectly valid way to approach it, IMO, and I respect those people's hard work as much as I respect the work of those who strive to make writing an art.
So, er, yeah. My long-winded babbling boils down to: Am I an artist? Is any other writer an artist? It depends. ;)
A couple days ago, a member asked me what is was like to put my very personal artwork online where everyone can see it.
It takes courage but writing is just as scary. You re-live things, sometimes dark, painful events.
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I can only speak for myself and I say, "Absolutely" This is my art form, words come, not just from, but through me, inspired.
From where I sit, over here, the urge to express with words on a page feels quite like the urge the urge to employ any other form of creative/artistic expression. Sometimes I play with words molding them into what may fit loosely into a something called "poetry." In this play, how the words look on the page is a much a visual art as it is literary.
So...there you go.
Cheers
Jean Marie
I believe it is, anytime we are able to take ordinary events and weave them into a pattern of words and phrases that is capable of evoking human emotion, we have created art.
On the other hand, calling myself "not an artist" really strikes me as wrong. So HMMM. Maybe I'm like a nonpracticing artist during those times when I don't really identify strongly with the word. ;)
As for the question of whether I identify writing with art, writers with artists: To me, writing effectively and powerfully is certainly an art, and therefore writers can certainly be artists. That said, I tend not to actively be thinking of them (us) when I use the word; I usually have a broad array of visual artists in mind when I use that term. If someone were to refer to me as an artist in relation to my writing, I think it would amuse me rather than prompting me to correct anything. But I guess, in my head, "writer" is more appropriately a subset of "creative people" vs. a subset of "artist." I think the same way of Web designers and architects and actors. Not that they can't be artists, and not that what they do isn't an art, but it's partly a question of intent.
At the root of it, the issue for me is that not everyone who does a given creative thing does it effectively and powerfully — or even seeks to do so. IMO art needs to have the potential to communicate powerfully to those who witness it, and there are people who always perform their creative works without inspiration or the potential for powerful communication, and some of them, though it may sound odd, aren't aiming to inspire or evoke anything powerful. Those people, to me, are not artists. There are those who treat writing more as a craft than an art, who are more artisans than artists — that's a perfectly valid way to approach it, IMO, and I respect those people's hard work as much as I respect the work of those who strive to make writing an art.
So, er, yeah. My long-winded babbling boils down to: Am I an artist? Is any other writer an artist? It depends. ;)