halfway

(nytimes again)
To the Editor:

Yes, writing clean English sentences is a learned craft. And like any other craft, it requires practice and guidance. But what student, confronted with contemporary popular artists of all stripes, wants to be a craftsperson?

As long as artistry is perceived as celebrity, and not the embodiment of art, the acquisition of skills is less necessary than an ability to generate clever ideas.

Yet artistry is more likely to arise from craft than craft is to arise from artistry. As I've told my students, "You can't deconstruct before you learn how to construct."

Mark Rosenblatt
Brooklyn, May 31, 2005

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ahhhh, artists : )