I believe there are very few people in the world with true taste. So much trashy junk is made and called art or crafts. I'm referring to things that most would call "cute" rather than beautiful and necessary. The crafts considered "Country" especially are distasteful and I don't understand the appeal. Why do people like this JUNK. It simply makes our society an arena for displaying TRASH!

What a narrow mind. What is beautiful to me may be trash to you!

I feel sorry for people like you...perhaps if you focussed on your own presentation rather than your neighbor's, you might not be so compelled to criticize trivial differences in taste. From your harsh comment you portrayed yourself as a pompus jerk

Bringbackclass is right. There is a tendency to stick the 'Arts & Crafts' label on all manner of objects. If one calls a hog a gazelle, that doesn't make it so. It is not about trivial differences in taste, it is about less than honest advertising. Particle board Mission furniture anyone?

Its okay to give an honest opinion, but don't be so one-mineded. It is not nessisary to provoke such a perspective if it is not universal. Art is what you percieve it to be, not to favor people who do not appreciate the unique beauty and impact it may have on another individual, thats the beauty of originality. So, please understand, if not don't look...

Interesting point.As an educator of young children I am always trying to look for ways for them to have that intrinsic value of making reasoned choices about the art that they create and responding to the items around them in their environment.
What is art? What are your fences about that sunbject?
The true foundations of the arts and crafts movement was to leave the age of the machine world of mass production. Going back to the tradition of training your mind and hand into creating something of value.
The idea of interactive thought, decision making abilities and higher order thinking strategies. Making one self reliant in many aspects.
Look at our world now. Mass production because we can't make it with our own hands.We have left ourselves and our thinking out of the equation.
I will say that I have seen some astonishing work done by people not labeled as an artist but more of a crafty label.I saw an older woman do what is called tatting. A sort of crocheted type work that was made into a runner for a table top. Intricate and carefully assembeled with heart, mind and hand. I know I could never do what she did which made me respect it all the more.
There are intelligent boundaries. But one should be open to the process of what was created before dismissing it as nothing of worth. The hallmark of a good work is that it says something about the person who created it.

I truely believe that you do not know from what you are saying. The Arts and Crafts Movement in the early 20th Century was not about artsy fartsy stuff.. It was a return to original work by individual craftsmen. We are not talking about making Santa's out of bleach bottles. Perhaps you need to do some research before you cry foul. Today i agree there are some who are making furniture and calling it Arts and Crafts. They are few and ignored by those who really value the simplistic beauty of the original A's and C's. Also if you so dislike the style, why are you in this forum?

for me, a subjective approach to art banishes opinion into the shadows of ignorance

Good Morning Friends,
Having read the responses of the original poster, I would like to point out that as already mentioned the Arts and Crafts is not a style but a movement starting by Morris and Ruskin, in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries to take the furniture making out of the mass production workers hands and place it back into the craftsman's hands. Each piece even though it looks alike is as individual as anything else. They may be made from the same templates and construction method, but they are all individual pieces. This is where the value comes into play, because the craftsman has put his all into the making of this piece.

Also as already mentioned there are fake furniture made from particle board with a wood grained vinyl over the surface, and constructed with KD fasteners so you can put it together when you get it home. Even so it is called Arts and Crafts furniture. less the hand made value.
As the old saying goes, "you get what you pay for."

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones

Don't you think also that art is in the way it is made, and the time and care that is put into the piece... I believe that people see the details.. The trash that has been labled arts and crafts and mission is the poor excuse for furniture that has been passed off to the public.. IE.. particle board furniture, furniture that the main assembly is done with a 3" screw .. You are right in the respect that if it is not assembled in the arts and crafts style, and with quality materials, it should not be made.... Just being a disposable generation, there will always be a market for 'trash'

~Rob

Hello Rob,
You are 100% correct in your statement and the generation of today, because it was the way their parents did, is to buy as cheap as possible and when it breaks down just go out and buy something new. The so called furniture of today that is made to sell and not to last has gotten the furniture world almost back to what it was in the 19th century, except the cost is not like it was then.

Furniture today is made so cheaply that anyone can afford it and the only way to make it last is to not use it. People just laugh when you try to sell a quality made piece and their statement is, "I can buy three to four chairs for what you are asking for that one." Which is true because they can go out and buy the tubular breakfast type chairs that loosen up and sway back and forth when you set in them.

Kind of make a person and craftsman wonder what this world is coming to.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones

There was plenty of trashy & ugly A&C produced during the A&C era (my view.) Mountains of it. Sadly, a lot of it still survives, when it should have been thrown out in the ww2 copper drives. Because it is collectible, it has been elevated from trash to 'high art' along with the beautiful pieces from that era. Taste,Trash,Ugly, are all personal and have to do with the times. Most folks don't have a personal view on anything - they need to be told - and then, they adopt that as personal. I'm not critisizing people - I am like that too. Taste & Beauty - It seems to be defined by the wallet, peer pressure, myth, and current publications. There are many beautiful things made in the past. Most people will run to a book to look at value - if it's listed and high value, it's "Art and Beautiful" - if it's not listed - it's "Nothing." The Quality of a thing - anyone with a good brain should know that, instinctively by comparison.

Welcome to the forum,

You are correct that there is a great deal sold and traded that is less than quality work. The promise of Hand Made often only meant assembly of clumsily hammered pieces of copper riveted to wire. The hammering was more for decoration rather than a suface acquired by the process of making the the item. Much of the older work was student work or done without supervision.

It would be great to have you join the website since your knowledge and keen eye would be greatly appreciated by the members here.

Thank you for contributing.

Fred

Hello Fred!
I attempted to 'join' but it keeps telling me I need to accept cookies. I do accept cookies but no matter how I configure, it says I must turn my cookies on.
Good to see a friend here!
rich

Hello Rich,
I too wish you welcome to these forums as we need people with your knowledge to aid those of us who are trying to carry on the true A&C movement as well as the furniture.
There are those of us who not only follow the A&c style but actually build furniture in that style.

I do know that I stay very busy and am shipping work all over the USA at a reasonable price for my hand crafted furniture. All of my dovetails are hand cut. Not to mention the making of the joints in different methods.

All of my work is burnt into the wood as Hand Crafted By Ralph Jones London Ohio and the response I receive from my work is satisfying.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones

Hello Rich,

Welcome to the forum.

I believe that taste is influenced by upbring, education, a willingness to learn and admit mistakes. One's taste should always be changing and evolving as you come across new information.

Yes, you are correct, trashy, ugly Arts &
Crafts was made at the turn of the century by manufactors who wanted to jump on the "hot bandwagon" of Arts & Crafts furniture. But any movement of art involves failures or things that just didn't work out. Artists and craftsmen have to experiment to find what works.

Not all pieces of Roycroft are collectiable--some are downright ugly, in my view. Others will collect the stuff that I dislike because
they believe that they are beautiful. Frank Lloyd Wright designed beautifully striking furniture to look at but they were impossible to sit in comfortably. I consider a lot of Gustave Stickley's furniture to be too heavy looking for my tastes and prefer the pieces designed by Harvey Elis (SP). They are lighter with more open spaces and give a nod to FLR's prairie style furniture. Also, they are very comfortable for sitting and very elegant.

I do not like all the styles of Roseville Pottery because I am looking for a particular color scheme. That does not mean that the pottery I am not fond of should be labeled trash.

Ralph, you are correct--Morris and Ruskin did start the movement in England in the decorative arts as a reaction against machine-made Victorian furniture styles such as Eastlake. They were influenced by the other art movements such as the those painters connected with the Pre-Raphilites. (SP)They in turn took their motifs (designs) from art that was made before Raphael--in other words, all things medieval and hand crafted.

One thing that you should understand is that all art whether it is part of the decorative arts (furniture, glass blowing, potter, etc.)or fine art (paintings--oils, watercolors, etc.)is subjective. It all comes down to individual tastes. As an artist, I welcome the collectors who buy my paintings in a wide variety of subject matter. Otherwise, I would be forced to paint the same thing over and over again. Artists and Craftsman must grow, change, and experiment to keep their art alive and vital. Otherwise, we get bored and it starts to show up in the art.

Respectfully,
Bev.

(I have no art books here on vacation and cannot check the spelling of anything--sorry if I mispelled stuff.)

We live in a tasteless rude society. Just try driving down the street. Look at his face it is all there.

We can choose not to be part of it by creating and surrounding ourselves with people and items that add beauty, joy, and hope to our lives. I do not choose to search for the ugly and rude and instead I look for what is beautiful and seek out that which makes me smile.

The items made during the Arts & Crafts Movement were created not only for utility but to improve mankind with well crafted and designed handwork and to change how we looked at design and lifestyle. It attempted to remove us from the impersonal mechanical world of the Industrial Revolution, to one of patience and craftsmanship and thought. Head, Hand & Heart was the motto of many who chose to leave the pricipals of the Industrial Age and to adopt a less stressful lifestyle of creating with one's own hands and mind. We also have that option of choice.

(He smiles, nods, and steps down from the soapbox)

Fred
Moderator

Fred,

Very eloquently and thoughtful put into text. Excellent writing . . .

And need I remind anyone the simple fact that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

Bev.