ART or Craft? There is a difference!

“Don’t insult my intelligence with your cookie cutter, paint-by-the-numbers approach to the Noble Art of Writing!  How dare you reduce my art to mere process?!”
—Anonymous Critic

From time to time, someone (usually a frustrated member of the Marketing Team) takes umbrage at the fancied “Simplicity” of Fusion’s “Ready, Set, Go!^®” discipline.  They huff and puff and accuse us of “dumbing down” or “reducing art to process.”

Well. We’ve been accused of many sins, but never of being Reductionists…

Truth is, the people harboring that particular form of outrage, tend to be frustrated artists or novelists, hiding out in the marketing department.  Fine arts majors, they spend their days finding ways to romanticize mutual funds, aircraft parts, equine medication, and Viagra. (Not that we have anything against any of those products…) it’s meaningful work, and it pays the bills…  Hey, it’s what we do — but it may not actually be ART!

It requires some of the same skills, an artful handling of people, an eloquence in making a new approach understood, a deft touch at resolving differences of opinion, a tasteful assemblage of pictures, text and graphics — but the product of all of our labors is not a painting, not a play, but a presentation, a document, a speech, a meeting or a brochure — you know, business.  Doing this work requires craft, sometimes excellence — but “Art” is something else.  This is commerce…

We can see how one can blur the distinction.  Sometimes the work is so good, the practitioner so polished, the gesture so nuanced, the skill so refined — that it almost rises to the level of an art.  But still, it’s business.  No Academy Awards, No Grammys, No Emmys. Museums, theaters, galleries, concert halls and libraries are not erected to honor our work.  Art is something else.  We, however, get paid — which is honor enough.

Is it possible that somehow in our day to day — we’ve conflated the definitions of those two similar disciplines?  Art and Craft?

Now, a moment Your Honor, for us to pay our respects to the honest labor of those of us who conceive things, sell things, buy things, make things and invest in things.  If we stopped, the world might still be beautiful — even entertaining; but people would be hungrier, poorer, dirtier, not so well sheltered, not so well dressed, not so well equipped, and not so well transported.  The world needs all of us craft people, to keep it turning.

What’s called for, is a hanger, a box, a generic container for ideas…  What’s required is a simple presentation format, not a one off, superlative piece of writing.  Superlatives are delightful if you’re attempting to win the Booker, a Pulitzer or a Tony.  But an award from the One Club?  Not exactly in the same League.  But we’re not doing this to win fame, awards or veneration (or we shouldn’t be) — but to sell something.  There’s no shame in that, and there is room enough for a certain honest self-respect — pride if you will.

And while we’re about it, what have you got against process?  Every artist, every actor, every writer has a process.  Process is the Foundation of Art, but ART — that is the spire atop the Cathedral!

A little reality check: Many of us had/have aspirations to be poets, authors, painters, playwrights, artists or actors.  And we ended up in Marketing to pay our bills because the skill sets are complementary.  But while Art emerges from the individual’s soul, to be polished and reworked to bring the outside expression closer to the personal interior image; Craft is a team effort, passing through many hands on the way to completion.  An artist wouldn’t countenance another’s input in his creation, but a craft person of necessity has to please the client, the boss and the owner.

So, there you have it: The key to happiness in marketing or sales is to realize that we might be closet novelists or thespians, but at work they’re not asking for novels, paintings, plays or sculptures…  At Work, we’re selling, writing, conceiving for hire — making brochures, sales presentations and seminars.  And that’s all part of the process of our craft.  Save the art for nights and weekends and bring your crafty self to the office.

Applications

1. Individually
One of life’s big challenges: Do not mis-identify yourself with what you do.  I am not a Black Belt; but I do have one and I do practice the Art of Karate…  A person is not their job, not their house, not their wristwatch, not their spouse and not their education nor the place they went to school.  So — you may see yourself as an artist; but while you’re at work, you’re practicing a craft.

2. At Home
As children, we tend to identify with everything in our universe — because our sense of individuality has not yet fully formed.  We think we are our school.  We think we are our steady date.  We think we are our grade point average.  We think we are our letterman’s jacket.  We may think we are our body.  You can see the problem.  If something happens to or changes about our body, our date, our grade point average, our home or our family — or if we receive coaching or suggestions about something — we take it personally and we may think we have been diminished as an individual.  But a person is not their activities.  Knowing this makes it easier to both start and stop an activity, a relationship or change a personal circumstance.  A major lesson for the kids or for us old adults…

3. At Work
Try a new perspective for the office: “What have I been tasked to do? What’s expected of me? How can I not only deliver on expectations, but raise the bar for next time?  Input?  Bring it on!”  Work is an ensemble activity.  You are one of many on the team.  You create, assimilate input, polish and deliver a functional product on time and on budget.  That’s the core of craft.  Pride of authorship is not at stake when the team wins.  We all win together.  Now let’s go for a drink.

Can one reduce an Art, (or a person) to “mere process?”  Only if the individual has mis-identified themselves with what they are doing…  So, while we’re practicing our craft at the office, any simpler, easier process is a helpful thing.  Your Craft supports you and contributes to the success of the business.  Maybe “IT AIN’T ART,” but it’s priceless.

Now, go get to work on the novel…

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