Today someone told me they really appreciate my artistic talent. Though I appreciate the compliment, it was sort of strange for me. I paint, I knit, I do various other artsy things, but I don't think I consider myself an artist or artistic. Crafty, yes. Artsy, maybe. But artistic seems to give me some type of meaning I don't deserve.

My dad is fond of saying "If I can do it, it ain't art." But it begs the question--what is art?

I like to be stingy with what I think is art. I hate when people think everything is art. A string tied around nails in the corner of a room--not art. A haphazzard photo of a friend--not art. Basketballs in a fishtank (Walker, I'm looking at you!)--not art! Just because the general public is confused by it, it doesn't mean it's art. Just becaue you meant it to be art, that doesn't mean it's art!

Perhaps some of it is that I think there's a fine line between craft and art, and most of the time I think well-meaning "artsy" people fall on the craft side. When I knit something by a pattern, is that art? I really don't think so. When I create something unique, I can see how I begin to approach that line, but I still think there needs to be criteria. A list that you can hold something against and check off the requirements.

I think the line gets even blurrier when you begin to look at "modern art" (my dad refers to this as "crap"). When I paint an abstract painting, I feel almost ashamed of asking a price for it. I feel that I need to explain--um, yeah, basically I put a lot of paint on there and then I smooshed some saran wrap in it, and then I topped it off by painting some blobs that kinda look like flowers, but not really, and then I just flicked some paint at it from across the garage for good measure. I call it "reflections on humanity".... Why does modern art always have pretentious names? Why not just call it "flower blobs on saran wrap." Let's be honest, people.

But, joking aside, how do we define art? Am I an artist?