The art vs design question

A book borrowed from the library which I've been looking at over breakfast has got me thinking about the difference between the world of Design and Art. It's the work of Mark Hearld, which is a bit of both - he started as a printmaker and using collage, and has built on his success by painting on ceramics, designing tote bags for the Tate, wallpaper, etc etc. You've probably come across his work somewhere, somehow.

Mind map of sources and influences

The section called "The artist as designer" (text by Simon Martin) starts by talking about the strong graphic quality and feeling for composition and abstract pattern making in Hearld's work. Hearld says: "As well as just making pictures to go on a wall, I enjoy making and designing objects. The artists I most admire, such as John Piper and Edward Bawden, were also designers. It's about enjoying the visual quality of the objects that surround you. That's really the impetus behind everything I make. Also, there is something lovely about designing an object that people can afford to buy. They might not want to purchase a big painting but they can buy just a cushion. To design something that's functional and domestic really appeals to me because I like creating a home. I like creating a wonderful space."

Later, in regard to his first (complicated!) wallpaper design, he writes: "I had long been interested in surface pattern and textile design, but, as an artist, felt it was somebody else's world."

... which leads me to wonder how separate the Art and Design worlds are seen to be - especially by those making a living from either, or both. 

Seems to me that Fine Art is the world of big paintings at big prices with big cuts taken by dealers (who distance the artist from the owner of the work?) - a million miles away from Just a Cushion and its processes of commissioning, making, outlets, status. 

Just a few of the miniprints at Morley College

Seeing art shows - eg the miniprint exhibition at Morley - or the RA Summer Show - you encounter the work of literally hundreds of People Who Make Art, and I do wonder, why do it... is there room for more in this already overstuffed world. (Why am I bothering? is another question...)

After mulling on things like this I looked at the book some more and read "It's satisfying to get the most out of each creative idea" and maybe that's another way Art and Design differ ... how far the idea can be stretched, and the recognition that at some point it's become a different idea - or that it's run out, and you have to switch to something different. I have only a vague feeling about this ... which so far boils down to: Design = finish a set project, whereas Art= see where a visual idea leads - ? 

And then there are the Two Big Questions about making Art: 1. who is your audience. 2. what is your intent. 

What are the Two Big Questions in design? Maybe ... 1. who will pay for it. 2. how can it be used.

Oof, it makes the brain hurt. Let's relax and look at a little more of Mark Hearld's work (or have a look at this short film - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byG6w2qaWnw) -

mm, those corrugated buildings!

 This page spread put me in mind of a "folk art object" seen recently in a local charity shop.

I regret not buying it, but did take a photo; might have to make my own, maybe even out of painted metal, some day -

Away day, Folkestone

Lured by the blue sky, clear air, glorious sunshine, and unseasonably warm temperature, on Friday I took the risk of going to Folkestone to see the Triennial (till 5 Nov) and have lunch by the seaside.

Hmm, didn't quite work out that way ... I got off at the "wrong" station (as compared to previous years) so the place looked a bit different ... and the walk along the clifftop was great, with a few bits of art to notice, perhaps part of the "permanent collection" rather than this year's crop -

Signed: y.o. 2014

"Temporary sign" and passing shadow

(The choice!)

Mark Wallinger's Folk Stones, 2008 - one for each of
the 19,240 British soldiers killed on the first day of
 the battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916

 In the centre of town, the sunshine continued, but I was completely discombobulated and not terribly interested in the artworks, even after getting a map that showed what and where they were, and coming across "fringe" works too.

Little houses in inappropriate places ....

"This is an accurate timepiece made from gunpowder. It shows a 12 hour clock (showing both night and day) and runs on a 24 hour loop. Hours, Minutes and Seconds are exactly marked by a series of small explosions"

Look through the peepholes and see "Burning Time" by Colin David

Jolly shops, and a painting of a seaside treat by Michael Craig-Martin

Bob and Roberta Smith pointed out in many places that "Folkestone is an art school"

"Dungeness Boats" by Robyn Nield, bronze

"Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens" (Nathan Coley)

 Then it came time to find "somewhere nice" to eat, and my resilience crumbled into food-indecision and wandering into charity shops -

 However that very one yielded a copy, with lurid cover, of the first of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, which I'm wanting to re-read before getting The Book of Dust.

So when further indecisive food-wandering led along a quiet street to a pub called The Pullman, there was no further decision to be made.

Possibly the only bike being pushed in Folkestone that day

Late lunch, then head for the nearest station.

It was good to see the sea -

An imaginary map quilt

Blue Collar City by Sally Dutko (via)

"Yes!" was my response on seeing this photo in Kathy Loomis's review of the map quilts in Quilts=Art=Quilts. In fact she's reviewed all of the categories of quilts in the show - abstract, representational, etc, and with considerable insight ... she was a juror for the show ...

So, why does this piece hit all the buttons for me?
- The title: it does what it says on the box - with tongue in cheek.
- The aesthetics: composition, materials, colours.
- Thrift: clever reuse of materials.
- Inventiveness: I find myself mentally sidling up to the artist's moment of seeing-the-connection, vicariously enjoying the moment when the pieces fall into place, the way is clear...
- Verve: everything is confidently placed, without fuss or fiddling.

The size is 52"x36" - it would have been easy to make this quilt, this map, too big or too small, but it's in balance with the size of its components.

And ... it almost looks like a real city, without the viewer having to fuss about details. You don't get lost in looking for familiar streets; you can stand back and think about what "blue collar" means in the life of a city, in the death of a city, in the lives of its inhabitants. Imaginary map, imaginary city it may be, art work it is ... and it's what the viewer brings to the work that completes it as art. For someone outside the industrial life a a city, "seeing" this "map" is totally a feat of the imagination, but none the less real for that.