ANST - A&S "skill ranks"...

[Michael Peters]

Carl Chipman wrote:
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Ruble <ulf at urocor.com>
> To: 'ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG' <ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG>
> Date: Wednesday, December 24, 1997 12:09 PM
> Subject: RE: ANST - A&S "skill ranks"...
> 
> >>Pug  said:
> >>  What are other people's opinions of what a master in a field of study
> >>  is or should be? Am I expecting too much from a master? Is my concept
> >>  more on the order of the "Great Chefs of the world" than simple mastery
> >>  of a field? I wouldn't be surprised if my ideals were unreasonably
> >>  higher than others since I seem to be repeatedly setting them too high.
> >
> >A decent question, and everyone is ignoring it in favor of the
> >discussions on horseshoes and Kingdom Law... There's an analogy in there
> >somewhere...
> >
> >I'm not a Laurel.  I'm more like a sprig of sage, oh sagely spriggin.
> >But I'll add what I was told when I joined years ago.  "A
> >Master/Mistress should be good enough in their craft to support
> >themselves with it," I was told.  I think this was supposed to mean that
> >if this person were dumped N-centuries back in time, they would quickly
> >rise to great recognition performing their craft, and they would achieve
> >a level of acceptance among the nobles equivalent to what we are
> >supposed to accord our Laurels.

> <SNIP>
> That I think is the important thing for the master of any craft... The
> creation of new things based on the knowledge and experience that they have obtained.  Masters should be those who advance the
> craft.
> 
> Jean Paul
> 
> ============================================================================
> Go to http://www.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.


Advance the craft? (Time to irritate many of the craftspeople)
    We are told give recognition to our wonderful artisans. WE DON'T
HAVE ARTISANS.We have some HIGHLY skilled technicians. We don't create
new things. We reproduce crafts and designs ALREADY in existance. ANY
good technical artist or craftsman (non-SCA) can turn out 85% of what we
see as Laurel work. Perhaps this is why to be a Laurel it is NOT just
mastery of a craft.
  Yes, I know the WORK involved in making a totally new knotwork design,
but we are simply working in a form with strict preset requirements on
what we can or cannot do. I have not done it but I can imagine the work
in, for instance, researching and making period inks for calligraphy. I
am not denigrating the work.We are preserving or rediscovering period
crafts. This is important but please don't denigrate those who choose to
actually (gasp) buy inks.If you CHOOSE to go through the intensive time
and labor to make something period from scratch.... vivat. Don't set
yourself above others who do not make that self-imposed sacrifice.We
(and I do include myself) are craftspeople not artists. We are like many
appretices to the masters for example Rembrandt...instead of creating
our own we {slavishly?} imitate. It is the nature of what we do. There
are those who would sniff at the lack of artistry in a piece yet at the
next table see a brilliant piece evolving from period techniques and
complain "it's pretty but it's not period".
  People say I have the wrong attitude. Maybe they are right. I have
done Art and crafts (calligraphy, greenware, enameling, needlepoint
,macrame, leatherwork you name it I probably have some experience doing
it) for better than 25 years. Technical competance comes mostly from
patience and attention to detail it is not enough. IMPRESS me, show me
the love of your work. I will admire any technical work for the time
involved but unless it has a soul it might as well be machine made.
People critique/criticize my work, that's fine, trust me like any artist
I am my own worst critic. Take pride in your work but don't expect me to
be impressed unless it has heart.
  Other's thoughts will be appreciated and duly considered.

Yours,
Lord Mykaru Kurodachi
"whowillapparentlyspendhisentirecareerintheSCAp--singoffthosewithhigherrank"
============================================================================
Go to http://www.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.