[Ansteorra] Where do artisans go?

[Christie Ward]

>If fighters go to practise to learn all the aspects of being a good
>fighter, where do artisans go?

Uh, I think, reviewing the requirements for any peer in the SCA, that a
fighter probably can't learn "all the aspects" needed to be a knight at just
fighter practice.  All peers should have some familliarity and involvement
in other areas of the SCA, so fighters aspiring to a knighthood need to also
support arts and service.  While you *can* usually get some of that at
fighter practices, I think it's best to learn and show your peerage
qualities, including being "well-rounded" in the various areas of the SCA,
showing leadership, being chivalrous off the field as well as on, and so
forth, by participating in events as much as you can (consonant, of course,
with your ability to afford to go and having fun!)

As for artisans, one of the most productive and engaging environments is to
get other artisans, locally or at an event or at a regional arts day, all
together in one place practicing *different* arts.  It's interesting how
that helps one's own creativity, and sometimes people in other disciplines
have unique viewpoints about *your* art that may approach a problem in a
very different way than you would ever think of...

If you're looking specifically for guidance in learning an unusual art form
that may not have nearby practicioners, ask a Laurel to help you... we can
ask on the Ansteorran Laurels' e-List who in kingdom may practice your art,
which would hopefully produce contact info that would be relayed back to you
by the Laurel.  We can also ask on the SCA-Wide Laurels' e-List, which
almost certainly will turn up someone somewhere in the SCA practicing that
art, whom you could then correspond with.

*However* it is certainly possible to "pioneer" an art form that others are
not practicing.  Until the folks in Tempio started doing icons, we hadn't
seen many (possibly not any), but their research and documentation not only
guided what they were producing, but was educational for me (and other
Laurels, I don't doubt) as well.

If arts "pioneers" weren't out there, the arts would never move forward.
Weaving is one field I know in which this has happened ... one of the
"elaborate" and special prizes at an early Tournament of the Lions was a
one-inch-wide, one-color, inkle-woven belt done in crochet cotton, for
instance, and today we'd look at it as a beginner's type of project. Today
you can learn inkle or tablet weaving from many people in the SCA, but back
then about all anyone had to go by was an obscure and hard to follow little
book called "Byways in Handweaving", I think.  And some of what we're
creating today that we consider to be elaborate and extremely spiffy will be
looked at like relics of the cavemen at some point in the future, no doubt.

::GUNNVOR::

Currently stranded without a domain name due to cybersquatters, and
lightning took out my home computer as well... at least I have my hotmail
account still!

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