FAR more than, “What is art?”, the question I struggle with is, “Why do art?”
For better or for worse, our society most values the answer, “Because it makes me money”.
The number of artists making a fortune though has always been small and the ones who can make any kind of a living, not that much more numerous.
The answer then for the rest of us must be, because it is what I love.
It may not be much in the general scheme of things but it brings happiness and meaning to my life.
Which was why I made these copper jellyfish.
Too big to be jewellery, too small to be sculpture, nevertheless, I really enjoyed thinking up ways of moving the copper around, texturing them, hammering them and assembling them.
I am sure there will be many who would wonder why I bother but I don’t understand football or computer games and all sorts of other passtimes. We have one life so my advice would be to find what makes you happy and just do it, and don’t spend a second worrying about what other people are doing to make themselves happy.
Erica Madelin 