Artists...

 WARNING!!! Partial male nudity ahead! Don't read this one if easily offended!!!

(Don't worry - It's not me...)

I've been thinking... I know, that's just asking for trouble. Both from other people's smart remarks, and my not so smart thought processes lately.

What does it mean to be an artist?

What is art? (I tend to go with the old school thought that "Art" takes a little "Talent" or "Skill" - Not putting cold feces on a plate in the middle of a hall... Many of my artistic friends would beg to differ on that point.)

Just before I went into semi-isolation for the last show I did, I had the good fortune to be invited to an artists gathering out at one of my favorite places in the city.

The Brewery just off the I-5 about 23 minutes from my current homestead...

These are from an earlier trip to The Brewery, and all I had on hand for the blog as I was writing...

ANYWAY!

I met an artist who lives there and he was holding some seminars on different facets of being an artist. It was a really interesting and informative get together and he makes the best soup that I have had in a long time.

Afterward there was going to be a birthday party for one of the attendees, and Cake was going to be served, so I decided to hang around and mingle.

(On the left is the speaker/artist - In the middle his artwork  - On the left the attendee...)

There were two Birthday cakes that particular evening.

1) A sitting cake:

And...

2) An eating cake...

Now you may ask, "What is a sitting cake?"

Well, it seems that this particular attendee (A fellow artist) had started a tradition five or six years ago that on his birthday he would celebrate with a sitting cake...

I thought it was really very funny, but as I was watching I couldn't help but think, "this is what the mid-west thinks artist's do".  Granted I have seen this kind of thing often enough, at college parties and the like, but I look at it as more of a release, not so much art in itself.

So, again, what is art?

I believe it is pretty much designated to each person's taste...

Who am I to judge?

But I gotta tell ya, I'd never hang that cake on my wall...