Posted by
johnw, 10 January 2012
"You can teach the craft, it's the poetry you can't teach". So said David Hockney about the teaching of art. But the same applies in so many fields; music, arts, architecture and science.
The craft is more obvious to see and many people struggle with conceptual art where the focus is on the poetry. In science too the execution (ie the craft) is so much easier to 'get', everyone understands a nuclear bomb but few can relate to quantum theory, nuclear fission or Einstein's theory of relativity (the poetry).
In advertising the same applies. The execution is much easier to judge than the idea.
Of course the craft is vital, the skill with hand and eye to create a physical thing out of nothing is amazing but the poetry part is the rarer commodity.
The 'poetry' comes from mental creativity, from the ability to think freely and the ability to have a feel for the subject.
The brain systems that deal with the poetry are different from those that deal with the craft and there is no reason to expect that the two go together. We should respect the poets and the craftsman for their skill and be in awe when the two come together in one individual.
