As a modeler, do you think a ship / boat modeler is more of an Artisan, more of a Shipwright, more of a Craftsman, or a mixture? Ship and boat modeling has always been referred to as a "Hobby". While some other crafts are often referred to as "Art", like stain glass. Both require a great deal of skill and an eye for accuracy. I suppose a model shipwright is a little of each.

One thing that all modelers have in common is patience (one would hope) and an eye for details. When guests view one of my models and ask how long did it take you to build it, and I tell them the amount of hours it took, they look at me like I'm nuts. They then ask how much it would sell for. Even if you did want to sell a model, you could never charge enough for all the pains-taking, some times frustrating, hours you put into a project.

I think most of us do this for the love of crafting a beautiful, historically accurate (as posible) ship or boat model. Not to make us rich.

Take the poll, and leave a comment if you like.
John

 

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I think ship modeling and miniature in general is a display of craftmanship. In fact u make a copy of a already existing subject.

The Leonardo made the mona lisa, so he's an artist. The fraude that made the falsefication is a craftsman. The engineer that designed the Victory is a shipwright, the modeler making a copy is a craftsman.

Are modelers artists, no i don't think so, being to artistic and soon the border is crossed to fiction. Building a model reguires the ability to have knowledge and understanding in the work from the shipwright, who build the original subject. So you need to be a researcher to interpret the desing and historical information and a craftsman to implement the research from the model.

 

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It maybe not wildy known that if a ship is scratch built and all decks and fittings are inculded in the model then it is termed to a work of art as it is would be a sculpture.Such people I think you will find can apply to be recognised as Marine Artists

 

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All true. But what if you have done a Diorama of a Boston harbor scene from the 1810's. No particular ship or ships in the harbor. Just generic ships, boats, docks, perhaps figures of people. Or maybe a Diorama of the construction of a ship in dry dock in Spain. Again, one would like to be accurate as to scale and of history, but this is where not only your skills as a Craftsman and Model Shipwright come into play, but your skills as an Artisan as well. Or as Dinny referred to as "Marine Artists".
John

 

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Hahaha, this is one of those discussions, like the famous "lunix versus windows" discussion.

Ofcourse it depends, carving all the decorations yourself, then you qualify to be a artist. Building a diorama like in your example requires artistic skills, making the sea, sculpting and painting the figures. But the fact remains that the effort in building the sole construction of the houses and ships of that period consists mainly of good research and craftmanship, That's my personal oppinion ofcourse.

The definition for being a artist or art in general is not wel defined, some see a wonderful piece of art, others see a pile of garbage.

In the context of building ship's from kit's, that's what we're doing after all, being a artist is surely not high on the "you need to be a..." list.

PS. I'm happy that some hobbies requires little artistic skills, because i'm a crap artist ;)

 

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I wasn't trying to demograte the skill(craftmanship) in modelshipwrighting as I know only too well the amount of "crafts" needed,however some have found that they have found it an advantage to be an artist in selling thier models.

 

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Art,like beauty,is in the eye of the beholder.Cheers! John.

 

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Couldn't have said it any better!

 

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As soon as we develop a style that is recognizable to our viewers and patron, we begin to express ourselves with each model bearing that signature style. Then we are artists. Many of us are already there. As far as our craft, we are defined as marine artists posessing a skill that others may not wish, or are unable to cultivate.
Craftsmen and artisans one and all, regardless of classroom art defintions.

 

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