Monday, January 05, 2009

Woodwork Art


What is Woodwork Art?
.
Is it doing something different for the sake of creating something different? Is it about being a trailblazer? Is aWoodwork Artist someone that creates out of a need to feel superior?
.
I’ve pitched all kinds of things and the most important thing is that it suits the client's tastes, and desires, and blends with THEIR HOME.
.
Some of these "Artistes", forget who they are working for. The client.
.
Some of these were decks in the quarter million range, upscale garden sheds and angel wing gates to allow foot traffic only. Some of these jobs happened, however some did not. At that time I didn't understand that shooting at an invisible budget is a wasted effort.
.
When someone says we want to make a statement and we would like to commission you to create a $250,000 pergola, that gives you free reign and a budget to work within.
.Sometimes, in order to progress an artist needs to tone down their work and take baby steps towards their end goal of being able to compose what they really want to do—and get paid well in the process.
.
When a client gives you "Artistic License", that means they love what you do and they trust in your judgement. That is instruction to design what you think will be best.
.
A while back a Contractor-"Artiste", told me that he was absolutely sure that he was far superior an artist than I. I guess you know you are good when you can accept a comment like that and smile—thinking back to the days when you thought the same way.
.
His severe criticisms rolled off my back, however I could not critique his work because I knew he could never accept it. It was his personal Achilles heel.
.
Phrases like “Form Following Function”, “Proportions being nearly Impossible to teach”, “Balance being Important”, and “Wishy-washy detailing being unacceptable” all contain seeds of what every designer, architect and artist must heed to achieve critical success.
.
Critical Success is when your peers look at what you do and see virtue in it.
If you want to know what makes GardenStructure.com the leaders in outdoor woodwork—it is Art.
.We have put in the 2 decades necessary to truly create "Our Own Brand" of Woodwork.
.
We don't get our ideas from magazines like some of our competitors do.
.
We don't just make it bigger, or use the newest untested materials, or the most expensive wood to make what we do special.
.We use our own techniques that we developed over many years that make it last longer and age more gracefully coupled with information gleened from projects studied from the ancient world.
.We share these advanced techniques with Craftsmen in our Builder Group.
.
L

No comments: