tiling, art or simply work?

[Musivarius]

I consider what I do as my craft, art is something I see as being more spontaneous, you can mess about a lot more. I think you can to a certain extent be artistic in the design phase but once the work starts isn't it just manual labour? You've settled on the pattern/colours whatever, you know how you intend to lay them so off you go.
Personally I have a method of work which means I can switch off once I start setting and only periodically check in to see I'm not making a pigs ear of it, which I shouldn't have if I've planned it properly.
I see artists as those who have very little constraint in their own medium, painters for example can throw loads of different paints on their canvas, spread them all around and then call it a finished work. With tiling you will always have to be working to a useful end, your finished job needs to be fit for a purpose and not just be pretty to look at. This I think separates the artist from the craftsmen. Anyone can become an artist just by having a go at something, craftsmen need to learn certain skills before they can carry out their trade.

 

[jwatson]

I have a passion for all the victorian geometric floors and any work of that craftmanship but i wish i could get away from the side of tiling that consists of house bashing.
as quick, as cheap as possible with clients insisting of cutting corners and saving money.

budgets on builds strech, and by the time we, as a finishing trade come in there is no honey left in the pot. it is complete madness when the end finish is what you see.

the victorians decorated everthing, floors, air bricks, ridge tiles, stone work absolutly everything. looking at an old victorian house that has been well maintained is brilliant every aspect is true craftmanship.

so going back to the question in hand "am i passionate about tiling?"
the answer is absolutly yes.
The real question is can our customers satisfy our need as craftmen for quality work?
in my short career the answer is no.

this is my rant for the day :lol:

 

[bootsmckiber]

When I was a helper it was work but the moment I got certified it became art,and it's true,a true tiler has a passion for his/her craft.