Reading Test 2

Down the centuries, craftsmen have been held to be distinct from artists. Craftsmen, such as woodworkers and plasterers, belonged to their own guild, whilst the artist was regarded as a more solitary being confined to an existence in a studio or attic. In addition, whilst craftsmen could rely on a reasonably steady income, artists were often living such a hand-to-mouth existence that the term 'starving artist' became a byword to describe the impoverished existence of artists generally. Even today, the lifestyles of the craftsman and the artist could not be more different. However, what exactly separates craft from art from both a practical and a philosophical view? One of the main distinctions between art and craft resides in the nature of the finished product or piece. Essentially, the concept of craft is historically associated with the production of useful or practical products. Art, on the other hand, is not restricted by the confines of practicality. The craftsman's teapot or vase should normally be able to hold tea or flowers while the artist's work is typically without utilitarian function. In fact, the very reason for art and its existence is purely to 'be', hence the furlined teacup created by Dada artist, Meret Oppenheim. The 'cup' as such was quite obviously never intended for practical use any more than a chocolate teapot might have been. Artistry in craftsmanship is therefore merely a byproduct, since the primary focus is on what something does, not what it is. The reverse is true for art. Artistic products appeal purely at the level of the imagination. As…

Few with even a passing knowledge of the art world are likely not to have heard of Salvador Dali, the eccentric and avant-garde exponent of the Surrealist movement. Love him or loathe him, Dali's work has achieved enduring worldwide fame as his name and work have become virtually synonymous with Surrealism itself. The artist's melting clock image is surely one of the most iconic paintings of the art world, whilst Dali's antics have become the stuff of anecdotes. Born into a middle-class family in the Catalonian town of Figueres in north-eastern Spain, Dali (or Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali Domenech, to give him his full name) aimed high from the beginning. In the artist's 1942 autobiography entitled 'The Secret Life of Salvador Dali', the artist wrote: 'At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.' Such ambition and self-belief matured into full-blown arrogance in later years. An example of this is amply shown on an occasion when the artist felt the examiners of the Madrid Academy he was attending were well below par. To a degree, his undeniably impressive and precocious talent excused his conceit. He was only 14 when his first works were exhibited as part of a show in Figueres. Then three years later he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, in Madrid. However, it wasn't long before Dali's highly developed sense of self-worth (or conceit, depending on how you view the artist) came to the fore and also affected the course of his life. Believing himself way superior…

Art therapy is a relative newcomer to the therapeutic field. Art therapy as a profession began in the mid-20th century, arising independently in English-speaking and European countries. Many of the early practitioners of art therapy acknowledged the influence of a variety of disciplines on their practices, ranging from psychoanalysis through to aesthetics and early childhood education. However, the roots of art as therapy go back as far as the late 18th century, when arts were used in the 'moral treatment' of psychiatric patients. It wasn't until 1942, however, that the British artist Adrian Hill coined the term 'art therapy', as he was recovering from tuberculosis in a sanatorium. He discovered that therapeutic benefits could be derived from drawing and painting whilst recovering. Art, he claimed, could become therapeutic since it was capable of 'completely engrossing the mind... releasing the creative energy of the frequently inhibited patient'. This effect, argued Hill, could in turn help the patient as it would 'build up a strong defence against his misfortunes'. In 1964, the British Association of Art Therapists was founded. Proponents of art therapy fell into one of two categories: those who believed that the therapeutic effect of art lay in its effectiveness as a psychoanalytic tool to assess a patient through their drawings and those who held the belief that art-making was an end in itself, the creative process acting therapeutically on the patient. The two practices, however, were not incompatible, a degree of overlap occurring between the two. A patient, for…