You spend your first 2 years of college in heated debates arguing this point. Just when you think you've got it figured out, your painting and illustration professors start back-stabbing the photo and printmaking departments, saying "It's interesting stuff, but it's not really art."
...or worse yet, somebody will refer to something you've done as "pretty."
Art is essentially intent, though it doesn't necessarily have to be intentional, great art can happen by accident.
My father used to scratch-build wooden ship models. They were incredibly detailed and esthetically pleasing, but craft, not art.
He was down in Haiti, and he happened to see some men building one of the small sailing ships that haul cargo around the island. They're homely little vessels constructed from hand hewn lumber with sails patched together from scraps of fabric.
Even new, these things look beat up and hacked together with spit and bailing wire.
Dad shot 4 rolls of film. He came home and built his one and only work of art
Art is about conveying a feeling, an impression or an emotion.
If someone stops to look at a work of art, it doesn't matter if they love it or hate it, the object is successful.
The only time an artist fails is when the viewer just walks on by.
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