>In a message dated 12/21/00 11:24:46 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
>I'm in awe of the medieval era, largely because of so much craftsmanship
on a
>level of refinement that couldn't be matched today. Looking at, say, a
piece
>of Irish metalwork, I get a strong feeling that the maker must have
believed
>that God was watching him every minute. That nothing less would have forced
>or enabled him to work with such skill and care. It's supposed to be an
>improvement that today far fewer people walk around feeling that God is
>checking up on them every minute. The corollary is that craftsmanship has
>gone down the tubes. We can no longer do a decent job of making cars,
>airplanes, computers, or anything.
>
>pat
The idea that contemporary Craftsmen and Artists are unable to create and
produce on a level qualitatively equal to those of the past does not resist
very long to a dedicated quest for the finest objects being made today.
In the field of metal work as in most others, objects are actually being
crafted as we speak, which express mind-boggling creativity while requiring
technical tours de force which in many instances are beyond the proficiency
attained by the Greatest Masters of the past.
There objects, today as a thousand years ago, are individually commissioned
by weathy patrons, take several years to produce, and are privately held.
There are few Crafts of the past in which the Old Masters have retained the
upper hand.
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