i thing it is because of the texture,color,and shape and the fun of modeling something that happen in history. WHAT DO YOU THINK? IS MODEL RAILROADING A ART FORM Yes or no ? Why?
If i could get credit for model railroading in art class, i wouldn’t have a B- average!
Me neither, it would be a C or D !! [:D]
Seems to me Tony Koester did one of his “trains of thought” columns on this subject and decided he felt it was a craft like amateur furniture building or woodcarving, rather than an art / fine art like painting or music.
If you’ve ever seen pictures of John Allen’s Gorre & Daphetid and George Sellio’s Franklin & South Manchester RR.I have to say yeah darn toot’n its an art form.
For those both talented and serious about the hobby, model railroading it is indeed an art form. Producing a truly realistic looking layout requires all the skills, appreciation of physical dimensions and their relationships, together with the creativity and color preception that goes into a recognized art form like landscape painting. When one sees a photo of a layout scene that borders on looking just like the prototype, that’s when model railroading is raised from just dabbling with toy trains to an art form.
CNJ831
I’d have to say it’s an art form. I have a chance to get a bit of a unique perspective on this, as I know someone who’s an artist/art teacher. The amount of products/techniques we use in common, and the ideas we’ve traded, is quite high.
And the approach is the same as well - we start with a ‘blank canvas’, figure out what we want on it, and proceed to turn that vision into reality. It’s a product of our own perceptions, desires and ideas. This is what I think differentiates it from being a ‘craft’ - the way that the personality of the ‘artist’ colours the end product.
I vote for art. It involves inmagining a scene, design, painting, and sculpture. It involves many crafts and though some layouts are more craft than art, many including those mentioned, it is an art form.
Absolutely. And like art, different examples can appeal to or repel different people to a greater or lesser degree. That is, there is “good” art and bad “art.” Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Self!: Stop the cliches.
Mark
How about it being an art and a craft?
There is a form of craft involved–the benchwork, for example.
The are artforms involved—the so called plastic arts, which do involve forms of sculpturing of a sorts–scratchbuilding/kitbashing of structures.
Both of these are so intermingled that one can go on discoursing about the two and how they are inter-related. I know some folk art collectors who are collecting scratchbuilt structures and such and displaying them as full out pieces of folk art.
Care for some discoursing?[(-D]
I can see your point, that from a certain point in the ‘lifecycle’ of a layout, it goes from being a craft, to being an art. I would think that this point occurs at the point when the track is laid and operational, and the structures and scenery are going down on the layout.
Well after 55 years in the hobby I would never call it a art-a craft perhaps but,not art not by any standards regardless what the “experts” preach in MR several years ago.
I heard of starving artist art sales but,never a staving model train enthusiast art sale.[%-)]
The real problem here is defining art, and worse yet, good art.
Is Architecture art?
Is Industrial Design art?
Is furnature building art?
To me, most of what has been called “art” by the “experts” in that field is stuff I would not give you a penny for. So is art self appointed greatness on the part of the creator or his peers?
Art is what gets on PBS because no one will actually pay to watch it.
Model Railroading, even done to an average level is way above art.
But what do I know, I’m just a hick with some trains, a pickup and a gun.
Sheldon
Good question. In my view, MR certainly qualifies as art. Not that every layout is art – but certainly the potential is there. Compare to photography. It can involve high technical skill. For most of us, it’s snapshots, an effort to reproduce reality and save some memories.
But when the right sensibility, creativity and skill come together, a photograph becomes art, transforming reality into a statement of its own.
There’s always a first for everything—then again[:-^]
Is MRing art? Let me think … oh woe is me. And where is my face and shoes? Why do I have such big feet? … Gee, my butt is getting sore sitting on this pile of bricks. … Will I ever get a job and find a nice girl to marry? … Where can I get some “happy” drugs? … Will they ever rebuild this bombed-out church?
Anyone remember that other thread back in 2006? Oooooh…that was a doozy! I remember Mark Newton holding forth and being unrepentent and unyielding in saying it was definitely not an art form. And Chip Engleman tried hard to get him to admit that it is. I was one of those many voices disagreeing with Mark.
Aaaaanywhooo…
Some of what we do is art, and just like in the other arts, there are good of-us and bad of-us. Most are in between. But it’s all subjective.
I would say that detailing is not part of the artistic side of the hobby, and more like the craft part (I agree with Larry). Weathering is more artistic in the sense that it is impressionistic, or can be. Rendering a decent backdrop that isn’t an enlarged photo, or a commercial product (which would be the craft side) is an artistic pursuit. I would not say that building structures is necessarily artistic, but the imagining, designing, and then painting of same would be artistic. The actual erection of it would be craftsman stuff.
I feel that the photgraphic side of the hobby could be artistic. Would we say that photography/imaging is a craft? Sure there are techniques and such, but putting them all together to make something appealing, especially widely acclaimed, would surely qualify as artistic.
So, I would say that the hobby has room for technology, craftsmanship, and artistry. Not unlike so many things done very well.
-Crandell
Yes, model railroading is an art. It is a creative expression of what was, what is, what could be, or just imagined. Whether or not a particular instance is good art is really an opinion. If most people think it is, then it is - if most think not then not. But just as your child’s crayon drawing is art, so is a model railroad art, regardless of how others judge it.
Enjoy
Paul
Well, here’s a dictionary definition of Art:
–noun
| 1. | the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. |
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| 2. | the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: a museum of art; an art collection. |
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| 3. | a field, genre, or category of art: Dance is an art. |
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| 4. | the fine arts collectively, often excluding architecture: art and architecture. |
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| 5. | any field using the skills or techniques of art: advertising art; industrial art. |
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| 6. | (in printed matter) illustrative or decorative material: Is there any art with the copy for this story? |
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| 7. | the principles or methods governing any craft or branch of learning: the art of baking; the art of selling. |
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Crandell:
Hoo-boy do I remember that thread back in 2006! Got VERY interesting, LOL!
I’ve just finished reading a text that my Department Chair is going to use for his Art History class next year, a fascinating historical study called ARTS AND IDEAS, which covers everything from the Paleolithic cave art of 30,000 years ago to the present day. And I mean, covers EVERYTHING! Architecture, painting, music, literature, sculpture–any endeavor that man has used to re-create both nature and himself and the ideas he has about his very existance.
And it’s only re-enforced my original thought that yes, model railroading CAN be an Art Form, considering the various techniques that we use to re-create our own worlds in miniature.
So count me on the side of Art–in the very broadest and most encompassing sense of the term–when it comes to this hobby. We might not realize it at the time, but what we are doing is CREATING. And that’s what Art is all about-- improving and expressing ourselves.
Tom [:D]
I was going to ask someone to define “art”… And I see someone did. Whether Model Railroading is an art or not has to depend on the definition of Art. There are people who believe that folk music is not an art form… However, all good definitions that I have seen would include it and as a Music Teacher, I would insist that it is. Last time this subject came up, I asked my sister the Artist (painter and weaver) and retired Art Teacher what she thought. Her answer?
Of course it is! That is my opinion as well.