Is there a Difference? Art and Design.

Since our last lesson I’ve been thinking about the question posed to us; 

‘Is there a difference between Art and Design? and if so, what is it?’

Before I did any research into these areas I must admit that I was pretty confused. I studied Visual Arts throughout school and therefore had a decent understanding of various theoretical schools of thought and an appreciation for the conceptual framework of art. Though when the question was put to me and I was given a chance to rationalise and use my own logic to answer this question I found myself constantly posing new questions and what ifs?

Britannica Online defines art as "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others." 

Ok, so now that we know that art ‘is a creation that can be shared with others’, the question now is, how is this art shared? Is it viewed as a painting on a wall, a sculpture in a museum, a gothic cathedral, read as poetry in a book or perhaps listened to live from an orchestra? I would suggest all three and more.

Now we come to the second part of the question, what is design? The general understanding of design is the conscious effort to create something that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Though what if ones design brief specifies the exact opposite? One would need to respond to the brief and in doing so create something that is ugly and doesn’t work.

I will now write my thoughts and work through my questions as I go along. Design has an initial intent, perhaps a problem and a brief, there is a desire to reach a specific goal while with art one works towards a finished work that conveys a message or feeling to the audience. 

Can a person design a piece of art? Or can a piece of art be a design? Yes I believe both can be true. An architect designs a building, he has studied for many years to understand what will stand and what will fall, what will look good and what will look bad, what will be comfortable and what will be uncomfortable and to put it simply what will work and what won’t. He draws on this knowledge to design a building that potentially will be viewed as a work of art today or in the future. 

The second question that I posed for myself was ‘can a piece of art be a design?’ this too is true, to give an example, the artist Dale Chihuly paints and draws free flowing works that many people would be more than happy to frame, though Chihuly uses these works as inspiration for his glass designs. These large glass forms have a science of structural physics behind them, what is the maximum bending moment allowed for a cantilevering arm? What temperature must the glass be melted to be blown? You may say that the drawings are merely plans for a finished product, though somehow they are reminiscent to Jackson Pollock’s works. It appears that he throws paint without thought onto a canvas though he has an understanding of the rules of composition and knows what he is trying to achieve.

Am I merely making this whole topic more confusing? Should I have just said that they were both different and kept it simple and sweet? I won’t say that they are both the same and totally interchangeable though I won’t say that they are different either. I feel that often one can lead to the other and that sometimes they can be one and the same, though ultimately a design can be art and art can be a design.