By Frankie Shayne
Reports from The Scene
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and art is subjective. I have recently plunged headfirst into the realm of 3D printing, as I’ve discovered many others have.
I’ve done a few craft shows and have more scheduled in the coming weeks and months, and I have found a small, yet stern, divide amongst artists as to how “artistic” 3D printing truly is.
I did not get into 3D printing to make money or to take advantage of a trend. I honestly did it so I could create, or at least duplicate, things I have seen that I cannot easily source locally or at all. When people think of 3D printing, I’m sure many of you are thinking the same thing, they tend to only think of toys or stress-relieving fidgets, and there are plenty of those to be found.
Some may find practical creations for organizing or things that make life a little more convenient, but I did not get into it for any of that. I, among a growing number of people, love the gothic or dark aesthetic, be it home decor or oddities and curiosities, and 3D printing was my source for those things. My intention is to learn to create these things all my own once I have mastered computer-aided design software to the point of being able to make designs from a blank slate.
However, the question remains: “Is this art?” I don’t think many would argue that from a blank slate and design aspect it is, but what about someone like me? Creating prints from other files and modifying or combining them to make something different? Am I a 3D artist? I certainly don’t feel like I am just yet.
All things considered, it’s like a cover band versus an original artist playing music. It definitely takes talent to cover someone else’s music, but to create your own songs and melodies and to lay lyrics over those to create something unique to you is truly an art form. But does that make the musicians who play in cover bands any less musicians, or artists, because they only, or primarily, play other people’s music?
Furthermore, does that apply to all artistic media? It’s an interesting debate, but regardless of your take on it, there is one common thread on both sides. Original art or replicated art both take talent, and those I’ve spoken with are equally passionate on both sides. Isn’t that what the art is really about anyway, passion and expression? Art can be therapeutic, regardless of the medium of expression.
Speaking of expression, this time of year brings people out and about and mingling with neighbors and friends, and often in the midst of that is music. You’ve got a friend who plays guitar or a Bluetooth speaker with your favorite tunes blaring out, and one way or another, there’s music in the mix. It gives people license to dance and sing along and congregate with people they may never have spoken to before.
Music is a universal language and a form of expression that is understood despite language and cultural barriers. What one can express in a song can be understood in the mere emotion and expression, without knowing exactly what is being said. It’s magical in that sense, and despite your belief on original art or replicated art, it makes you feel good to hear it, to move to it, to simply close your eyes and let it wash over you.
In my humble opinion, that is what art should do, regardless of how it came to be—it should move you. As a musician and artist myself, there in no greater compliment than when someone tells me how much they enjoyed the show and thank me for “sharing my talent” with them. Oddly enough, they never differentiate one song from the next in respect to cover or original, as I often do a few covers in my set as well.
The same has proven true with most of my 3D prints as well. I tend to print things that most people aren’t used to seeing from a 3D printer, and one my favorite compliments came from a young girl who was at a show I attended where there were three other 3D artists.
She came to my booth several times and said, “You have the coolest stuff here because it’s not like anything else out here.”
That made my day, but just like my music, I make what I would want to find and not necessarily what is the latest trend.
Frankie Shayne is a radio show host, a local singer/songwriter, and an advocate for local artists and musicians. He can be reached at fsp7774@gmail.com.