What Is Art Worth? Part Three

A few more quick thoughts on this weighty topic, then I will move on, I promise.  I'm sure I will revisit this cost of art quandary in the future.  Much needs to be done by those of us who make things in educating the masses about why a piece of art costs what it does.  The cost is not just materials, but the time it took to put it all together, and something I call "intellectual or skill cost."  This is the time spent learning the technique and perfecting it, often years.

It still surprises and saddens me to encounter many who think that skill in art is sudden and spontaneous.  The skill in art is no different than learning to write, play a musical instrument, etc.  One has to start slowly, with very basic things and build upon those skills.

Samples of techniques from my early days of art quilting

Image copyright RPS

Some questions to consider:
Why does art matter to you? 
What makes artwork “good”?

What makes an artist “good”?

Who is supposed to be satisfied by art – the buyer, the viewer, the artist, or all three?

Is one form of art better than another?

What makes art valuable?

I'm most interested in responses to the first question.  It is something that I struggle to answer for myself, even as one who is trying to make at least part of a living off of art.  It is especially difficult to come up with a plausible answer to justify art to the rural community where I live.

Moving onward, I'm not sure what I'll have on Thursday, I really am trying to get back to two posts a week!