"cindy drozda" wrote in message


...And you can add to the list: Or has a spouse with a job, retirement
income, savings and house paid for from previous career, and on and
on..... And you can add to the list all artists in every medium that I
have spoken to about the subject. Since I "make my living" from turning,
I'm very interested in the subject.

Why is it that our society doesn't respect craftspeople as much as it does
lawyers, doctors, insurance people, etc.

T'was not always the case. Patron families of the arts, and royalty,
especially those in 17th and 18th Century Europe, valued composers, artists,
and skilled craftspeople (luthiers, for example) above the "unwashed
masses," including physicians, midwives, and barristers/advocates. And
there were periods when the cobbler or basket weaver were on equal or
superior societal footing compared with the barber/physicians and tax
collectors.

Today our global societies are far more pragmatic, a change brought about by
the necessities of life in which populations have grown manifold along with
the accompanying societal problems of runaway population growth. Doctors,
lawyers, and insurance people make more money because their trades are in
such high demand. And money translates to respect in our often perverse
societal value hierarchy. That's why someone making $10 million per year
playing NBA ball or $40 million per year making movies or recording music is
more respected than even the physicians and attorneys, let alone the
starving artisans.

That said, there are still those of us who are inspired and lifted by
performing and visual arts, and grimace when forced to pay medical or legal
bills. Respect is relative.

Max