Artist's Statement 2004
I continue to be challenged by the desire to pursue all my interests in
the arts with equal dedication. In the listening to and performance of
music I am closest to the Creation. The designing and woodwork of furniture
making gives me purpose, the knowledge that I am creating something useful.
Painting brings me closest to the veneration of beauty and a contemplative
inner peace. And in instrument making, lutherie, I have the delightful
mingling of all these experiences. It is a living art. An instrument of
music is not merely attractive or instructive as a painting, or useful
as a piece of furniture, but alive. It takes a person, a personality,
to breathe life into and brings joy to both player and listener alike.
So I speak of my furniture in terms of its origin in history, but knowing
as an artist I have the license to create new forms. There is the awareness
that my furniture, likewise with my instruments, if they are built well,
and fair with the fortunes of time, may outlive me a great number of years.
Conversely, so much of my painting is for myself. It's how I relate to
what is important in my world. What fascinate me are the people in my
life and the landscape in which we all exist. Architecture holds the allure
of history and the story of mankind which can be found in the dwellings
we make for ourselves and how we adorn them. There is the excitement of
seeing the structure rise from the drawings you created, which previously
existed only in your mind.
In the past four years, since I last sat down to reflect on my work as
an artist, I have come again to Architecture as my most reasonable, if
not satisfying, means of employment. A career in Lutherie is elusive and
I find that I have several more lessons to learn before I undertake that
adventure as profession. Building is the passion. Whether it is a house
or a lute, my excitement over the work is in conceptualizing a thing of
beauty and of usefulness and then making it a reality, with the skill
of my own hands and the knowledge that years of diligent study and persistent
questioning have brought. With these creative outlets I participate in
the centuries of craftsmen who, reveling in the creative process, desire
to reflect back to our neighbors the best qualities of living. It is our
greatest joy meeting the world's greatest need.
Through these creative pathways I experience the world and return to it.
I see something of interest in every place I visit and every person I
meet. These experiences continue to shape my ideas about the art of creation
and my role as an artist.
Daniel J Betsill
2004