ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609160006
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: WHAT IS ART?
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
Dan Foster has an easy way of deciding whether a piece of his work is art.
``The ultimate test is the sound,'' he explained from among the clutter of his Blacksburg workshop. ``How does the instrument project? How does it sound in the middle of an auditorium? Or the back of an auditorium?''
Otherwise, he said, calling his work art might be a stretch.
``Around here, I'm just a craftsman.''
Foster, 53, builds cellos, violas and violins priced at between $7,500 and $15,000 apiece. It is a pursuit he began 20 years ago when he combined his love of woodworking with his former occupation as a music teacher.
Still, there are things in building a violin that the craftsman can stamp with his personality, from the shape of the F-holes, to the design of the scroll and the pegboard, to the grain of the wood used, and the color of the varnish.
``Within the fairly strict confines of making a sound-making machine, there's a certain amount of art involved. There's a certain amount of creativity,'' he said. ``There's considerable variation in the curvature of the corners. It gets to be very subtle.''
Does that make him an artist?
``Art, I think, is man's interpretation of his human experience," Foster said. "I think a lot of the art comes out of the agony of living, trying to make do. But also not from just the pain and suffering, but from joy. In other words, from emotion. I can't say that by me making a cello that I'm expressing anything more than my urge to create.''
Also by his definition, Foster shared what isn't art.
``If the medium is not dealing with the deeper essence of our experience, then it's not really art. If it is dealing only with surface issues or surface emotions, maybe you could call it art, but it's art with no significance. It will disappear after the kitsch has worn off.''
Unlike, for example, the deep, enduring resonance of a cello filling a concert hall.
LENGTH: Short : 44 linesby CNB