: , I think Woodsong boats are

: Sorry, I can’t contain myself on this one. When a professional builder claims
: “museum grade” and charges the moon and has pretensions to “Art” they
: invite criticism.

: Making a Coleman© canoe out of exotic woods does not make it art. Exotic
: woods and gloss surfaces can't hide a lack of design sense.

: I also noticed a major flaw in the craftsmanship of the canoe shown at
: Mystic.

Rob, as you say, such "Art", like all art, invites criticism -- and today we are all gathered here as a group of art critics who also build boats, and are very critical of imperfections. Similarly, stone cutters and masons in renaissance Italy criticized Micelangelo for leaving unfinished spots on all his sculptures. And the painters of his time were pretty harsh in their treatment of his abilities, too. But, for a first timer, a lot of other people think he did a pretty good job of plastering and decorating that chapel ceiling.

Similarly, what we might dismiss as a fancy boat can certainly be considered an art object by someone else. There are people who make junk into works of art. If one of the purposes of art is to glorify a form, then this is art. if it hangs as an objet d'art in some museum, then so be it. At the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and also at the Field Museum, there are displays of kayaks as built by 'eskimos' (that's what they were called then) If it beomes necessary to restore these native craft, or preserve them, then the museums dig into their pocket and pay for the process. In some cases, museums will preserve an original item for study and mount a complete copy for display. Most of the dinosaurs you see on display are not the original fossils (far too fragile) but reproduction pieces make from castings of the originals. The cost of all this work can easily grow to an immense amount.

At the other end of the scale, as Mr. Cushing points out, some people use boats for book cases.

I'm certainly not going to pay such a proce for a canoe, and few of my friends would, but Corporate America seems to have cash to spare for decoration, and little sense about how to spend it. I need only go to the local Eddie Bauer to see racks made from perfectly good canoes that were cut in half. Or, I can go to their store in Downtown Chicago, wher in the entry way they have 6 cedar strip canoes mounted to the walls merely for decoration. I saked a few years about purchasing one and was told that the ones n the walls were not for sale, but I could order one from them that was just like those for $2500. so , Eddie Bauer has $15,000 worth of canoes just as window dressing.

I think it is a waste, but they obviously don not. Go figure.

Hmm, wonder if they would like to hire me to make some boats for them at a lower cost.

PGJ