I did for a very long time. I think the two diffidently go hand in hand. I couldn't do one without the other. I was my life from my early teens to my late 20's. Then I had to give it all up for a job that pays. If I wasn't working 12 to 16 hr. days I would would do it again.

I paint. there is a photo on my profile of a portrait I did of my best friend...

HI,
I am almost done with my AH degree, but my two year is in illustration. I do watercolor paintings and graphite human figure drawings and portraits.

I am curious as to the implication carried here. An artist, for example, necessitates the inherent historical reference to the past in that he is a byproduct of what has gone before him whether or not he recognizes the thread that binds him.

Art is not produced in a vacuum and thus I am inclined to believe that if an artist then also an art historian. Do you see this line of reasoning as true?

Otherwise, according to www.getty.edu/artsednet/res...glossary.html, the concept of art historian is as loosely stated as "Someone who studies the art and artists of previous eras." This can be done by a simple trip to a museum or glance at a picture book or even hearing about a work or the modus operandi of an artist. I am not sure, we can qualify the extent required an artist in this case to an exposure to the past.

An artist inherently synthesizes reality to put forth an emblem of its posture, a statement in a media that conceptualizes a knowingness, a felt conjugation of verbs indicative of a language that expresses that vast underlying certainty that when uttered or presented in a manner, external to or referential to the cathedral known as the museum or gallery, it speaks of a place where the mind is ajar with gaping contemplation as to a thing that speaks of it, the past, present, and future all in one voice.

And as for the art historian moving back upon the landscape of art as artist, I believe he or she, in his view proves his ability to paint pictures, sculpt words or whatever. A good historian of art is a good artist in that he too composes with his synthetic engine, a brain that moves in the same manner across the path of a delighted creation by advancing theory about how the artist presents the mold, applies the deep understanding as Tolstoy alluded. Some art historians see Art in Theory 1900-1900 or the new version, to see these angulations enfold in black and white. When Picasso or Max Weber writes about art, for example, you realize the eloquence of the idea is not limited to the artist or contemplationist.

The art historian, a curator, takes a stab at composition by filling a room or demarking a venue where the collection in his mind made manifest by the placement of pieces indicative of his vision in the context of community at that time and place also reveals the historian as artist. The things he posts to explain the work or the silence derived in their mere hanging there speaks volumes, paints and sculpts the inherent dichotomy of the artist and art historian. The art historian is friend to the artist because he can either elevate the work though interpretation or expose the work to its dislocation in time. It has no meaning unless by metaphor it says something important about the time and place within which it exists.

The art historian and artist are one, practicing the same craft in producing the eloquence of an idea to be consumed either on paper or in some other manner but always communicated.

References: Someone who studies the art and artists of previous eras. From: www.getty.edu/artsednet/res.../glossary.html

The academic approach to art history suggests that a culture's nature is best revealed by its art. Art historians apply that principle when comparing past eras in western history or when relating western forms of thought and feeling with those of other cultures. From: www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cswebpg...tory.html

Art historians study and write about works of art. They may also deliver lectures on art history, advise on art, look after historical and contemporary art collections and research and present exhibitions. www.kiwicareers.govt.nz/jobs/1...95a.htm

Me I use Art History with Photography and my degree in Art History wasn't a waste, it came in handy, especially iconography, and elements in order to provide a message..