is it art?

there is a bias in the art world against what is primarily decorative or beautiful. it isn’t considered important art, or fine art, unless it is conceptual, intellectual, political, social. i could pretend that by documenting nature one day at a time for over ten years, i have been building toward a statement about global warning. would that make this project more like art? i don’t know. i do know that it would make the project feel less like itself. i have a very strong sense of what still blog is and where, for lack of a better word, its soul lies. that place may not be in the world of art. but it isn’t either in the world of “statements,” political or otherwise. it is a quiet and idiosyncratic corner of the world where seasons unfold and are paid attention to, out of earshot, as much as possible, of those voices that define, and categorize, and exclude.

birch catkins 

p.s. i had a mother-in-law who described her shape as a wading bird–tall skinny legs and a big round belly. i love that description. it doesn’t quite work for me. well, the round belly works, but my legs are short and muscular. more mallard than ibis.