(ART)!
Chris O'Brien

            In his short play "In an Art Factory," Robert Frost seeks to distinguish between an artist and a craftsman. This "art factory" is a studio owned by a man named Campbell where "art" is produced. The cast is comprised of Tony (Frost's voice), Blanche, and a nearly complete sculpture. The play revolves around a conversation between Tony and Blanche about Tony's latest piece of art, the sculpture, which is fashioned after Blanche. Blanche is a model who poses for artists, though she apparently did not pose for this particular sculpture. They are in the art factory at night so that Tony can show his work to Blanche before it is "Campbellized" the next morning. The play ends with Tony destroying the statue in the same fashion as "the Roman father that slew his daughter before he would see her violated by his prince" (588). Working through the framework of Tony and Blanche's conversation, we find out Frost's conception of the distinction between art and craft, how the public affects art, and what it means to be an artist and a human being.
            Though the two are sometimes equated, art differs drastically from craft. The first level of difference lies in complexity. Craft is simple, seeks to be simple, while art, like life, is complex. Thus, the artist ought not tell straight out what a piece of art means, but rather, let the viewer figure it out (577). There are two kinds of beauty: the beauty that is truth and the beauty that is just beauty. Art seeks to convey both, whereas craft just seeks beauty as beauty (579). Another difference is that craftsmen seek to show some representation of a perfect ideal while art seeks to perfectly represent life as it is with all of its tragedies and defects (580). Because of this, Tony refers to the other works in the factory as "dead things" unfit to be looked upon (580). Tony calls craft a form of "idolatry-mechanical representation of old art forms like the heathen-rote repetition of beauty forms" (583). As for the man who runs this art factory, Tony calls him a criminal (583). The artist creates not out of idolatry, but out of love. Each piece is an object of love created out of love for life. A few final qualities that art possesses that craft does not are these: One need only make a small change to a piece of art to change everything (586). Further, when one changes a piece of art-thus making it a new thing-the artist is, in effect, robbed (586). Finally, and maybe the most important difference between an object of art and an object of craft-this is the last thing Tony says in the play-is that to destroy a piece of art is murder (568).
            Frost shows us that the public has a profound effect upon the artist. The word "public" here refers to not only popular opinion, but also the capitalists who sell the art, craftsmen who make false art, and the critics who judge the art. The critics and the craftsmen take life out of art (580). The critics do this by altering the art with their words, the craftsmen by making dross and considering it to be art. As implied earlier, it is the artist who appreciates life, using it as raw material. The capitalist destroys art for money, not taking the life out of art, but rather, actively killing it (578). Campbell may only make one or two changes to the piece of art, but even these slight changes affect it a lot. Moreover, his most drastic changes consist not in what he does to the piece, but what he says about it-always the wrong things. In fact, Tony defines "one of the public" as "a person that doesn't know the right thing to say to an artist" (586).
            The artist's relationship with the public is a strange one: The artist needs the public to see the art, while at the same time, it is the public that alienates the artist. An artist resents the public for their words, and tries to resist changing to accommodate those who cry out for craft while they think that they are asking for art (586). Basically, the artist must resist the allure of the money he or she might get from pandering to the crowd instead of creating something real, something of truth and beauty. For, in society, an artist is made by what the newspaper says about him or her (583), which will undoubtedly be the wrong words!
            Finally, Frost's play tells us about what it means to be an artist, and to some degree, a human; the play suggests a kind of ethics. It is the artist, and not the craftsman, that truly lives. The artist creates living things, and one must be alive to create living things. Those who create "dead things" are, in effect, dead themselves. Furthermore, it takes an artist, someone who is alive, to tell the difference between art-that which is alive-and craft-that which is dead-though all people think that they can (581).
            When an artist creates, it is as if the work is a child of flesh and blood (582). Thus, the way to tell an artist from a craftsman is by behavior-Tony suggests that the difference is as with the two mothers who petitioned Solomon for custody of the child. It was obvious that the real mother was the one who wished that no harm should come to the child. Thus, the artist can be determined by his or her relationship to, and actions towards, his or her creations (582). Furthermore, to the artist, it should not matter who gets credit for the child, for the child is more important than that.
            To continue the child metaphor, just as each child can have only one mother, so too, each piece of art can have only one artist (583), though many might try to take credit. For instance, Tony mentions how everyone tries to take credit for making a piece of art what it is-the models, the critics, etc. The artist does not mind giving up his "children," but rather how the public alienates the artist and the work through changes and misspoken words (579). Once again, to change the work of art only slightly can change it completely. For instance, to misquote one of Frost's poems could be to destroy its meaning.
            Finally, throughout "In the Art Factory," Frost places little kennings-direct and implied-about how we ought to live. First and foremost, we should seek to be artists, for they are the ones who truly live. This entails behaving in a matter because it is right, not because it is profitable. As artists, we ought not bother with critics-take the work or leave it, do not try to put words to it (582). Further, he says "You'd better not tell me what to do to a thing to make it right… To hell with your criticism, yours or anyone else's…(582). Take the sculpture (or one of Frost's poems) and enjoy it for what it is. If not, leave it alone. To try to explain it leads inevitably, unless you are an artist yourself, to misinterpretation.
            To live, to be an artist, is a process of becoming, of constantly being reborn-and not without some amount of pain (585). This is the process of individuals trying to adjust to one another while trying to stay independent. The artist needs the public, but he must retain some amount of independence from their wishes and concentrate on his own.
            There are a few other life instructions in the play. One of these is to remember that nothing is irreparable (588). This applies to art, but as well to personal life. If life is a process of becoming, then damages are surmountable. If you make a mistake, move on. Stated in the words of Bobby McFerrin, Frost's message is "don't worry, be happy." Pain will come and go, change will come and go, but one must keep on keeping on. Finally, the artist and the human must act, not worry or complain, for the truth of his or her existence lies in action. If someone is bastardizing your art, stop them or live with it, but do not just sit around and complain, for that would be living artificially.
            In conclusion, let me reiterate that in Frost's play "In the Art Factory" we learn about his conception of art and craft, how the public affects art, and what it means to be an artist and a human being. If it had to be summed up in a few words, it could be said that to be an artist is to be truly alive and create that which is alive. Of course, with Frost having railed against the harmful (though well-meaning) words of others throughout the play, I must wonder what he would have to say about this essay…

Works Cited

Frost, Robert. Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays. Eds. Richard Poirier and Mark Richardson. New York: Library of America, 1995.