Artist is a descriptive term applied to a person who engages in an activity deemed to be an art. It is also used in a qualitative sense of a person creative in, innovative in, or adept at, an artistic practice.

Most often, the term describes those who create within a context of 'high culture', activities such as drawing, painting, sculpture, acting, dancing, writing, filmmaking, photography and music — people who use imagination, and talent or skill, to create works that can be judged to have an aesthetic value. Art historians and critics will define as artists those who produce art within a recognised or recognisable discipline.

The term is also used to denote highly skilled people in non-"arts" activities, as well — crafts, medicine, alchemy, mechanics, mathematics, defense (martial arts) and architecture, for example. The designation is applied to illegal activities, like a "scam artist". The term 'artist' could also refer to a con artist.

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NPR Topics: Visual Arts

Photographer Reflects On Soldier's Photo, Life
Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:01:00 -0400
Photographer Warren Zinn reflects on the iconic photo he took in Iraq of Joseph Dwyer, an American medic who took his own life last month.
Brooklyn Store Celebrates The Art Of Graffiti
Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:35:00 -0400
Alphabeta, a new art supply store that sells cans of spray paint and provides a space for graffiti artists to showcase their work, has only been open for three weeks. But one New York councilman is already seeing red.
Are You Sure You Own Your Stuff?
Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45:00 -0400
Mr. Jalopy, a leader of the Maker Movement, pushes individuals and corporations to reconsider the meaning of ownership. The movement, which emphasizes fixing rather than discarding objects, is gathering steam across the country.
Chinese Contemporary Art Gains New Audience
Sun, 13 Jul 2008 08:00:00 -0400
A new exhibit of Chinese artists opens at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art this week. The exhibit highlights a common theme in modern Chinese art: the conflict between the individual and the collective. China recently surpassed France as the world's third largest art market and prices are rising quickly.
Philadelphia Museum Shaped Early American Culture
Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:01:00 -0400
Museums were a source of education and entertainment in early America. Philadelphia artist and naturalist Charles Willson Peale helped shape American culture by establishing what was the country's first public museum of art and science.
Exhibit Explores Cowboy-President Connection
Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:00:00 -0400
A new exhibit at California's Autry National Center explores how Americans link their commanders in chief to the cowboys of the Wild West. Exhibit curator Byron Price talks with Linda Wertheimer about unlikely links between satirist Will Rogers and Franklin Roosevelt, and Jimmy Carter and the movie Midnight Cowboy.

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