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

A Black Man Selling Pepsi In The Jim Crow South
Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:43:00 -0400
In the 1940s, Pepsi created an all-black sales force in an effort to reach out to black consumers. Allen McKellar was part of the first team to sell the soda in the Jim Crow South.
We Know What You've Been Watching on YouTube
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:13:00 -0400
A court has ordered Google to turn over a database that links users to every video they've watched on the popular Web site YouTube. Jennifer Urban, director of the University of Southern California Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic, says the ruling has big implications for online privacy.
A Vintage Photography Flash Lamp In Action
Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:41:00 -0400
Jacob Riis, a writer and photographer who exposed poverty in late 19th century New York City, used crude tools to light up his subjects. He ignited magnesium powder with a pistol, and later a frying pan. A vintage photography hobbyist demonstrates a flash lamp similar to Riis'.
Comic Cheech Marin Champions Chicano Art
Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:11:00 -0400
The iconic funnyman rose to fame as one half of the pothead duo Cheech and Chong. Over the years, he has acquired one of the largest collections of Chicano art in the world. By sharing his favorite works with the public, he hopes to help people see that Mexican-American art is mainstream.
Broadway's New Kid on the Block: Lin Manuel Miranda
Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:00:00 -0400
Young playwright Lin Manuel Miranda is taking Broadway by storm. Miranda's musical In The Heights, which won big at last week's Tony Awards, tells the immigrant story of New York's Washington Heights neighborhood. The multi-talented actor, composer and playwright speaks candidly about his art.
So You Want to Learn Cartooning? Hit the Book
Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:01:00 -0400
Two comic artists have created a textbook, Drawing Words and Writing Pictures, that teaches people the grammar of comic art, from penciling a story ever so lightly on tracing paper to inking a bubbly "The End" to the finished strip.

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