Music, woodworking and painting

[Timothy C. Tyler]

You can't make this stuff up! Myers-Briggs says it's the "ISTJ's (artists/craftsman types).

I hold on grudgingly to my "N", though.

[Cynthia Daniel]

For anyone who doesn't know, Myers-Briggs is a personality temperament test based on Jung. There are four basic categories, each represented by a letter. The "N" to which Tim refers means an intuitive person, as opposed to a sensing person (as shown by the "S" in the ISTJ Tim mentions) and is the part of the test that shows how you prefer to process information.

There is also the Keirsey test, which I believe is an offshoot of Myers-Briggs. Keirsey divides the personality types as follows (not sure if Myers-Briggs uses the following narrative categories or not:

Guardians
Supervisor ESTJ
Inspector ISTJ
Provider ESFJ
Protector ISFJ

Artisans
Promoter ESTP
Crafter ISTP
Performer ESFP
Composer ISFP

Idealists
Teacher ENFJ
Counselor INFJ
Champion ENFP
Healer INFP

Rationals
Fieldmarshal ENTJ
Mastermind INTJ
Inventor ENTP
Architect INTP

Search on the web for either Myers-Briggs or Keirsey and you'll find a ton of information, including sites where you can take the test. There's probabaly some free tests, but for $25, you can take the test here: http://www.discoveryourpersonality.com

I'll keep my "N" also, Tim (Myers-Briggs tested me twice as an INFP and Keirsey as an INFJ). Now, that would be interesting to find out the personality of of real artists and see if they mainly fall in certain categories, but that sounds like something that calls for a new topic.

Now back to music, woodworking and painting.

[Steven Sweeney]

Accommodating an overseas transfer "cost" me my shop space (and the usefulness of the higher-amp 110V power tools in a 240V country) several years ago and interrupted guitar construction training from an Idaho luthier, and it was that loss of a hands-on creative outlet that probably led to my taking up painting. I'm sure there's a much more interesting, if not necessary, connection between those pursuits than the choices and accidents of commerce and geography. Doesn't seem universal, though, as many wonderful painters seem to have little skill in, say, matting and framing their work.

I've built some large pieces of oak furniture (Woodsmith plans) and an 8-foot wooden sailboat (Nutshell Pram from Woodenboat plans), but I've had the most fun building musical instruments from kits or plans, including the acoustic guitar I play (Martin D-45 kit), a Celtic lap harp, dulcimers (both Appalachian and hammer), and banjo (don't ask, I can't explain it). I refurbished my grandfather's violin (of "fiddle" pedigree and use), but never played it very well.

I find days without the addition of music to be almost painfully incomplete. I almost always paint to music. I've done the "years of piano lessons" (wish I'd kept it up!), trombone in high school band, guitar for some 35 years. Most of what I play on guitar now, I wrote (it's a clever ploy on my part to keep folks from knowing straight away whether I've made any mistakes.)

I got into letterpress printing and hand bookbinding about 15 years ago and found that printing, illustrating, and binding your own work was nearly as much fun as . . . well, okay, not quite that much fun. Depending. (And a signature of pages waiting to be sewn with linen thread never says, "Oh, I don't know, where do you want to eat?")

Ironically and even with considerable misgiving, I found that I had to let go of some of my music and wooworking in order to concentrate on painting. I can still get my "fix" by playing Bach in the studio, and building my own frames.

Just to skew the research, Tim, I'm a hopelessly confirmed, thrice tested INFP.

Cheers from The Road, somewhere in Montana tonight,
Steven

[Michele Rushworth]

Great to have you back on the board, Steven. We've missed your witty repartee and insights! How was/is your journey?

[Rochelle Brown]

Wow, Steven you really are a Jack of All Trades! A friend of mine is interested in taking up hand bookbinding. At this point he's looking around for lessons and materials. Did you learn it in the States?

Are you back to stay?

[Cynthia Daniel]

Michele and Rochelle,

Steven is still traveling. He just popped in for a solitary post. We'll have to wait patiently for his next one.

[Steven Sweeney]

Rochelle,

I

[Steven Sweeney]

you really are a Jack of All Trades!

Well, Rochelle, you know the rest of that adage - Master of None.

There are those who would characterize my multiple pursuits as neurotically compulsive behavior, cultivated to avoid dealing with deep-seated emotional issues. My spouse has recently offered the characterizing observation that I am "easily distracted". Without revealing the context, I can report that she wasn't offering a compliment.

Perhaps some of the folks who have contributed to or visited this thread can comment on whether a breadth of experience trumps depth, or whether more personal satisfaction is realized through focus upon a narrower range of interests, and the realization of excellence in one or two. I suspect that the best of the professionals whose work graces this site are not spreading themselves thin across a varied vocational topography.

[Michael Fournier]

Rationals
Fieldmarshal ENTJ
Mastermind INTJ
Inventor ENTP
Architect INTP

Hmmm. I tested INTP and I'm a bit of an amateur architect. Actually, there is strong evidence to support the connection between architecture and artists. If you follow your art history you will see that many of the Italian Renaissance artists were also architects, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci being the most well known and prolific.
So I prefer to call myself a "Renaissance man" because of my many interests, instead of a "Jack of all trades" that way I avoid the second half of that "the master of none".

[Steven Sweeney]

P. S. I think the music thing was to meet girls more than a desire be a great guitar player. After all, that is how I met my wife.

Same here. Then I went right-brain and she went left-brain and only occasionally do the twains meet. But I digress. My now 14-year-old son is on his second electric guitar (I have my dad's Gretsch, but I've always been unplugged) and is trying to put a band together amongst his pals in Taiwan. Cool.

I've always been quite fascinated, from a distance, with New England. I'm not unaware of your climate, but what's the art world like up there in the northeast? Should I be planning a studio in the land of little north light, or in Taos?

Best wishes,
Steven