And then she explained what Art is

"What is art?"  I really don't but I have long felt that I was missing out on something by not even having the vaguest idea.  Sure, I've seen all the paintings in Rome and Florence and Paris and various museums around the place.  I've got a few art books, notably Vermeer, a favourite.  I've got a few books of art photography - Mapplethorpe, Ernst Haas and the like.  But I didn't really know.

So I called my friend Sarah J, who's a mature art student in her first year (second if you count the Foundation Year).  We met up yesterday for a coffee and she had brought along a load of reading materials, including a copy of her autumn term essay comparing Art Photography with Non-Art Photography.  So that's where the conversation started.

It was a treat.  It ranged far and wide in (as I discovered from Sarah) a way that the Surrealists would have liked. Neither of us was embarrassed to use high-fallutin language or struggle with abstractions, and it all felt rooted in experience and passion.  I learned much more than I expected, both from Sarah, from myself and from the conversation.  And even if I can't give a pat answer to the question "what it art?" I have much more of a feeling for what it means.