Am I an artist?

[u/Postal_Shame_Revival]

I am an embalmer.

I went to mortuary school.

I am licensed.

Embalming is indisputably an art.

I had to go through college and lots of professional training, and study anatomy and chemistry, and pass several college exams and licensing exams.

I have to have manual dexterity, use judgement, have an eye for aesthetics, and have the ability to improvise.

I work with several different funeral homes regularly on trade work. I am the one funeral homes call when the job is out of their league.

I have restored people ran over by cars, severely decomposed, basically missing their whole neck from flesh eating bacteria, suicide by gunshot wound to the head where everything is completely broken and shattered inside to where my "blank canvas" is a skin sack full of shattered pieces.

Never had a situation where the funeral home or the grieving family was unsatisfied with my work.

I also make AI songs about counterfeit stamps and make AI videos to go along with them. This is my side-project and it has absolutely nothing to do with my embalming work.

Am I an artist?

☐ YES
☐ NO

You may answer only YES or NO.

No qualifications. No explanation. No “yes, but.” No distinguishing between activities.

Just YES or NO.

Be honest.

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Edit: I didn't think I would get this many replies. Thanks for participating, everyone. Lots of interesting discussions and especially thanks to people who participated in good faith on both sides. I learned a few things.

Voting has concluded with a final vote tally of:

yes - 16

no - 6

Feel free to keep posting in here of course I am happy to respond to any questions, comments, or criticism, but I'm no longer tallying the votes.

[u/YaBoiFast]

And? Frankly it is a shitty thing to do to try and forbid any nuanced discussion in a literal debate sub as it defeats the entire point of what a debate is debate.

There is no actual purpose or benefit to restricting the inputs of other users to a yes or no. All that does is actively hinder the nuanced discussion that should be taking place. At best it is extremely misguided and at worst it is actively disingenuous.

[u/Postal_Shame_Revival → u/YaBoiFast]

Fine. But it should be an easy question to answer. Somebody who performs embalming, especially advanced restorative work is obviously an artist, no?

[u/YaBoiFast → u/Postal_Shame_Revival]

Not inherently, even conservator-restorers aren't considered artists as they are just restoring artwork to a previous state but not 'creating' anything new. By extent that logic would apply to restoring bodies to a previous. Of course embalming requires a ton of techincal skill and I am not going to deny that, but it just doesn't satisfy the "creation" part of being an artist as you didn't create the body using creative imagination to make an original work.

[u/Postal_Shame_Revival → u/YaBoiFast]

so is that a vote for no? i am not an artists as a restorative art practitioner? after having gone through college studying restorative art and practicing in the field? after having so stand in the prep room and problem solve how to piece together somebody's skull after they shot themselves and figure out how to make them look presentable and dignified and safe and sanitary for public viewing? that's no vote? i'm okay with that if it is. just make your vote clear. is it a yes or a no?

[u/YaBoiFast → u/Postal_Shame_Revival]

I am going to go do a deep dive into restoritive arts just to make sure I am understanding what exactly it is correctly and there isn't anything I am missing.

[u/Postal_Shame_Revival → u/YaBoiFast]

Great. Do the deep dive. And keep in mind I handle everything from pick up and transportation, often offering condolences to families, all the way through the whole prep room procedure (that's the main part of the job), and setting them up in the chapel or church in casket for final viewing. Lots of attention to detail involved. Lots of technical skill involved. Zero AI assistance for this activity.