When is an Art a Science, and Vice Versa?

In the SCA, or at least in Calontir, we get obsessed with separating Arts from Sciences. Calontir has formed two tracks – the Arts track and the Sciences track, with awards in each, up until a person reaches the pinnacle award - -the Laurel. The Laurel represents mastery of one’s chosen art or science, as well as displaying the ability to teach and mentor others and display the personality qualities that make a person truly an “ambassador of the SCA.” At the Laurel level, we discard the Arts vs Sciences distinction, combining both into one Order. 

I’ve always struggled with this. I was taught at the beginning that if you dropped something on your foot and it hurt, that made it a Science. This implied that things like metal, wood, stone, etc. were firmly in the Sciences Camp. Everything else, pretty much, like fiber, painting, costuming, etc. was in the Arts Camp. Then I discovered we consider Weaving and Dyeing to be sciences. Dyeing, because it involves chemicals, I suppose, and Weaving because….I don’t really know. I guess because if you drop a loom on your foot it will hurt. 

From Le Livre de bonnes moeurs de Jacques Legrand which dates to the 15th century. The probable date is 1490.

Yet we still classify creating pigments for illumination as not really an art or a science, when looking at the criteria – perhaps as materials preparation, which could be either. I assure you, grinding rocks into powder hurts, as does dropping a heavy mortar and pestle on your foot. So, is creating paint from rocks an art or a science? Is using mathematical principles to design a pattern for anything – dress, furniture, whatever – an art or a science? I our competitions, the costume design or furniture design gets entered as an art – Drawing, in this case. But, in reality, it is the science behind the art of the creation. 

I assert we – Calontir, perhaps elsewhere – should consider the arts and sciences are intertwined in a way that we have artificially tried to separate. There is a science to every art, and an art to every science. In understand we will never likely give up our separate orders of the Swan, Leather Mallet, Silver Hammer nor Calon Lily. However, at combined meetings (Hammered Lily), it is apparent we are talking about candidates who possess skill sets that overlap, just as we consider that at a Laurel meeting. We argue about “which side” a person should go to – when in reality they need not go to a “side” at all. They are part of the community of artisans. 

If I thought there was a snowball’s chance in Hades, I’d propose closing out the separated orders below Laurel, and create combined orders for both the AoA and GoA levels. Many other Kingdoms already have such a set-up, and as far as I can tell they are doing just fine. Closing out the orders would in no way delete a person’s prior award nor degrade them in order of precedence. It would simply acknowledge the situation on the ground, and form a new order going forward.