[R. Nemo Hill]

"talking about art in the abstract is not the same as working your art."

I don't think anyone said they were the same thing, Michael. Nor do I see why one thing cancels the other. Rather, they enhance one another for those who, like myself, are so inclined. Setting up false either/or choices seems counter-productive to me: I prefer 'and' to 'or'.

I also think that those who 'work their art', when they talk effectively about that work and that art, are not talking "in the abstract". On the contrary, they are reflecting on their working experience. And nothing is less abstract than experience, regardless of the style of language it is expressed in.

Nemo