There is debate as to whether William Morris should be considered an artist or a craftsman due to his focus on ships. While vessel making in the ancient world was considered a craft activity due to the mass production and use of these vessels, Bill's vessels were not intended for mass production nor for consumer purposes. To say he is a craftsman based solely on his vases is a weak argument. He is mainly known for his great works. (Creative Nature 19:40) He is an artist because of the context of his created subjects. “It seems like every year; when Bill starts again, he pushes the limit a little more. And this is what made him not only the best glass technician and craftsman in the world, but truly the best glass artist in the world.” (Creative Nature 1:52) Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Is William Morris taking the utilitarian rule of ships and making them more important by focusing on them? People were really surprised by this installation. William Morris is known for his large-scale pieces, put together as a large-scale installation. "a lot of people were shocked that he was working at this size." (Creative Nature 20:15) So, speaking specifically about his 1998 Artifact Panel installation, yes and no. Yes, he was making them more important because he could spend so much time on these little pieces that they looked like artifacts from the ancient world. They are "intimate pieces, requiring a certain amount of time spent to understand their nature". (Creative Nature 20:25) These pieces were created to imitate ancient artifacts, not to be them. He himself says that “he is not interested in replicating anything. It's more impressions of things... You can't do that literally. You do it intuitively. (Creative Nature 22:43) However, individual vessels are lost since there are so many of them. The lighting creates double or even triple the shadows behind each artifact protruding from the wall, making the number of vases appear even larger. This makes each individual artifact less important, and only so when it is part of this composition. Taking the utilitarian rule of ships and changing the way they are seen, to me, is something only an artist can do. The strategic planning and mathematics required to place each individual ship on the panel is something non-traditional in the typical ancient world. It's taking away their use. Doing such a thing gives William Morris the title of artist. These ships were not made for consumer purposes. Perhaps his mass production of these vessels, and displaying them all at once, is a commentary on how glassmaking was viewed in the ancient world. As a craft rather than an art form. Resembling the nature of objects is part of what makes William Morris an artist. He does this while making a statement about something. This is what artists do. Not artisans. He takes inspiration from nature and then creates whatever comes to mind. Once he starts working, deeper ideas and meanings come to him. For example Cache from 1993. At the time he was interested in creating very large pieces of glass. But at the time he didn't like what he was working on. So the combination of several large pieces came to mind. This is where the idea for Cache was born. He threw away all previous ideas for his installation and started working on this one. (Creative Nature 4:30) His idea grew along with the deeper meaning behind the piece. He explains that these tusk-like pieces reflected “the confiscation that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, when huge quantities of ivory and artefacts were taken, 2 3:46)