Professional plumbing and art – not a pair you would typically put in the same category. The two have more in common than you might think. I’d like to challenge you today to expand your understanding of what art is.
It’s not just paintings, and music, and beautiful performances. You interact with art every day, living with it and working with it, and you don’t even recognize it as such.
In this article, you’ll find examples of plumbing as art, and how you encounter it every day without realizing it. Read on to expand your understanding of professional plumbing as art!
Plumbing Perfectly Fits the Definition of the Word “Art”
Have you ever looked up the definition of the word “art?” Truthfully, it has several definitions, but among them are a few that perfectly describe plumbing.
According to dictionary.com, one way to define the word art is “skilled workmanship, execution, or agency, as distinguished from nature.”
Another definition is “the principles or methods governing any craft or branch of learning” and “the craft, trade, or profession using these principles or methods.”
My question to you is this: Doesn’t plumbing require skilled workmanship that is not found in nature? And isn’t professional plumbing a craft, or trade, that uses certain methods to solve problems? I believe the answer to these questions is yes, and yes!
Modern Plumbing Is Used to Make Art Every Day
Take a trip to Las Vegas and visit the famous Fountains of the Bellagio, or to Disneyland Resort in California, and you will see for yourself the visual art that can be achieved only with the assistance of modern plumbing.
Shows like the Fountains of the Bellagio and Disneyland’s World of Color transform a seemingly simple pool of water into a spectacle of light, color, and music. How do they do it? Both shows have a highly sophisticated programmable plumbing system that allows the water to “dance,” moving in a myriad of different ways.
The Art of Plumbing in Your Daily Life
You don’t need to travel all the way to Las Vegas or California to witness the wonder of plumbing in action. Take a visit to a local water park, like Wet & Wild Emerald Pointe here in Greensboro, and you’ll be amazed at what innovative plumbing can achieve.
Everything from thrilling water rides to lazy rivers to wave pools is possible thanks to the highly skilled plumbing technicians that design them.
Aquariums, garden ponds or fountains, and public drinking fountains are all examples of the modern art of plumbing. We interact with these things on a daily basis and don’t even think about the skill it must take to create them, which may be why we don’t appreciate plumbing as an art.
Before you are quick to dismiss something as not being art just because it doesn’t fit the conventional idea of what “art” is, remember what you’ve learned here. Anything that involves skill, science, knowledge, method, and craft is art. If professional plumbing can be considered an art form, anything can!