Weird.  Nearly identical conversations happening in a sculpture forum and a UX forum.  Practitioners of both are debating whether it is okay for someone else to implement you stuff or if the designers / artist MUST  execute the full implementation of their idea themselves.  My perspective contains a little of both views.

I am a user experience designer creating the interaction for software products, web sites, mobile, etc.   In that realm some people feel that the designer must also be the programmer.   Many others such as myself feel that while it is useful for the designer to write some code and absolutely essential that he/she understand the capabilities, limitations, and other nuances of the technology, the slippery slope.  In going down that path, he/she risks becoming just another geek, making geek-oriented stuff that only another geek would appreciate.  User Experience design, as the name implies, must be focused on the audience who will encounter the product and giving them the kind of experience intended.  The technology is the means, not the end.   The vision of the experience is owned by the designer or artist.

Now, having said all of that, when making art, I love being hands on with my materials and processes.  Doing direct metal sculpture puts me completely in touch with the end product.   In my particular case, the intrinsic properties of the material in all its rough and jagged glory is a primary element and a main point psychologically.  My recent work is actually a celebration of technology design and at the same time, an open rebellion against its slick technology aesthetic.  It is full of dichotomy and contradiction.  The materials are a key element in that and everything is hands on.

This does not mean that I may not choose to involve other processes and methods and people in my work at a later time.  No puritanical rant here.  Such would be utter nonsense anyway because to incorporate any found objects or man-made or even nature-made materials is to inherit the contribution made by others or other processes.  Unless you happen to be God, you might as well go ahead and acknowledge that you are never the sole contributor to your creation.

I’ve seen some very large sculpture pieces recently that suggested to me that the artist was out of touch with the scale and material of the final implementation. working in a design medium whether wax, clay, CAD, etc., the artist must keep the scale material and other attributes of the final delivery medium in mind. That is easier to do when the artist is the one executing the entire process, but even that is no guaranty that the artist will be in touch with it. Everyone has their own comfort zones. Nor is it a given that the artist who hands of some or all of the delivery to another person or process will be out of touch.

Visioning through complex mediums and processes to achieve a desired outcome is a talent and skill as much as wielding the torch or brush ones’ self is a skill. The grander the vision, the more likely that delivering it will entail the contributions of others. Mastering that will enable achievement of that vision.