Art vs. Craft

[untonuggan]

I have always wondered about what seems to me to be an artificial distinction between art and craft. The societal narrative seems to go, "Serious artists make art, but crafts are for those homemakers who shop at Michael's every week." (Note: not that I think being a homemaker or shopping at Michael's are bad things.) Or perhaps it's because so many "crafts" (knitting, quilting, crochet, sewing, etc.) are traditionally done by women. Never mind that when you're done knitting a scarf, not only is it beautiful, it keeps you warm. It's wearable art.

I offer a brief example from a recent Washington Post review of Artomatic, a local unjuried art show.

"And Kristin Bohlander's use of sheep's wool - more sculptural than artsy-craftsy - is richly textural."

I love how the author throws in "artsy-craftsy" as though it's a bad thing. Of course, he also knocks Star Trek slash fan-art a few paragraphs later.

Does anyone else have this particular beef with knitting's typical designation as a craft? Is the word "craft" something that should be reclaimed in the way that "queer" is being reclaimed by the LGBTQ community? What is the line between art and craft?

Comments

[woldy]

Or perhaps it's because so many "crafts" (knitting, quilting, crochet, sewing, etc.) are traditionally done by women. I think it's a combination of the sexism you point out, class elitism, and ethnocentrism.

Over the past few centuries in the West, 'art' has been what the aristocracy pay for, and anything used by ordinary people is 'craft'. That distinction also helped Westerners to argue that non-Western cultures weren't producing real or high quality art (further evidence that they're not civilized!), so often non-Western art ends up in anthropology museums instead of art galleries. Not everybody still uses that distinction, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York includes a lot of things that others might regard as craft (e.g. the costumes and musical instruments).

I don't think there's any difference in terms of skill, or creativity, and IMHO denigrating craft shows the ignorance and prejudices of the person doing it.

...She says, wearing a handknitted sweater made by her grandma (with Lopi yarn and a Norwegian circular pattern) in the 1970s. It's keeping me warm, and it sure looks like art to me.

[untonuggan]

That's exactly what I was trying to get at. Thanks for putting it so eloquently.