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

[hyperbole]

I haven't given much thought to the issue (although it's definitely interesting!) but for me, "a work of art" is unique and cannot be reproduced with the same outcome (kind of like a failed chemistry (science-in-general...) experiment), while something "crafted" can be done again and again by many different people with approximately the same result. Of course there are many things that can't be redone exactly the same way that aren't art and probably lots of items that are clearly art that can actually be made just-so again.

I personally prefer "craft" to "art" because art seems to have to be useless. I can't fathom making or buying something just because it's pretty if it doesn't also fill a function (and no, looking pretty isn't function enough - I have tried!). As a knitter I really struggle to find something I want to both make (because it's pretty) and use (because it's useful and unannoying) - I love the look of shawls and knitting lace in general, but I just am not a shawl person and I can only justify having so many shawls at the bottom of my wardrobe.