Art vs Craft

So over the years I’ve worked for quite a few different organizations and often I get the same thing told to me when I take the position... “We want the students learning ‘art’ not just doing crafts”. I know, sounds weird doesn’t it... or maybe not, maybe you have heard the same thing. This is one thing that I find slightly ridiculous as a statement, and to me proves that the person talking to me has never truly looked into what the museums consider “ART”.

"Nordic Blue Ice Flow: Homage to the St. Lawrence River", 1984, Micheline Beauchemin 

There are a LOT of museums have "Art" consisting of crafty things. I feel that Art and Craft are two peas in the same pod. They both express feelings, take time to create and learn, and illicit emotions while creating them and after they are complete. What else do you want "Art" to do??

So my response to this is fairly simple. (If not time consuming) I tend to find some piece or artist to reference back my work back to so that the person in charge starts to understand that there is not much of a difference. (You can also look at the definitions of Art and Craft, by this Craft is the active doing of creating Art, interesting hunh) There are a lot of pieces that either are simply handy crafts  (as in Knitting, Crochet, etc) or they are used withing a larger piece of work.

Micheline Beauchemin, is one of such artist (image above). Known as a textile artist she created her works in Quebec and has exhibited them in many Canadian Museums. She has received many honours including the Prix Paul-Émile Borduas and the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (source). But what's great about her work is that it's a great example that art and craft can be used hand in hand.

Another interesting piece of Craft/Art is the patchwork created by Brian Jungen. This British Columbia artist has created a beautiful piece of work called the People's Flag (shown below). This piece used second hand clothing collected in Vancouver, and London England and was sewn together on site (source). This is another great example of Arts and Crafts merging into one! Imagine being at the museum and seeing someone sewing together his art work, I think it's just fabulous!!

"People's Flag", 2006, Brian Jungen

So hopefully this disuades the idea that Crafting isn't art. There are A LOT of other great artists out there that use knitting, crochet, sewing, applique, and other interesting materials. All of these artist had to learn "crafts" in order to create their art.

So go out there and learn a "craft". I've been learning knitting, crochet and even scrap-booking. All of these mediums are great uses in art and are quite complicated art themselves. You should just check out some of the amazing works and patterns found on Ravelry! The detail and intricacy of some of these works is amazing and should be displayed in galleries!!

Get out there and learn a "Craft" :) and over time you will realize the "Art" involved!
Keep Creating!
Angie :)