Craft Spoken Here is an exhibit at the Perlman Building (part of Phila Museum of Art). The idea here is to discuss Craft as Art and illustrate that Art can be created with what is traditionally tools of craft. I listened to an NPR radio discussion about this exhibit and feel, as one of the guests pointed out, "that train has left the station."
And yet, it is a discussion that continues and good-on, I say. The work in the exhibit is beautiful and in some cases very provocative.
It doesn't matter what a piece of art is made from, does it? To make art, meaning or beauty transcends media.
Some (alot) of what is considered Craft is traditionally women's craft; such as the above piece. There is no mistaking The One for craft, though.
Say you go to the bookstore to look for Gee's Bend Quilter's exhibition book. You will NOT find it in the art section. It is in the quilting section amidst the how-to manuals.
We have a long way to go, clearly. The train may have left the station in my mind and yours but not in the mainstream. Think about this too: learning to paint or draw (or anything creative) requires craftsmanship. You (or I, someday) could crochet 1,000 granny squares using odds and ends of yarn from relatives' sweaters. Exhibited in a museum, this could be considered Art but thrown over a bed, it is simply a blanket.
Some years ago, I walked into the home of one of my daughter's friends. The first thing I saw was a knitted piece - large: 5 x 5' -ish. Knitted in a gray-white by the mother during her time with the Israeli army, it documented the hours she spent "watching the door" (this is how she explained it). The square was not at all square. The tensions were different throughout as her mood shifted from tense to relaxed to nervous and anxious. Art.
And your thoughts?
PS: The top photo is the front of the Perlman Museum, gussied up with swags of knit and tapestries of crochet. Yarn-bombed (I love it). And is that graffitti? But that is the topic for another post.
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