craftivism.

Rayna Fahey’s The Making and Baking of Banners and Biscuits

Nov 19th, 2012

This is a video from Rayna Fahey that for some strange reason I never posted. However, on the internet, it’s never too late!

From Rayna’s original post on this:

The Making and Baking.. was born out of a desire to contribute to the conversation about the value of handmade. All too often purveyors of handmade goods find themselves having to justify their prices in the face of mass production of consumerables. Comparing a uniquely designed, handmade piece of clothing against a one of thousands, sweat shop produced item shouldn’t even happen, yet it does. And far too often makers are left to defend their ‘high’ prices, when the reality is that the mass producers should be the ones explaining their prices. This Is Handmade is a brilliant video project which works with this idea.

The Making and Baking.. was also inspired by observations of gender within the arts. As a mother and an artist I rarely have the luxury of uninterrupted creative time, I share my creative space with small children and I have to manage gallery time with childcare. These are not really issues that phase me as my children are my muses and are very much a part of my practice. What interests me is the different status that artists attract due to their family status. Certainly my experience and observation of group shows is that it’s the single guys who get the most time and attention paid to their art.

Luckily for me, my practice tends to attract similarly radical curators and art workers so my colleagues have always been open to supporting my children being present and part of my art. However, I know this is not reflective of the art world as a whole. Hopefully this piece will plant some seeds for people to think about the way they value art workers as parents.

This Is Handmade is a video project by the very talented Penney Nickels.

What’s the project?

From This is Handmade:

IF YOU CAN’T SIT THROUGH 5 MINUTES OF MIND-NUMBINGLY BORING ASS HANDWORK, THEN YOU DON’T GET TO WHINE ABOUT HOW MUCH IT COSTS. IT’S JUST AS TEDIOUS FOR US AS IT IS FOR THE VIEWER. IT REALLY IS. AND WE DON’T GET HEALTH INSURANCE.