Recently I wrote a bit about how the word “activism” is often misconstrued, but what about the “craft” part of craftivism? Unfortunately, it too, is frequently viewed in a negative light.
As a kid, the word craft was synonymous with popsicle sticks (post-popsicle), potholder looms and Elmer’s glue. As I grew older, it also became synonymous with the word “crap.” I remember being taken to local craft festivals by my parents for a cultural outdoor-type activity and looking at booth after booth of items that were more often than not more visually appealing than the scribbles I brought home from art class or the lumps of clay I proudly called “ashtrays” or “bowls,” things that also were considered crafts. Everything in those booths was perfectly created to the point that they looked mass-produced.
It was as if in an effort to obtain profit, artisans mirrored what they were ethically trying to avoid, an impersonal approach to aesthetic beauty. From these semi-frequent outings, I began to see craft as something best ignored and devalued. Little did I know that I was already actively taking part in an ongoing devaluation of the word “craft.”
While it failed to help my argument for the positive side of “activism,” Dictionary.com delivered the goods on “craft: “1. skill in doing or making something, as in the arts; proficiency. 2. skill in evasion or deception; guile. 3a. An occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or skilled artistry. 3b. The membership of such an occupation or trade; guild.”
Thanks to the postmodern invention of the internet, subjectivity’s influence in things published (in whatever form) is at new heights. This is no exception.
Somewhere during the art vs. craft debate that has been waging for more than a century, the notion that craft required “skilled artistry” (or that such “skilled artistry” should be valued) was lost. While “art” was made hallowed on the walls of exclusive galleries in expensive cities, “craft” was relegated to horror stories of three-armed sweaters knit by aged pensioners who were still nostalgic to create as opposed to consume.
Just as Jean-Michel Basquiat* reminded us that art has many forms and can be found where you least expect it, (although his early career was a much better representation of my argument here than his later career…) the recent** revival of craft was born out of rejection of the mainstream, not an embracement of it. After constantly being bombarded with advertisements, billboards and commercials trying to dictate what we should eat, wear, do and choose, it is essentially a no-brainer that a craft like knitting permeated into the mainstream. It seemed radical and ironic not because we were looking for a way out of technology, but because we were searching for a way to escape rampant materialism.
While yarn stores (mostly chain craft stores) do advertise their products, the posters advertising a ball of yarn on sale are much less seductive than a jean jacket bought off the rack and worn by Kate Moss in the shop window. Instead of buying something and wearing it to work the next day, an act of creation takes place with handcrafts. Suddenly the crafter becomes a part of the finished items history instead of just acquiring it post-production.
This allowance back into our wardrobe choices ushers in a new take on craft in a new century, after years of mass production, sweatshop abuses and looking like everyone else, craft’s PR boost has enabled us, the consumer, to become skilled in something besides the remote control. And as I become adept with my craft supplies, I am creating products that marry proficiency with uniquity, products that embrace the term “craft” proudly instead of apologetically.
By becoming a part of our possessions’ conception, we are helping to destroy a definition of “craft” as something to be ridiculed, as we realize that “craft” is more than just the finished product- it is also about creating something that is as exciting to make as it is to wear. In re-valuing age-old definitions, it’s possible to shift cultural paradigms just a wee bit, stitch by stitch.
*Early in his career, Basquiat did a series of graffiti pieces under the name SAMO. I found the above photograph here. If you can’t read German, there’s more here.
**It’s really not-so-recent, unless you consider something that has been eyed as trendy for half a decade “recent.” But then again, this matters entirely on where you get your news or what circles you belong to and is a subject for another semi-rantible day.
