punk

Why Craft = Punk Rock (A Revisit from 2004)

| Betsy

This is repost from March 23, 2004. You can see the entirety of that post here. I still think that the “grandmother” issues is as important today as it was then. What do you think? Also, aren’t you glad I use “regular” punctuation now?

there is a press frenzy surrounding [knitting] and i’ve been dealing with people who are calling knitting a ‘trend,’ a ‘fad,’ a ‘craze’ and i can’t help but get a little but frustrated by it all yet continually finding it all naive. both my reaction to the press interest as well as their wanting to just find a creative angle to fit their byline.

i don’t do my various crafts because it’s ‘trendy,’ although i do sometimes have crafty dreams that include everyone turning off their televisions and making stuff, whether it’s knitting a sweater or making macaroni necklaces or screenprinting fliers for a local demo. anything as long as you are letting your passion be your guide rather than what’s seen a ‘popular for the moment.’

i’m fascinated by the emails i get from people in regards to their pure love of various crafts. some of them are confused about what i’m trying to do here with this blog or in various work i do. i want to be a resource for people that want to help other people with their various crafty endeavours. maybe i’m helping to fill that void, or maybe i’m just taking up more space on the interweb, i’m not sure most days.

no, everything i make doesn’t go to charity. but some of it does.

the other part of my crafty dream is that everyone becomes conscious of all of their actions.by asking things like: do i need this? do i want to support this company? how can i help? where does my passion lie?

it is all quite emo and i’m sure my parents would conclude that i’m now a hippie.

but it’s about more than that.

my background is firmly entrenched in punk rock. i was always cutting and pasting my own little zines (and then hiding them under my bed because i felt they were crap) or daydreaming about playing drums in the next bikini kill.

but i never felt like i was good enough at anything really to make my mark. it was only when i started learning to knit, crochet, embroider, screenprint, make books, felt, etc etc that i regained my own sense of self and that fire that punk rock put in my belly when i was 16.

craft to me is very punk rock and it’s hard to read article after article about how craft is just for ‘grannies.’ i love my grandmother who knits, she is kickass, but i’m also inspired daily by the way that punk rock influences my own brand of activism and craft. craftivism, if you will.

who knows, maybe you feel the same way, maybe not. but i can never ignore how punk rock shaped my crafting. i owe my creativity to it, and it’s so not just a trend. and some days i get homesick for people who understand that.

xo

Craft + DIY = Punk?

| Betsy

Below is the most visited post in my archives, one from March 23, 2004 called Why Craft = Punk Rock. In 2004, I was living in London, getting my MA and had just started writing and researching about craft and community. It was before all the press and essays and was a true time of discovery. It was the beginning of the press frenzy and interviews at the start of UK’s finding craft as a subversive act.

Fast forward 5 years, and I think of all the places craft has brought me and all the wonderful people it has allowed me to meet. I never would have thought that the tenets behind this post would influence, well, everything that followed. Everything. Where did your craft spirit originate? What gives you fire in your belly? As I’m in the process of changing gears, looking for work* that helps women find their creative spirit in developing countries, I’m reminded of this post below. And I’m wondering where this new journey will take me, who I will meet, and held safe in the knowledge that my belief in the power of craft and creativity is real and deep and pure.

*

Living in London, I’m constantly amazed by the fact that the so-called ‘subversive craft scene’ is non-existent. In the U.S., it is everywhere you look and it’s not so much a ‘call to arms’ as it is an expression of something I/you/we can do with our own hands to make our own lives as well as the lives of others a little bit better in the chaos of life around us.

Currently I’m helping out with an event called V&A Museum here in London.

There is a press frenzy surrounding it and I’ve been dealing with people who are calling knitting a ‘trend,’ a ‘fad,’ a ‘craze’ and I can’t help but get a little but frustrated by it all yet continually finding it all naive. Both my reaction to the press interest as well as their wanting to just find a creative angle to fit their byline.

I don’t do my various crafts because it’s ‘trendy,’ although I do sometimes have crafty dreams that include everyone turning off their televisions and making stuff, whether it’s knitting a sweater or making macaroni necklaces or screenprinting fliers for a local demo. Anything as long as you are letting your passion be your guide rather than what’s seen a ‘popular for the moment.’

I’m fascinated by the emails I get from people in regards to their pure love of various crafts. Some of them are confused about what I’m trying to do here with this blog or in various work I do. I want to be a resource for people that want to help other people with their various crafty endeavours. Maybe I’m helping to fill that void, or maybe I’m just taking up more space on the interweb, I’m not sure most days.

No, everything I make doesn’t go to charity. but some of it does.

The other part of my crafty dream is that everyone becomes conscious of all of their actions. By asking things like: Do I need this? Do I want to support this company? How can I help? Where does my passion lie?

It is all quite emo and I’m sure my parents would conclude that I’m now a hippie.

But it’s about more than that.

My background is firmly entrenched in punk rock. I was always cutting and pasting my own little zines (and then hiding them under my bed because I felt they were crap) or daydreaming about playing drums in the next Bikini Kill.

But I never felt like i was good enough at anything really to make my mark. It was only when I started learning to knit, crochet, embroider, screenprint, make books, felt, etc etc that I regained my own sense of self and that fire that punk rock put in my belly when I was 16.

Craft to me is very punk rock and it’s hard to read article after article about how craft is just for ‘grannies.’ I love my grandmother who knits, she is kickass, but I’m also inspired daily by the way that punk rock influences my own brand of activism and craft. craftivism, if you will.

Who knows, maybe you feel the same way, maybe not. But I can never ignore how punk rock shaped my crafting. I owe my creativity to it, and it’s so not just a trend. And some days I get homesick for people who understand that.

xo

*Yep. Got any ideas of anyone who might be looking to hire someone with these interests? Get in touch!

the dividing line.

| Betsy

coffee.gif

Part of the following is an email response I sent to someone very talented and bright, regarding divisions she noted in the craft(ing) community:

Over the past few weeks, I’ve thought a lot about your email and the divisions from within the craft(ing) community.

It makes sense that this division should be happening now, as craft has been popular (well, indie-popular) for several years now. Whereas at first, it was like, ‘Holy hell! Marble magnets! That is the most awesome thing ever!,’ where everyone was experimenting and not selling what they made and everyone urged everyone else on.

Then, I remember one case in particular, where someone posted in an online forum that someone else “stole” their idea. Suddenly an idea that was shared in order for people to learn and create became a protected trademark and selling point- and the moment was born where people realized that, yes, there is a market for this kind of thing! People like buying handmade instead of mass-produced! Eureka!

Somewhere along the way, an invisible line has been drawn between the “professionals” (those who sell their creations) versus the “hobbyists” (those who craft mainly for fun instead of profit). We’ve come to a place in the craft resurgence that the “movement” is big enough to sustain multiple groups and cliques and levels. There are the crafty superstars the ones many of us know by first name: Heidi, Leah, Melissa, Susie. There are those that network at craft fairs like Bazaar Bizarre and Crafty Bastards and those that blog and those that hate Debbie Stoller and those that don’t and all of a sudden this little craft world seems almost unrecognizable from the days of “Oh! My! God! You knit too?!”

And it’s a good thing. In order for things to flourish, there must be growth, but what about when people feel left out? It is a bit of a worry when I read on various blogs that individuals are scared to submit something to this site or that zine because it might not make the cut. It’s not necessarily a worry that people are feeling insecure about their creations, but a worry that people are finding themselves detached from a community instead of part of it.

The punk rock aspect of this new craft revolution is that ultimately there is no hierarchy.

As “women’s work” is continuing to be reclaimed and redefined, there is no reason why we, the perpetuators of this so-called movement, should start thinking that we are less important or less talented than someone because we are in it for a different reason. We are defining and molding how craft will be viewed in the future, and ensuring that there even is a future for traditions once seen as antiquated and out-of-date.

Just as we can dare to create things without a pattern, we, too, can create our own definitions of what it means to craft.

i dig punk the most.

| Betsy

ever since the seeming dark days of high school, i have not-so-secretly loved the spinanes. at 18 i thought rebecca gates was a nothing but a genius when she sang, “did you give up punk for lent?”

i thought about this on the tube this afternoon while reading the new issue of punk planet. about how i got an email from a dear friend recently saying how glad she was that i was stickin’ to my ‘punk rock guns’ and ideals.

walking around london, there is nothing but evidence that the ‘spirit of ’77’ is alive and well.

but that’s not what my punk is all about.

it’s about teaching and learning and growing and rocking and making and creating and laughing and loving and well, being.

it’s not about the dick hebdigian notion about the clothes you wear, the vinyl you buy (either in wardrobe or music or both) or whether or not you consider anarchy politically viable. sometimes i think that’s forgotten about.

some of the best punks i know don’t own anything put out by lookout! or know who henry rollins is (in either career). why? because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. it’s not about credentials. some of the punkest moments i’ve ever experienced were without a tattoo or grommet in sight.

as i’ve gotten older (29 on july 11!), i’ve finally begun to realize that it’s not about what you’ve done or who you’ve met, it’s about what your ultimate ideals are. i’ve seen many sparks lit in the teens, only to be extinquished by 21, but i’ve also been privileged enough to have been a part of awakenings that happened in people twice that age.

each time you make something with your own two hands or purchase something that was produced ethically or make choices that don’t weigh heavy on your heart you are creating your own mini-punk rock revolution.

by daring to follow your own dreams and passions you are shaking up the world just a wee bit, creating teeny tiny revolutionary ripples for the rest of us to add to. and i think that’s pretty neat, even though it has nothing to do with how many 7″s you own or whether or not you think that jawbreaker sounded better pre-blake’s operation.

for the record, i still think that rebecca gates is a genius. because ‘punk’ has little to do with a dresscode or a rulebook. it’s all about all those little idiosyncrasies that make you you and living your life the freest and bestest way you know how.

now go pat yourself on the back for being the punk rock revolutionary that you are. go on, you deserve it.
x

why craft = punk rock

| Betsy

living in london, i’m constantly amazed by the fact that the so-called ‘subversive craft scene’ is non-existent. in the u.s., it is everywhere you look and it’s not so much a ‘call to arms’ as it is an expression of something i/you/we can do with our own hands to make our own lives as well as the lives of others a little bit better in the chaos of life around us.

currently i’m helping out with an event called Craft Rocks! at the V&A museum here in london.

there is a press frenzy surrounding it and i’ve been dealing with people who are calling knitting a ‘trend,’ a ‘fad,’ a ‘craze’ and i can’t help but get a little but frustrated by it all yet continually finding it all naive. both my reaction to the press interest as well as their wanting to just find a creative angle to fit their byline.

i don’t do my various crafts because it’s ‘trendy,’ although i do sometimes have crafty dreams that include everyone turning off their televisions and making stuff, whether it’s knitting a sweater or making macaroni necklaces or screenprinting fliers for a local demo. anything as long as you are letting your passion be your guide rather than what’s seen a ‘popular for the moment.’

i’m fascinated by the emails i get from people in regards to their pure love of various crafts. some of them are confused about what i’m trying to do here with this blog or in various work i do. i want to be a resource for people that want to help other people with their various crafty endeavours. maybe i’m helping to fill that void, or maybe i’m just taking up more space on the interweb, i’m not sure most days.

no, everything i make doesn’t go to charity. but some of it does.

the other part of my crafty dream is that everyone becomes conscious of all of their actions.by asking things like: do i need this? do i want to support this company? how can i help? where does my passion lie?

it is all quite emo and i’m sure my parents would conclude that i’m now a hippie.

but it’s about more than that.

my background is firmly entrenched in punk rock. i was always cutting and pasting my own little zines (and then hiding them under my bed because i felt they were crap) or daydreaming about playing drums in the next bikini kill.

but i never felt like i was good enough at anything really to make my mark. it was only when i started learning to knit, crochet, embroider, screenprint, make books, felt, etc etc that i regained my own sense of self and that fire that punk rock put in my belly when i was 16.

craft to me is very punk rock and it’s hard to read article after article about how craft is just for ‘grannies.’ i love my grandmother who knits, she is kickass, but i’m also inspired daily by the way that punk rock influences my own brand of activism and craft. craftivism, if you will.

who knows, maybe you feel the same way, maybe not. but i can never ignore how punk rock shaped my crafting. i owe my creativity to it, and it’s so not just a trend. and some days i get homesick for people who understand that.

xo