Craft has been around as long as humans can remember. ‘45,000 years ago, early humans crossed vast distances of ocean on boats made of reeds. These reeds were bundled and bound with woven cordage.’ Daniel Wheeler 2018 p.27. Craft is something that we are born into exploring. What I mean by this is from the first chance we get humans will naturally make things with their hands whether it is a sandcastle, a daisy chain or even finger knitting. However, the relationship between a woman and craft looks slightly different. For centuries dating back into ancient times craft was part of the domestic image for a woman. While men were getting taught maths, science and English in school, women were getting taught how to sew, knit and crochet. There was this idea that craft should be innate to a woman and be part of their domestic role. As time evolved this slowly started to fall from the education system and traditional gender roles also have changed immensely.

Recently in our modern-day society we have seen a resurgence in the popularity of craft making, including among young women. Often using craft for political leverage ‘Artist Judy Chicago who used a range of textile crafts in her installation The Dinner Party (1970s), a political work that challenged the omission of women from history, have argued for and continue to argue for the importance of valuing craft and craft making practices’ M. Grace, E. Gandolfo 2014 p.56. Craft is a highly skilful process no matter what form and the less it is being taught now the more appreciation people have for those who can display traditional practices of it.

This idea that craft should be innate is now not so prominent in society, but that leaves the question as to why craft is still looked down upon as a lower form of art. This idea that for example a painting holds a lot more artistic value than a handmade skirt is something that simply doesn’t make sense. Both objects you’d argue took countless hours, both handmade and both expressions of creativity thus you’d think they’d both be viewed equally. Unfortunately, this is not the case a painting can be sold for thousands, but a craft maker is lucky to get hundreds for a piece.

This systemic sexism is what divides craft from art whether we like it or not craft is viewed lower because once upon a time it was just a given for women to be able to do it, and because we live in a male dominated world something tailored towards women will never be equal to that of a man. When you think about how craft is learnt the first thing that often comes to a person’s mind is ‘the transfer of skills from mother to daughter, from grandmother to granddaughter, is relatively common among the craftswomen.’ M. Grace, E. Gandolfo 2014 p.57. And none of that learning process requires a man so how can it possibly be as good as other forms of art. Right?

References:

Grace, M. and Gandolfo, E. (1970) Narrating complex identities: Contemporary women and craft: Semantic scholar, Womens Studies International Forum. Available at: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Narrating-complex-identities%3A-Contemporary-women-Grace-Gandolfo/f905f07e4d2a9551155ef0859812364dfac72d7c (Accessed: April 20, 2023).

Saito, Y. (2022) “The role of Imperfection in consumer aesthetics,” Imperfectionist Aesthetics in Art and Everyday Life, pp. 203–217. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003251361-20.

Wheeler, D. (2017) “Manifesto for Handwork,” The Design-Build Studio, pp. 24–30. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315650746-4.

Firestation Print Studio Instagram Account (no date) Login • instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/fpsfirestationprintstudio/ (Accessed: April 22, 2023).