Legitimizing crafts

A friend of mine, who is a fantastic fiber artist, posted a link recently to a really great blog post at Ask Harriete about the tendency of people to copy the work of crafters, sometimes blatantly! You can read the original article here. (Thanks for the link, Liz, I'll be reading this blog more often, it's really good!)

I rolled it around in my head. I've been guilty of the same thing, and I wondered why. it wasn't hard to make the leap to the conclusion. Here is my response:

I've done it. In my head I've said, " I can make that." Sometimes I can (because it's not that original or cool) sometimes I buy the artist's work (because it is cool and original). It seems to me, though the very reason that people feel that it is ok to copy it is how we the artists put our work out there. We call them crafts. as they are, but craft in our society implies something very different. Craft implies accessibility, a hobby, something anyone can do or teach. Think about it, we have craft stores, craft groups, craft shows. At each and every one we show "crafts". This very fact implies to our customers that this is something anyone can do. 

I was once in a fiber guild who met at an art studio. They referred to themselves as artists and their items as art. They may have worked in a craft, but their pieces were all art. I found that people changed their attitudes when they looked at the pieces. They stopped being something "anyone" could do and started being the individual and unique work of an artist. People are less willing to ask an artist their techniques than they are willing to ask a "crafter" about them. I remember when one member of that same guild had knitted eyelash scarves in a juried gallery! These were the stuff of craft shows, but because she presented them as art, that is what they became. 

Now I'm not trying to negate the author's points, I think they are fantastic, actually. I cringe each time I hear "Oh, I could make that!" even though I myself have said it in my head. It's just rude. My thought, though, is that if we begin treating our own work as art and calling ourselves artists or artisans, and our work as art, we may see less of that "craft" mentality. 

Imagine as a weaver that you have a booth at an arts (never crafts!) show where you introduce your pieces as "handwoven scarves". Your next door neighbor markets hers as "one of a kind wearable art pieces" and makes her artist's resume accessible. It will absolutely change the attitude of the people viewing the items. It won't fix the problem, but it's definitely something to consider when we market our work. I think it will go a long way towards legitimizing our work as well.