I’ve just been browsing Claudia Chase’s blog (she’s the creator of the Mirrix Tapestry and Bead Loom, as well as a tapestry artist, to the uninitiated), and in a post about the demarcations between art and craft, she offers a third alternative:
“This leads us to the third definition of what we can be when we create things. It is this definition that causes the most obfuscation because it straddles the other two. It is also the thing that many fiber artists are: the artist/craftsperson. This person gets attacked from one side for being too technique oriented and from the other for assuming a grandiose self-image. The artist/craftsperson is simply an artist who is striving to perfect her or his craft. The concept is elegant in its simplicity, but it is also very slippery and hard to hold.”
I’m still unconvinced myself; I just find it hard to care too much about the label. There are positive and negative associations with both (or all, if we include the third alternative), as defined by Claudia above.
Personally, I think I’m just going to opt out: I’ll opt for a fourth label, ’creator’. When applied to myself, I consider the term more appropriate, as it’s the ideas, and the communication of ideas that seem to be my priority. And, as a term, it is specific to neither art nor craft.
The problem with language is that despite what you might think, it is not definitive. When you say one thing, and you mean it, somebody else can say exactly the same thing, but by their own perception mean something entirely different. There’s never going to be agreement on something that is a very personal, entirely subjective argument.
Let me finish exactly as I did in my previous post on this topic:
The label matters least of everything: craft can be art and art can be craft. So create the pieces you want to create, and call it what you like.
