A discussion of the age old distinction of art versus craft. How does knitting and crochet fit into these terms?
As much as I would love to have knitting be a sole source of income for me, it's not, so occasionally you'll find me working at my local art store helping others find the tools they need to be creative. One of the things I enjoy about my job though is that you do strike up some good conversation with people, and when I'm knitting at work there are a lot of customers that get really interested in what I'm doing.
They ask me what I'm making, how long I've been knitting, and even I'll get specific questions ("what method of decrease is easiest for you?" etc.). However, I was confronted with a different sort of statement a few days ago. While knitting a man said to me, "That's neat, but it's a little weird in a fine arts store, that's more of a craft!" I replied to him, "Have you ever tried knitting? Try it and tell me that it's not an art." He told me he had tried it once, but not more than that, then he asked, "What's the difference between art and craft?" And I asked him "What do you think is the difference?"
I have my own dividing line between art and craft. I suppose one could say that the difference is that craft is utilitarian while art is made purely for the sake of it, but I find that too solid a line, it doesn't allow things to overlap into the two perceived categories.
I consider myself an artist and a crafter, or perhaps neither. I paint, I draw, I make prints, I'm a photographer, but I also sew, I knit, I crochet, I'm a bookmaker. So what does that make me? Where does the art stop and the craft begin? I believe that art and craft aren't so different; what is different is each person's idea of art and craft. I think it's more of a mind frame than the actual item that a person makes. I don't consider all crafts art, and I'm sure there are others that would contest my idea of knitting being called an art.
What I consider art is to take a raw material (wood, metal, paint, yarn...) and create it into something with form, with dimension, with meaning or with use. A wood sculpture is art, just as much as a hand-knit sweater is art. Anything that allows you to realize your creativity in your own terms is art to me, and that most definitely does include knitting and crochet.
Let us remember what the actual term "craft" means as well. Merriam-Webster's defines it as "an occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill." So perhaps all craft is art, and all art is craft after all.
© Kelly Gilliam, text and images, 2006. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
