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At the JUG & BASIN, we honour what has long been categorized as women’s craft as art. Remember your grandmother knitting or crocheting? Needlepoint? Sewing? Painting?
For centuries, men’s creations were considered art, but if a woman made something with her hands, it was craft. Time to honour the craft for what it is – art in all its forms.
Often times women used their creative skills to build objects useful for living – quilts, tablecloths, dresser scarves, clothing, food. Yet the patterns they developed, the colours they used, the skill of application were ignored in an era where fine arts, like painting and sculpture, could be practiced and celebrated. The privilege of gender put value on men’s artistic achievements often relegating women’s to domestic output.
In an effort to simplify and save time, machines were developed to knit, sew, bead , to name a few, cheapening the impact of these domestic items. When a machine can create lace somewhat similar to any found in Ireland or Italy, who needs the hand-made item from the women in the community? Handmade items became more rare and the intricacy of their beauty almost lost.
Just over the last decade, we’ve seen a resurgence in women’s art – people are picking up the needles again to engage and explore in textures, colours, style and design. Art is a creative endeavour and is expressed in so many ways. So let’s honour those from our past who crocheted doilies, made smock dresses or embroidered napkins. Let’s not scoff at the relative simplicity of these pieces but connect them to the hands that worked them. Let’s see them as art and not craft – for that is what they are.
