We So Crafty

Originally Published in Textile Fibre Form, Issue 121, March 2016

Do you ever feel like your art is under-appreciated? If you just said, “No, never, not once,” I am giving you all sorts of pursed lips and side-eye right now! C’mon! Instead, I bet most of you just did a knowing little head-nod, and thought to yourself, “More times than I can count the few remaining hairs on my partner’s head!” So most of you are feeling me then. I thought so. It doesn’t matter if you make beaded art quilts, hand-dyed silk kimonos, or woven-hemp baskets, there’s going to be a lot of people who just won’t comprehend the time and skill required to do what you do. You, my dears, are under-appreciated.

Let me tell you a story. One time this woman came up to me at a quilt show, looked at my hanging king-sized quilt which was pieced from 1.5” squares and brazenly said, “These blankets are so pretty, I should make one like this.” She then proceeded to watch as her kid’s jam-stained hands felt up my quilt with a passion. Oblivious to the eyes bugging out of my head and the telepathic screams in my brain, I smiled and said to her, “I consider my quilts part of the canon of textile arts, not just blankets to keep you warm.” I know it was snooty, and there certainly was no love lost, but how do you tell people that what you’re creating is art, even if it is part of the craft movement? Just because something may be utilitarian first and foremost, does not mean it can’t also be beautifully dressed to the nines!

I sympathise with you art quilt makers the most though. You have a whole other battle as I doubt those things are keeping anyone warm! Well, maybe the little ones in your family, but they’ll probably be pinned to the floor for a while under the heft of that thing! Because of their sole decorative function, you have to prove their worth based purely on aesthetic form, while using materials that have a traditionally utilitarian place in our society. Let’s face it, beauty is far more expendable in a lot of households. (Not mine, I tell you, not mine!)  So what are we going to do?

First and foremost, you gotta keep on pressing on and spread the gospel about what we do! As a recent friend (and I use that term loosely after this conversation) said to me when he found out I sold a queen-sized bed quilt for two thousand dollars, “I would never pay that for just a quilt!” Exsqueeze me? I countered, “But would you pay that much for a painting half the size that hung on the wall?” Yeah, that caught him a bit off-guard, and he actually paused to think about it. I didn’t press the situation, because you know, I didn’t want to be a total ass about the whole thing.

Then this strange turn of events happened. A few weeks later this same friend was over having drinks—yeah, I invited him again—and he actually asked to come into my sewing studio. This is strange, I thought. Then he asked for me to explain my process. Then he started inspecting my quilts with interest and examining them piece by piece. He turned blocks over, trying to figure out how they were constructed. Finally he said, “Wow, this is a helluva lot of work. Now I understand.” Unbelievably, he was showing appreciation for my craft. I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome! However, I do not believe things would have unfolded in such a resolute way had we not had our original confrontation.

I must confess as a doe-eyed, earnest, young man, even I thought craft was dumb. No, really, I did. It wasn’t until I fully understood the pains of my grandmother’s fingers, and then eventually my own, that I appreciated it for the amazingly hard work that it is. So keep sharing, and change the opinions of whomever you can, because that is the only way we will be able to leave this world an ever craftier place than we found it.