Is craft Art?

I think that a good description of most craft is: "Beautiful things made by slightly barmy women (mainly) from hoarded treaures"!  And I agree there is a big gap between the crafts of the Craft Council shows and what we see at craft fairs, and what about country crafts? Dry stone walling is a craft technically. Very different to sparkly Xmas cards.

Hi Sara,

I've just popped over from the patchwork forum to see what this is all about!

Art, craft, I love it all!   I need it for my sanity!

Good luck with the new website.

Ros

 

Like Ros I've come over from the PP site. This one is hotly debated Sara, both the definition of art and craft. I tend to lean towards art as something that is designed purely for display purposes rather than being functional but having said that much of the work in the craft world is decorative as well. And of course there are craftspeople whose work is displayed in galleries. Also referring to your definition there is a lot of art that would never be described as beautiful (I am not a fan of soiled bed linen or preserved animals!) I think this is one debate that will never be fully resolved.

 

Maggi 

I think some creations are borderline and could be classed as both art and craft.  On a personal level I feel, that the more inspiration I put into a project the more artisitic it is.  For example, if I knit a jumper from a ready made pattern, I would not class this as art or even artistic.  However, if  I created a cross stitch sampler from scratch, including drawing up the design myself, I would certainily think of it as artistic, if not necessarily art.  Overall I agree with Maggi, that this is a debate, that may never be fully resolved.