Our Hard Earned Craft

How Craft was thrown a Huckleberry Finn funeral and the crowd made a fool of itself...

I was at a lecture last night declaring the death of Craft. So begin with a metaphor that is not my own, the cruise ship S.S. Craft has sunken into the briny depths. The critics, academics, and gallerists drilled at the hull until it was the nautical equivalent of swiss cheese. And now the voyage is over and what a stuffy, pretentious, cruise it must have been. Good riddance.

Last night it was said that “Design does not need art for voracity,” well Craft does not need academia for voracity. Better it function without, than be attached to shuffling elderly feet. What the academics and businessmen are dealing with is the removal of the reins from their hands. Craft is not what has died. The critics, academics, and gallerists have. It was the internet that killed them. Etsy, Make, Instructables, Craft, all present a much more logical venue for making. And the kicker is that they all do it better than art. Much better.

Art came late to the scene, and has dragged its critics, galleries, time tables, and incessant fears of copyright along for its digital ride. If only it could have been declared dead instead. But, Craft networks with their openness have all been able to create a collective community that is self supporting. The individual is in charge of the work and everyone shows in the same venue. Most importantly any of the “art envy” that occurred in the gallery world immediately dries up when removed from that hostile environment. No longer going head to head with art, there is much more investment in the making.

The ideal has finally been reached just in time for the critics to declare it dead.