Something that has been playing on my mind since studying the feminist art movement of the 1970s has been the struggle for inclusion within an exclusive traditional art historical canon of craft processes. Fine art, described by a canon of movements led by male figureheads, did not have space amongst its ranks for the female and domestic processes that made up craft practice. The play of tension between arts and crafts was deliberately addressed in the philosophies of the Arts and Crafts movement of the 19th century. The movement, led by William Morris, sought to elevate the downtrodden decorative arts to the status of fine art. However, the rule of the traditional art historical canon lives on, even today. Actually, I think the tumultuous history of craft and its relationship to traditional art forms has pushed progress within craft artforms in an exciting direction. Craft methods are progressing in an entirely different sphere from contemporary art practice, but all the while they refer back to it with the self-awareness and humour of which fine art can sometimes be bereft.
Stephanie Casper – “Sausages”
Image from stephcasper.com
Being forced to develop in parallel to, rather than as part of, the world of fine art has encouraged exciting originality in craft, especially in the world of textiles and knitting. Despite concerted forward-thinking efforts on the part of the curators of contemporary art exhibitions to promote craft practice as a legitimate form of contemporary art, the legacy of exclusion has left its mark. Elegant wit and sharp satire infuses much of knitting practice today. Aware of its exclusion from traditional history, craft pokes fun at and rejects the tropes and themes of traditional art as it begins to make its own historical canon.
Lorna Giézot – “Before, During, After”, 2001
Image from http://www.lornagiezot.com
As well as scuptural forms, the process of knitting lends itself to wrapping; enveloping other forms and lending them a new significance. I’m not sure if one is meant to discuss votes for the Woolgather art prize in Leeds (www.woolgatherartprize.com) so I shall keep shtum about specifics, but one of my favourite works there was Karen Logan’s knit-wrapped gravestone. The bold colours and concealment of a sacred shrine to a life lost may at first appear irreverent or disrespectful, but the series is in fact a documentation of her family tree. By covering the stones with her own knitting, she has innovated a new form of commemoration; these “cosies” create a monument to her “caring detective work” and her family heritage.
Karen Logan – “Krysia” (2011) from the “Close Knit” series
Image from the Woolgather Art Prize 2012
Karen Logan -“Marjory” (2009) from the “Close Knit” series
Image from karenlogan.blogspot.co.uk
Agata Oleksiak grabbed headlines last month with her knitted wraps of the Antony Gormley figures on Crosby Beach in Merseyside. In this work, Oleksiak is truly using the the neglected craft of knitting to take over the space in which figurehead artists of the fine art world have stood for so long, revered like gods. Craft is getting its own back, stitch by stitch.
Agata Oleksiak wraps the figures in Antony Gormley’s “Another Place” on Crosby Beach.
Image by Andrew Hoban: http://crosby365.tumblr.com
Kate's Blog 