Bromley Art Society Bringing Artists Together since 1947

Chambers Pocket Dictionary 2001:

Art -The creation of works of beauty, especially visual ones; Such creations  thought of creatively; Human skill and work as opposed to nature; A skill,  especially one gained through practice. 

Craft - A skill, trade or occupation, especially one requiring use of hands; Skilled ability.  

Clue  The Guardian quick crossword :  `creative sewing`- answer `embroidery`!!! 

Creativity is not mentioned in connection with craft.  Are craft items always  useful? I recently went to two exhibitions:  `Out of the Ordinary: Spectacular  Craft` at the V & A 13.11.07 - 17.02.08 and Designer Crafts at the Mall 2008.  Very few useful items, but a lot of fine art! 

As an embroiderer I feel I use fabric, thread and stitch as an artist would pencil,  paint and paper. Fabric can be painted, dyed, drawn on, cut, burnt, applied to  another surface; threads can be dyed, mixed, stitched adjacent to, over/ under  each other, together to mix them. This is not as flexible as paint or pastel.   Textural qualities are easier to achieve with fabric and thread.  Work can be  representative, figurative or abstract and certainly conceptual.  The needle can be loaded with colour and applied to a background which has been coloured,  dyed, screen printed and had fabric and thread adhered to it.  Paper, tissue,  plastic and any number/variety of fabrics, photographs, threads, yarns, string,  ribbon can be used.  Fabrics can be made by using dissolvable fabric, weaving,  crocheting, knitting, stitching and felting.  Texture can be created by fabric weave,  fraying, use of stitch, plastic, specialist fabrics, gels, paints, knitting, crochet,  felting, etc. 

Ceramicists, woodworkers, metalworkers would all be able to say the same for  their own medium. 

It’s what you do with it Art?
Does craft have to be useful?
Can craft be conceptual?
Is craft creative? 

Contemporary embroidery is more like conceptual art - any article in `Embroidery`  published by the Embroiderers’ Guild has examples of artist and their art. Janet Naylor, a leading embroiderer, says her needle is her paintbrush and her  threads are her colour palette. 

What do you think?

Sue Howes