My wish would be 20Things never makes the distinction between craft and art clear.

Good question(s). I've always thought of "craft" as being kind of a subset of "art." That is, an important component of making (whatever one considers to be) art involves such things as joinery, precision of mark, choice of materials, even perhaps "style."

But another sense of the word "craft" describes a decorative kind of work that may not push as many thematic envelopes as "fine art." I don't think of craft in this sense as being qualitatively lower than fine art, just different.

For instance, I love art so much that I went to the extent of getting many thousands of dollars in debt in order to study painting and sculpture which I love. And yet I often encounter a frustrating degree of artist's block and insecurity because I am asking so many questions of myself and of the work that I just get paralyzed.

My mom on the other hand, teaches and does all kinds of crafty things like trompe d'oeuil painting, faux marbling everything in sight, faux brick, faux sky. Craft to be sure, but she is very creative in it and happy and not at all starving or tortured, and I admire her immensely.

I don't know about the gender component. I'm aware that it is/has been there, but it is debunked all the time. Many of my favorite "fine artists" are women (Deborah Butterfield, Kathleen Gilrain, Mary Cassatt, Vanessa Bell), and I, a male, like to incorporate sewing in many of my projects.

If we discuss Craft, as in "He's a master of his craft", or a Craftsman, it tends not to be negative. Adding "Arts and" to the beginning definitely adds the Macaroni necklace feel to things.

I understand the CCAC recently dropped crafts from their name. (I guess I should say CCA now). I was speaking to one of the profs, and he said it was done to get rid of the hot-glue-gun feeling associated with Arts n Crafts.

so, in summary:
Art - good
Craft - good
Arts and Crafts - bad

Timely and interesting article in Metropolis:
"When Did Craft Become a Dirty Word?"

www.metropolismag.com/html/co...dex.html

Some "crafts" have been perceived as more "art" than others...if you look at the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th Century, they were talking especially about things like printing, bookbinding, and ceramics.

Today, ceramics is taught as a "fine art" and there are a few places that teach letterpress printing and bookbinding as "arts." One also sees references to "the lesser arts." Photography has undergone the evolution from Craft to Art.

It *might* have something to do with the fact that "art" activities have tended to be highly representational in nature (think about it: painting/drawing/printmaking[even sculpture, to a degree...] were all, at one time or another, the arbiters of reality, the "media" [in a journalistic/didactic sense], if you will.) whereas those activiteis that still bear the whiff of "craft" (ALL ofthe fiber arts,though they escape from time to time, papermaking and paper marbling, just to name a few)have been less tied to the depiction of reality. Look at video and film...

I'm not convinced that there is an obvious gender component, but that could just be due to the inherent blindness of being Yet Another White Guy...8-)...

"Craft", when used contra "Art", seems to be pejorative...I'm just glad that in other contexts it hasn't lost the rich and positive meaning ("She is a master of her craft", "Practicing one's craft", etc., is what comes to mind).

My $.25 (I've raised my rates so I can practice the Art of my Craft and the Craft of my Art) for this morning...

attributed to tom stoppard:

"Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art."

HmmmThis is compareable to the crotchet'ers versis the nitter's
There is a diffrence not that you have to pick one or the other

Art's and craft's.. one you make for your self or someone you know because you love it.And the other you sell or trade to become a super star ... because you love it .. both are very fun and very closely related I think it's a title you give to your work

Hi, I'm new and am just figuring out what this forum is all about, but this is a topic near and dear to my heart. I believe for many the term "crafter" has even become an insult. The last issue of Craft Trends magazine had a great article about this, mentioning that it is semantics mostly, but that for some odd reason, crafting seems to denote assembling kits or following directions without much creative muscle. I totally disagree. I am proudly a crafter who enjoys her art. I'm at that grey area between the two and am fighting tooth and nail to cut through the snobbery and dismissal if you don't do a prescribed type of "fine art". I am a textile artist primarily, but I dabble everywhere. I don't see how watercolor paintings that are just like enlargements of photos these artists took on vacation or got out of a magazine are any more "art" than my abstract collages.

I'll get off my soapbox now by saying that there seems to be more of distinction by where an item is sold (art and craft fairs/festivals versus galleries). Hmph!

I am a student studying Fine Art at a university in England. At the moment my work has gone from starting with photography and has led into ceramics. I am constantly getting put down for extending my work into ceramics instead of being encouraged to try new medias, in the whole 3 year groups studying Fine Art i am the only one to decide to experiment with clay!! Anyway...........I am doing my disertation (final essay) on this argument of Fine Art vs Ceramics and am really interested in everyones views on this. Should ceramics be considered Fine Art or Craft??? Is there actually a huge difference between Craft and Fine Art or are they intertwined??? Would be extremly grateful for any views you wish to post or you can e mail me at - loppylizzy20@hotmail.co.uk Thanks so much!!

I've heard this arguement so many times and here's my favorite definition:

"It's art if you sign it on the front. It's craft if you sign it on the bottom."

I might add that "It's handi-craft if you used a hot glue gun."

I also like this: If you want to move your work from craft to art, add another 0 to the price.