Untold Threads
An ongoing and sometimes controversial discussion within the art industry is the differences between fine art and arts and craft. It is a question that this exhibit looks to explore in order to understand the history and importance of craft practices. Craft has been– and still is– commonly associated with “women’s work” and extends to many areas of art, from jewelry making and ceramics to weaving needle work, fiber and textile work and the list goes on. This exhibition has chosen to focus on textile pieces, both current and past, to look at the intersectionality between women, race, sexuality, economics, culture and craft. The art world is a place that has been fortified against groups that have been systematically discriminated against in western culture, but we have seen these groups respond by finding power in different ways through textile art. Throughout western art history, learning fine art through academies was only accessible to white men and the idea of the male genius was a way for this system to take root. Women were considered to be too emotional or lacking any actual talent. During the 1920s, the Bauhaus made a radical step and opened its doors to both men and women, but instead of being able to follow the school’s architecture-based curriculum, women were guided into the textile side of design. This is another example of where we see the gendering of different art practices. Gunta Stolzl however, along with a couple of other women, were able to gain recognition through sheer skill and proved people like Walter Gropius wrong in their dismissal of both the textiles and the women themselves.
Textile work, as well as other similar practices like needlework and weaving, have more of a useful quality than other categories of art like painting or sculpture that are considered ‘fine art’. Even craft is unofficially segregated and crafts like metal and wood work are usually handled by men. However, women have been able to create communities surrounding their crafts– just think of today’s knitting groups– and textiles have also been a way for women to find economic freedom when other forms of work were inaccessible to them. The Gee’s Bend quilters, who are included in the exhibit, were able to use their expertise and skill of quilting to gain capital and their quilting transformed from a material need for warmth, to something with artistic and economic value. This is similar to the relationship that fine art has to the market, but it also has a more significant quality because of the resistance that women had to push again to break through the stigma and discrimination– both gender and racial– in order to obtain the recognition that they deserved. Through various ways, women have found their own power through a way of making that has historical significance to them and that has been ostracized from museums and galleries. They are able to tell their stories in a way that connects them to their communities and shows their audience a story that is woven together from the past, present and future.
Textile work, as well as other similar practices like needlework and weaving, have more of a useful quality than other categories of art like painting or sculpture that are considered ‘fine art’. Even craft is unofficially segregated and crafts like metal and wood work are usually handled by men. However, women have been able to create communities surrounding their crafts– just think of today’s knitting groups– and textiles have also been a way for women to find economic freedom when other forms of work were inaccessible to them. The Gee’s Bend quilters, who are included in the exhibit, were able to use their expertise and skill of quilting to gain capital and their quilting transformed from a material need for warmth, to something with artistic and economic value. This is similar to the relationship that fine art has to the market, but it also has a more significant quality because of the resistance that women had to push again to break through the stigma and discrimination– both gender and racial– in order to obtain the recognition that they deserved. Through various ways, women have found their own power through a way of making that has historical significance to them and that has been ostracized from museums and galleries. They are able to tell their stories in a way that connects them to their communities and shows their audience a story that is woven together from the past, present and future.