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Ever notice how many artistic forms dominated by women are called "crafts" rather than "arts"?
What do you think of when you hear the words "Oriental Carpets"? The silk threads it's made of? The carpet's country of origin? Its fancy and spectacular patterns? Colorful bazaars with men haggling over the buying and selling of them?
But where are the women? Did you think of women at all when you thought of those carpets? Did you know that most of those beautiful carpets are made by women? Can you name even one of those women? Have you ever heard of a female artist who makes oriental Carpets?
Not very likely. Most things made by women's hands are considered "crafts", and not art. They may become "art" as a genre, or a particular piece may be considered art, but usually only when it's being sold by men. Then too these craft objects become art objects without any connection to a particular artist. Ever stopped to look at the titles in the "art" section of a bookstore at those "art" books that cover "ethnic" art? Beautiful pottery, blankets, jewelry and carpets are presented to us as pieces of art. But where is the creator? Usually she's absent from the book altogether. Every great once in a while her picture will be there, with a caption that may or may not give her name. More than likely there's just a simple phrase that notes that women produce most of these objects. She goes from crafter to factory or production line rather than from crafter to artist.
The women themselves remain "crafters" even if their creation is a piece of art and the effort is at all recognized. Yet when men create objects that are functional, they more often get to be called "artists" if their creations are recognized as art.
And what if the piece of art reflects the artists own life and interests? The male photographers take pictures of their fantasies of a naked woman in various positions and are pronounced "artists" and the photos "innovative". A woman takes pictures of children at various stages of life, and she's called a mom with a camera and her photos are "cliched". And heaven forbid if she tries to take pictures of naked men! Her sanity and psychological stability might be called into question.
Well, not anymore.
Every one of us here is also interested in "the arts and crafts". We're feminists and we create art. But don't be fooled - that doesn't mean we have to be angstfull, dressed all in black, and writing poems about rape and our vaginas. Our life is much more than just that. We curl up on a couch in afghans or quilts we've created, or send cards to friends that we've created from handmade paper. We photograph horses and write short stories. We do calligraphy and mold clay, paint and knit. We crochet and make jewelry.
And we firmly believe that these make us artists too, and not just anonymous footnotes. We firmly believe that these are objects of beauty and pieces of art that we create and not just functional objects that can be so taken for granted. We keep alive artistic traditions of our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers, and we recognize the artistic talent that goes into traditional women's crafts. We see innovation and art in the creations of our daily lives and in the things we dream about or feel connections to. And we claim the title of "artist" for ourselves, our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers.
Anonymous isn't a woman anymore.
Actually, I do have one other "art" -- cooking. I like to do Indian/Southeast-Asian sorts of things, as well as interesting desserts. I like things that are clever and easy to cook if you know the right "trick", but seem impressive to people you serve them to :-).
My main love in life is sports and fitness, however. I've played soccer for over 20 years, as well as ultimate frisbee, floor hockey, and a whole host of other things. I've started to have some injuries, however-- I guess I can't compete with the 18-year-olds anymore-- so I'm getting into weight training and more personal fitness.
Janis Cortese:
Afghans, quilting, sketches. You can check out more on Janis's craft page.
Fazia Rizvi:
I do wet-on-wet oil painting, photography, polymer clay work (I make clay roses), and rubber stamp arts. Almost anything having to do with paper will send me into a tizzy. And with the popularity of e-mail and online communication, I'm finding that just writing letters or sending cards in the mail is an event. Combine that with mulberry papers, embossing techniques, calligraphy etc. and a simple letter can be a work of art. I'm on cloud nine. :-)
I also love building things on a small scale. Dioramas, dollhouse and scale models are a passion, and from those I've learned to airbrush and do some woodworking. I also do a lot of embroidery - crewel, crosstich, and needlepoint - and I'm trying to learn to knit. My mother is a pro at any of these types of needlework artforms and I want to carry on her gift.
And nowadays I mess around with Adobe Photoshop. I've collected some things for an online "Art Collection" on my own website.
Sidra Vitale
I sing. I also collect musical instruments, so I have a clarinet, various odd pipes, a keyboard [kiddie keyboard, really], and a set of drums. However, of that list, I'd say I'm only really creative and feel fully expressive with my voice, as it's been the focus of the bulk of my musical training. :-)
In other media, I draw and paint [pencil, watercolor, chalk pastel]. I also enjoy knitting and crochet.
Lastly, I write short stories and poetry. Samples are available at one of my subsites, and some non-trivial number of my poetic efforts [to me ;-)] have been published.
Alana Wingfoot
I enjoy various forms of needlework -- knitting, cross-stitch and other
forms of embroidery, needlepoint, occasional sewing and quilting. I've
dabbled in crochet, latchhook, and lacemaking.
Music -- I've played clarinet and piano, though right now I mainly sing. Occasionally I write songs. (A friend and I have discovered that together, we have a bizarre gift for writing weird parodies of songs.)