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When I was young, 'artsandcrafts' was both one word and one subject. You went to a room/cabin/table/tent, made something fun and walked away with it. There was no differentiation between aesthetic and functional value. To be honest, beyond the satisfaction of making something fun or pretty, value of any type -stated or implied- wasn't something that was even touched on. I understand that this is a more important issue to me as an artist and an art teacher, but I like to make sure my students (and anyone else who will listen) know the difference between 'art' and 'craft' as two separate entities.
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| http://teachbytes.files.wordpress.com/ 2013/02/venn-diagram.jpg |
Arts and crafts is not so much a single grouping as it is the title of a Venn diagram. For the non-initiated, a venn diagram is one of those organizational chart thingies with the two overlapping circles that shows the commonalities shared between two ideas or objects.
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| Art-making supplies |
The 'Art' category includes expressions and applications of imagination and creative skill that are primarily created for their beauty or emotional power. Paraphrased from google's answer to my search phrase 'definition of art', this best states the nature of art more way more succinctly than I could after literally hours of research on this exact topic over the years. For the layman, think objects, environments and performances that are created to make you feel a certain way or think about something specific.
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| Crafts and the materials they are made from |
The 'Craft' side of the diagram includes activity involving skill in making things by hand. As you may have guessed, I googled that one too. Why reinvent the wheel when so many people have customized wheels just waiting to be used? And, if you were wondering, creating customized wheels would be a craft. In layman's terms that means that a craft is usually a functional object fabricated by a real human being, and that it was made using great skill. Think ceramics, weaving, wood working, etc.
Going back to our Venn diagram, for something to qualify for inclusion in the overlapped middle section it would have to be both art and craft. That means that a highly skilled artisan would have to take their craft beyond function to a place where it was also an expression of a concept or emotion. As you could imagine, examples of this are fewer and farther between than one might have initially expected.
Artsandcrafts is about as similar to Art or Craft as a penguin is to a hawk. They both share most of the same basic parts, but their function is much, much different. Artsandcrafts is when you make a fun, sparkly picture. If that picture were art, it would have purpose and meaning and be well made. If it were a craft, the picture would probably be three-dimensional and intended for some type of a functional purpose. While artsandcrafts are usually fun and flashy, for the most part they just don't have the educational or long-term value that a true artwork or a craft does.
So where does artsandcrafts fit into our Venn diagram? Artsandcrafts is more like the fun picture doodled in the margin of the paper where you drew the diagram. It's worth is more in practicing a few basic skills that support your art- and craft- making practice than in the finished work itself. That being said, there is a lot of value in both experimentation with different supplies minus the pressure of creating actual content and the enjoyment you get out of making something just for fun. While the practice of artsandcrafts might not fit in with the real meaning of art or craft, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it for what it is... the candy bar of the art world.
Going back to our Venn diagram, for something to qualify for inclusion in the overlapped middle section it would have to be both art and craft. That means that a highly skilled artisan would have to take their craft beyond function to a place where it was also an expression of a concept or emotion. As you could imagine, examples of this are fewer and farther between than one might have initially expected.
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| 'Artsandcrafts' supplies |
So where does artsandcrafts fit into our Venn diagram? Artsandcrafts is more like the fun picture doodled in the margin of the paper where you drew the diagram. It's worth is more in practicing a few basic skills that support your art- and craft- making practice than in the finished work itself. That being said, there is a lot of value in both experimentation with different supplies minus the pressure of creating actual content and the enjoyment you get out of making something just for fun. While the practice of artsandcrafts might not fit in with the real meaning of art or craft, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it for what it is... the candy bar of the art world.
Side note/disclaimer: Artsandcrafts should never be confused with the Arts and Crafts movement, a late 19th century push for careful hand craftsmanship and careful attention to overall and decorative design.
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