October 18, 2002
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It's Friday! Whooo Hooooo! The ZangaZine is out, and so is the sun. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Women's Lives - Creativity
Season gave me a link the other day to a site for artist Judy Chicago. She has done amazing work as an artist and also as a speaker on behalf of women's issues. One thing that is undeniable is that women are severely underrepresented in the official history of art. Less than 5% of art on display in museums was created by women.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but I'd like to suggest that one reason is that we have reserved the word "art" for serious production of works from "artists." Women have never lacked for creativity. Even the poorest of women in the backhills of the poorest regions of our country have created some of the most beautiful artifacts. Their quilts, baskets, and needle-art are exquisite. Many of these works were created in between juggling babies, chopping wood, plucking chickens, and all the other work that women have always done in support of their families. But, we don't call their creations art, we call it craft and we relegate it to the "anyone could do that it's nothing special" pile of undervalued women's work.
Judy Chicago has brought an unpopular message in the past few years. She has been bold enough to say that women can't have it all. I see her point and I agree for the most part with her reasoning, but I wonder if she hasn't bought into a stereotype about "doing art." Is it necessary to neglect all other aspects of life in order to create? She says that you should see your job as mere support for your studio where your real work takes place. Children interfere with your ability to devote large blocks of time to a project, so take that into consideration before you decide to have them. As long as art is limited in our minds and our definitions to the creation of "fine" work that falls into traditional categories, we will miss out on an understanding that many of our mother's and grandmothers knew and smiled to themselves about. Creativity happens everytime a quilter says, this color, pattern, stitch, style, type of fabric - not that one.
There used to be a sick joke told by kids in my youth. "Do you know what you call a guy with no arms and no legs who hangs on a wall? Art" I've been thinking of that, because it seems to me that a large distinction between "art" which has been traditionally produced by men and "craft" which has been the domain of women, is that art is static. It hangs on the wall, stands in the plaza, or lives in the theatre. Craft gets up and moves around. It's the blanket you take to the picnic, the bowl you each from, or the basket that holds your treasure. Women's creativity has tended to be channeled into consumables. We have eaten at the table of women's creativity so long that we take it for granted that we will have those heirlooms to enjoy. But, as women take art more seriously, I wonder if we aren't losing the art that has long been taken for granted. A machine produced rug or dress or plate may be lovely in design and perfectly uniform in creation, but it's not art - it isn't creativity we see when we look at a set of dishes, each the perfect copy of the other.
Just a few thoughts.
This concludes my contribution to the conversation Fugitive and I have been making public on women and women's roles. We didn't claim to be settling old debates or even really arguing with each other. These are the kinds of things we talk about and we thought it would be interesting to open our discussion for our Xanga friends to join in. Now I'm going to school my children and she's headed off to work. The conversation will continue off stage because no one life can be summed up on a week of dialogue.
Comments (25)
Have a great weekend. And, remember .... the most treasured job in the world is raising your child(ren) to know and love the lord ... teaching and giving them the ability to live and love in this world .... to reason and be able to make decisions, to understand and care for one another .... it's an underpaid job ... but the rewards in the end are priceless. As for art ... and women .... teach your child to appreciate art ... real art and not the distortations that are called art ... sit with them and show them the world about them ... evena creepy crawly bug can be beautiful ... hmm ... your articles were good ... causing a lot of thought. God bless.
bravo
Speaking of women being underrepresented in the official history of art reminds me of that 1989 Guerrilla Girls poster remarking that while 5% of the artists in the Metropolitan Museum of Art are women, 85% of the nudes are female....
Thanks for letting us in, really. And thanks for these thoughts as well; you're brought to the forefront some things that have been simmering back burner (the distinction between Art and Craft is something that I butt up against daily in my professional life). I need to work these things out in paragraphs. Thank you for the impetus.
...so delighted am I that you chose to end your week of discussions with Creativity - Art!!! Which you may or may not know, is one of my pet projects. On leg of the project is ArtExchange here in Xanga.
MuSe
...life is Art, the choices we make and how we execute them is Art. The fact that women are encouraged to look at their creations as art is espoused and exampled in books such as Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. Is it not true "A picture is worth a thousand words", no matter the form of the picture.
...art is expression, so it too is embraced by Women's Movement as you have testified in your post. I am sad to see this discussion come to an end for it has only touched on the far reaching motivation/purpose of Women's Movement.
...Women's Movement is not a quick study, it has many arms and legs with many of its orgins no longer labeled as Women's Movement or Feminism and no longer practiced, lobbied and executed by labeled Feminists. It is a disservice to women and the Movement to restrict one's understanding to the current list of feminist reading or to one current issue espoused by such. Sorry to say much of today's "feminist" view is one correlated on sand without a firm foundation or the soundness of study to that which they purpose they are a part.
...personally, what I hope you and Fugitive achieved in your course of posts and comments is to have made aware the enormity of Women's Movememt and encouraged them to become informed and active. For I firmly believe once educated to the Women's Movement, there would be no voice of dissension to its purpose.
...to specifically address on post point: it is women themselves who dictate their work a craft over art. Each member of ArtExchange is an artists.
Thanks for the wonderful week and for the opportunity you've given all of us to share our views on this subject. I love to read Xanga sites because I learn about people, places, ideas, opinons, values, lifestyles. The world is my campus, and Xanga gives me a great view of the world. You're one of my favorite sites to read because there's always something interesting happening at quiltnmomi.
I respect you and all your creations.
EXCELLENT piece; excellent place to end. I would guess the line is beginning to blur between the "male" art world and the "female," but certainly the contrast between the hushed environment of a museum art gallery and the rauccous brightness of, say, an equatorial "art marche" full of woven baskets and blankets and folk paintings could not be more marked. Personally, I am all for the latter and frankly feel a bit lost in the former. THANKS to you both for letting us into this wonderful familial discussion.
I know I have already been here today - I just like to see your little smiley's!
Very nicely done.
It's always mind opening over here. Once again I have not thought about women and art in this way. Excellent blog.
I read this article today in my Fall 2002 BYU Alumni magazine quite by coincidence and chance and immediately thought of your blog today! I hope you enjoy. You can go to this site to view the quilts that were on display and that are discussed in the following article. http://www.byu.edu/moa/Quilts/Quilts.html
Sorry for any typos--I have to retype this article so all mistakes are purely my own!
Piecing Together a Quilting Heritage
Quilts come in more shapes, sizes, and designs than one might think. At the Museum of Art’s (they are referring to BYU’s Museum of Art) exhibition Utah Quilts: Threads of Tradition and Innovation, large rectangular quilts, ideal for cold winter nights, are displayed next to smaller, more decorative quilts designed to serve as wall hangings. Traditional quilting patterns are juxtaposed with dramatic new-age designs. Colors range from soft pastels to vibrant reds and blues, even to dark purples and blacks.
The exhibition, which was curated by Claire Dixon, ‘01, displays 20th-century quits made by women from across the state. Dixon became interested in quilting as she studied American folk art at BYU, and this interest led her to explore the national quilt revival, and specifically the Utah quilt revival, that took place in the 1970s.
Dixon discovered that Utah became a hub of activity as quilting revived around the country. Quilt guilds and classes were organized, most of them focusing on traditional 19th-century techniques. Pride was restored in an art that had nearly been forgotten amidst the mid-century fads of tied quilts and pre-cut kits.
This focus on tradition is demonstrated by many of the quilts in the exhibition. Carol Morgan’s Persian Snail’s Trail exemplifies the tiny, careful stitches and geometric designs typical of 19th-century quilting. The classic pinwheel and log cabin patterns are also portrayed throughout Utah Quilts.
The quilt revival of the 70s has also led to the creation of a new quilting style: art quilting. According to Dixon, "Contemporary art quitters aren’t as concerned with traditional quilting conventions. They try to push boundaries, often leaving raw edges and changing the traditional shape and size of quilts."
An example of contemporary art quilting can be seen in Susan Estabrook’s Ceci N’est Pas Une Quilt (This is Not a Quilt). The form of this oddly shaped quilt questions the definitions of art and quilting and emphasizes the value of quilts as purely aesthetic works.
Building on her background in painting and design, art quilter Jinny Lee Snow combines quilting, painting, and even beadwork to create a style all her own. "I love the satins and velvets you can use in quilting," Snow says. "You can get a bunch of different textures with fabric that you can’t with paint. Quilting is a great creative outlet."
The wide variety of quilts gathered for the exhibition is Dixon’s attempt to validate both modern and historical quilting. "It shows that there are different types of quilt-making and surface design and that they’re all artistic," she says. "Some people like figuring out different ways to manipulate fabric. Others like feeling that they’re a part of women’s history or that they’re in touch with their ancestors who made quilts. It has different meanings for everyone, but quilting is a beautiful art." (Aimee H. Hansen)
Women and art have been shortchanged. Rodin had a wonderful apprentice that did great things...believe she went mad or some such thing..and has been underrated. Diego Rivera had his Frieda..she is just now coming into her own! We as woman are just now being recognized by some as having brains, talents and power
Perhaps the art of women is considered craft because it does more than simply enchant the eye and intrigue the mind. Women's art tended traditionally to be interactive, feeding the belly, warming the body, making a safe resting place rather than distant look but don't touch creations we call art. You wrap a quilt around you in your home, rest your head on that needleworked pillow, put the gorgeous french handsewn item on a child who promptly soils it or taste that exquisite looking meal that is all the view promised - and more. The art of men was more stand -offish, even in the mighty cathedrals whose scale remind one of the insignificance of mankind. "Art" works are framed or set on pedestals, far away from human touch. Art house theatres run films which rarely engage more than the intellect in my experience, not touching the core of the human experience. I suspect most of humankind has considered art as something to be seen but not experienced, sterile beauty.
Could I have used the word experienced more in that post? LOL!
Great week here with you! I enjoyed very much. Funny, most of my art that I do is women. Women are wonderful creatures. I love painting and sculpting them. All sorts of sizes and shapes I like to create. We are beautiful and amazing.
I like what season said. It's true. Men's art is to look at, women's art is to be experienced. Love the quilt analogy. Thank you so much for sharing with us.
I am going to have to read yours and Fugitive's blogs on this subject when I have a got a block of quiet computer time to really devote to it. The way things have been around here lately, that might be around Christmas!
Have a great weekend
God Bless - Dale
I enjoyed both of your posts ~ interesting way to talk and have your thoughts heard as well!!
I do hope you have a great weekend!!
Art History vs. Archeology/Anthropology... discuss.
Same kind of debate, the study of Events in Art (a political process, full of schools of thought, dissent, periods, etc.) vs. the study of how things related to everyday life, what their place was, how things were made and why, and what the symbols people placed on things meant to them in context.
Art as an object (capital-A art), vs. art as a process. Art viewed as a study of Important Works is really all about politics, and political power, and "championing" certain artists or their work for the purpose of dissertation, or criticism. We're to the point now that many women artists of earlier ages can be championed (is that too masculine a term?) and brought into The Canon. That's great, but is art really just about objectification like that?
The other side is art as a process. People making things, enjoying the making, and yes, the thing that is made represents that process but it isn't the process, not a whit. Here history corrupts, because I would bet you that an equal number of men and women had the process going on over time, but historians haven't cared about this side, have they? Not a whit. So all we get is the fetishism of objects, sadly, placed in relation to other objects.
Just some thoughts.
Hi, sorry it has taken me a while to get around to your site, just had a lot of things going on lately. Glad the weekend is here so I can get some rest and regroup.
I'm almost 100% uneducated ni the area of art. Maybe it's better - when I go to a museum, I don't know who did what, I just know what I like.
Oh my gosh this blog is AWESOME! Would you, by any chance, be interesting in writing about this for my ezine - The Flowering Moon?? .. I simply love your viewpoint.. We, as women, do often have less time to do are crafts and arts... but we do manage to fit it in.. and whether it is sewing, needlework, or actual painting of art.. we do have a role in the society as artists..
hmmm..well, i would say that my work definitely interferes with my creativity, but not my family....if i didn't have to work a 40hour per week job, the time i'd get to spend at home would be more than enough for art AND household duties!
my favorite analogy is in the book Martin Eden by Jack London. Martin seizes an opportunity to work at a place (a laundry) where he can earn enough money to support his writing, but the work takes so much out of him, that he is sapped of all his energy, and so cannot write. He cannot even read as much as he'd like... Pretty fair analogy for where I have been for the last few months, and it gets very frustrating at times.
My point being that I don't think anyone can ever have it ALL - you have to make choices to let some things slide (it is ALL about priorities), but from what I have seen - women have more WILL to juggle their priorities than men do (and I have plenty of will, I have proven that to everyone around me)... And for that, I have always admired many of the women I have come to know beyond my capacity to describe.
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