As I mentioned in the previous post, I am preparing to take thecluelesscrafter.com to the public this Saturday, July 11th at the Art Fair on the Square in Madison, WI.  I have been consumed with the task of developing credible marketing materials, including flyers, a short attention-grabbing spiel about the site and its mission (still forming that!), and the actual Interview Form that the exhibitors will fill out when they visit my site, assuming I convinced them to.  It is all quite overwhelming, an excuse I intend to use as a qualification for this past week’s silence.

I also have been away from my studio in NYC, visiting my in-laws and attending a series of summer weddings in the Midwest, where I grew up.  That is how I came upon a printed advertisement for the American Craft Exposition, a well-regarded craft exhibition now celebrating its 25th anniversary.  Curious about the scope and thrust of this event, I was eager to take a peek at its website.  Relatively new to the craft fair circuit — yes, they do occur in amazing abundance each weekend all around the US! — I wanted to know just how the American Craft Exposition does or does not differ from the Renegade Craft Fair and the Art Fair on the Square.  You may have guessed that I made a beeline for the words crafter, artisan and artist, believing that the context in which they are used may key me into some clue about what purpose these three classifications serve in American culture today.  Why do three different words exist and what set of ideas, if any, does each word convey?  The first remark I have may seem a bit obvious, but I believe it is crucial that I point it out.  The title of this event is the American Craft Exposition, right?  Why then do the event’s coordinators or whoever was in charge of marketing elect to call the entry application, visibly located on the site’s navigation bar, the “Artist Application” (http://americancraftexpo.org/), not the “Crafter Application”?  I stand firm that at least on the subconscious level the absence of crafter, craftsman, craftswoman, craftsperson from this prominent position on the site’s homepage was intentional, a telling omission that warrants further investigation.

The caliber of this event is clearly meant to appeal to those who have refined aesthetic principles, who believe craft is equivalent to a high art . . .yet different?  While the “Eligibility” requirements (located under the “Artist Application” tab) do not allow the admission of fine arts defined as “painting, photography, lithography, etc., except when incorporated into an otherwise craft category,” the blurring between craft and art is in full force.  Are they the same?  Should an exquisitely designed ceramic object composed of complex visual motifs be worthy of equivalent respect as a perfectly finished painting? What if the makers each took the same time to complete the work, spent the same amount of money on materials, and, of course, both made their works by hand?

I actually fear attempting to answer why craft may or may not be different than art knowing that despite a formal education in art history and in the art market, I am neither a crafter, artisan or artist.  Whether it’s a class question or a culture question or something entirely new that decides what is deemed craft versus what is deemed art today, it is perhaps appropriate that someone as in the dark as myself should venture to uncover the answer. Combing the American Craft Exposition site for the appearance of artist, artisan and craft (never crafter) was an eye-opening, reaffirming exercise.  There is something meaningful lurking behind these words, something meaningful to the artist, the artisan, the crafter and to American culture.

Will the participants at this weekend’s art fair think I am onto something or will I be sent packing, empty interviews in hand?