Art vs. Craft
A week or so ago, I found myself in the bookstore perusing the craft magazines, and given my new knitting obsession, I took a look at the knitting magazines which I hadn't done before. I noticed that several of them had patterns, or at least ads, for designs that were a bit on the avant garde side. Then I looked through the cross-stitch magazine, which were way in the back, and many of the designs seemed, well, cute, tired, old. "Is it just me?" I wondered. "Is it the medium?" What is it about knitting that has people trying new and exciting, artistic things? Is it the influences of the fashion industry? The haute coutre? Hmmm..... Like the grinch, I puzzled and puzzled until my puzzler was sore. I still don't know, but I'm bound and determined to stay my course and stay away from cute and tired. I think we have enough interesting fabric and fibers available to us as a stitching industry to make really cool design work, to make Art.
Of course the knitters have their problems, too. I found the site You Knit What? (see side link) that points out almost daily bad knitting patterns. Very funny. I've often wondered where would the cross-stitch industry be if we designers had to go through an American Idol audition process. Would that be a good way of winnowing away many startups with a computer and not much design talent who get store shelf space anyway? Or would heretics who push the envelope (like me) also be left out in the cold? Interesting to think about anyway.
Maybe tomorrow I'll tell the story of how I really got into cross-stitching. If I haven't done so already.
Of course the knitters have their problems, too. I found the site You Knit What? (see side link) that points out almost daily bad knitting patterns. Very funny. I've often wondered where would the cross-stitch industry be if we designers had to go through an American Idol audition process. Would that be a good way of winnowing away many startups with a computer and not much design talent who get store shelf space anyway? Or would heretics who push the envelope (like me) also be left out in the cold? Interesting to think about anyway.
Maybe tomorrow I'll tell the story of how I really got into cross-stitching. If I haven't done so already.
posted by crosseyedkat at 9:52 AM
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1 Comments:
Hmmm... interesting question. I do find that knitting patterns are more on the edge, more avant guarde, etc. than cross-stitch patterns these days. Very few designers do designs that would fit into, lets say, a more "modern" looking room. I've searched for designs that would work in our family room and aside from one British design that comes to mind - yours are the only designs that suit the look.
I would like to see more designers branch out into more abstract, modern type styles. I think the cross stitch medium is flexible enough to suit any style. Florals and primitives - well, those are the designs that still make people think of this as a "blue haired lady" hobby :)
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