Interview with Ashlee

The debate of art and craft is one that is hotly contested it would be easy to categorize things as one of art or craft but the line between these is one that is heavily muddied. Where is the line between art and craft? When does a craft become an art? When we think of art we might think of “The David” or “The Mona Lisa”, and as well when we think of craft we draw images of macrame, quilts, and ships in bottles; but these categories are not so clearly defined, what truly makes something such as a bunch of pencils a piece of art or a pile of toys? I interviewed a graduate student and teacher of art at Texas A&M commerce, Ashlee Bryan, on this subject of art and craft.

Ashlee stated that art is the process of creating “that holds value with interpretation.” In other words it is something that an artist/person makes that has worth that people can interpret the meaning of the piece, while a craft is just “the process of making or just obtaining the goal and has no value.”

At what point though do we go from a craft, a bunch of lines on the page, to a piece of art? When asked Ashlee believes that, “(the person doing the making) adds their own expression or value and make decisions (intentionality) about their piece” such as presentation, height, color, material, ect. . She continued, commenting specifically on their (art and craft) differences, “when we look at a craft we just view the form, what ever that might be, while an art piece we take into consideration the form as well as the content contributed by the artist.”

Although their differences are miniscule, these differences contribute to a great differentiation and mental divide between the two, art and craft. Art being is generally considered prestigious and notable while a craft or the art of crafting is merely something an old person does in their spare time to waste away their retirement (such as making ships in a bottle). Essentially, “it all comes down to what the public holds value in” says Ashlee. Weather we are talking about the sale of either art or craft, or how each is viewed this statement rings ever true. If the public holds more value to some painting or sculpture than some quilt, it will give that art piece much more intrinsic worth and be held it in a much higher esteem than the (craft project).

Ashlee contends that, “when you boil it down, an artist is a thinker and a craftsman is a doer.” An artist thinks about their piece; each brush stroke, grain of marble taken away, and the implications of their work; the craftsman on the other hand is one who cranks out their work (such as bird houses) over and over achieving the same goal each time.When you think in those terms we can see that a craft will achieve only one goal over and over again never deviating from the defined plan while an art will achieve a different goal each time even when the intention/plan are the same.

To sum up she she contends that “ an artist expresses reality while a crafter recreates reality.” This statement essentially sums up the whole issue with these subjects. An art would be something created with intention and value and a craft is one that is just created.