Art vs. Craft: report from the conference

Thanks to Edgar (you great thing, you!) who pointed me in the direction of a blog entry on Artopia by John Perreault. A great first-person account of attending the American Craft Council's "Leadership Conference" in Houston recently, he reports back on the strange and unstable boundaries afflicting the art vs. craft conversation. I admit, I don't know much about the workings of the craft world, but thought it interesting of the inclusion of artworld figures such as Martin Puryear, James Elaine (curator of the Hammer Museum in LA) and others. I like Perrault's "I voice" and conversational manner in his observations.

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Snippet from his post:
"Why should anyone in the art world be interested in the craft world and its problems? Because, like it or not, the craft world is part of the art world. Take a look. Here and there, there are artists with craft roots showing in art world galleries: Betty Woodman (Protetch), Ken Price (Matthew Marks), Dale Chihuly (Marlborough), Josiah McElheney (Andrea Rosen) As in the '80s, there are art world artists appropriating craft world media and techniques: Kiki Smith, Charles LeDray, etc.

"Plus there is the great language problem, which is more than taxonomy. Language is philosophy. You cannot compare apples to fruit, but only apples to pears. Craft is a subdivision of Art. Economics, gender, class, use, and geography play roles, too.

"Also, I wanted to see if the craft world was as bad -- or as good -- as I remembered. I'm talking of high-end, handmade art that converges with painting and sculpture and is no better or worse than either -- at least in theory. My theory."