Materials Matter: Art, Craft & Materiality
One thing that art school hammered home was that ‘materials matter’. In the conceptual development of artwork, a craftsperson must always consider what material will work most effectively to convey meaning. All mediums of artwork have their own unique histories and languages that aid how someone approaches an artwork. When considering the history of materials, it’s difficult to escape the age-old discussion of Art vs. Craft. This abbreviated distinction in my newsletter boils the differentiation down to classism, sexism, and later racism.
Paintings, because of their history being coveted by the wealthy due to the expense of early pigments, have a high classification within the Art hierarchy. Sculpture also maintains a very high status within the strata. Another key point of the ‘high art’ hierarchical system, is that typically Art is non-functional. Experiencing high art is a leisure activity and is socially elevating, masculine, intellectual, timeless, and sophisticated. Artwork, even today, has institutional paywalls, ie: museum tickets, to access it. (Here’s a case study about the impact of Free Entry to Museums) Even reading scholarly articles about artwork typically comes at a monetary cost, which leaves many folks behind who cannot experience the benefit of looking at and learning about art. Artists, art historians, educators, and more know the deeper value that artwork can have on a community. Art demands interpretation and asks questions, beckoning critical thinking. Art beautifies spaces and makes waking up worth it. Art is labor that creates community, and yet when it’s tied up within social stratification systems surrounding wealth, it is reduced to a status symbol.
Joe Pagac ‘Whale Mural’ on the Old Catalina Theater building, 2320 N Campbell Ave. Tucson, AZ
Craft on the other hand is a distinction that was made by the social elites as an initial emergence of “peasant” and “feminine” art. During this emergence of the definition, these objects offered a greater freedom of expression and creative integrity amongst groups without wealth, access, and/or social clout. Engaging in craft, whether that be pottery, sewing, basket weaving, quilting, etc. were also highly social activities where labor was often shared and communities were built. Craft items were often also utilitarian. The beauty of craft lies within the labor and the use-value. The hierarchy of making art was also challenged with a lateral system of making rather than a hierarchical one within the ‘Master’s’ studio. Craft as verbiage, up until this point, was largely a descriptive and value neutral term, but because of social hierarchies it became prescriptive and derogatory. Further, craft became associated with domestic chores which were denoted as ‘feminine’, thus in the patriarchal looking glass of Art, gave the upper echelon yet another reason to dismiss craft: because they did not recognize women as full human beings. As art evolved to be used as a cultural tool of colonization, the craft found in native American communities, African communities, South American Communities, and Asian communities was also reduced in value. Incredible bead-work, regalia garments, ceramics, jewelry making, and printmaking techniques were all deemed lesser as a tool to devalue non-white cultural traditions. You can read about specifically the devaluing of African Art in African Art in Transit by: Christopher B. Steiner.
Marianne Jorgensen, ‘Marianne Jorgensen with the Cast Off Knitters,Pink M.24 Chaffee (in progress)’, 2006. Photo: Barbara Katzin.
Today in the bookish field even now the distinctions are made. Artist books, Fine Press, and Zines all fall somewhere on the art/craft spectrum and you can tell by looking at the demographics of their collectors. Of course, as someone who does all of the above, I think the distinction between art and craft is silly, but then again, I’ve never been above the poverty line. Maybe the wealthy are also enlightened and I am unaware. In my studio, I see art as a word bank of adjectives that I try to incorporate in my work.
Art in my studio engages with ideas that are non physical, the object that I’m making is linked to a nonphysical research inquiry. How do the shapes, textures, composition, sequence, and materials link to a concept? Craft in my studio is the skill at which I utilize my tools and it is also a verb that means ‘to do’. Can the distinctions of the individual histories of art and craft be reclaimed? Do you think it’s necessary to draw distinctions between art and craft at all? Who do these distinctions serve?
Materiality is becoming less and less prevalent within the High Art world, to an almost comical degree, but material choice and material quality have always driven the production of craft. With this as an introduction, I’d like to highlight three unique books that have come out of Troctopus Press that all utilize materiality in different ways while also emphasizing formal elements of Art and Craft to create unique, artful, and functional objects.
Astrid Liu’s MFA Thesis “Don’t Worry, Non-Gendered Girl” is a 217 pg collection of essays that explore the intersection of gender, race, and community building. Their writing uses bilingual humor and personal anecdotes to show how to ask hard questions and how to build lasting relationships. Astrid’s book was made in a small, custom edition of 4 that utilizes very specific material choices that aid in conveying the aesthetic value of their work. When we sat down together to discuss the book, they already had a strong list of materials that they were interested in using. For the covers, we chose to wrap them in Lucky Red silk. Red in Chinese culture symbolizes luck, joy, and happiness and the tradition of handing out Red Envelopes to family members during Chinese New Year. The endpapers for the book that we chose are Chinese Calligraphy Paper from Asian Brushpainter. This online shop has the most extensive selection of original Chinese and Japanese painting and calligraphy supplies that we could find, and many of their unique brushes and papers are sourced directly from local Chinese suppliers. We settled on a red and gold Xuan calligraphy paper that was incredibly soft, absorbent, and dyed with stunning brightness.
The paper we used for the text block was from French Paper Co., where they have a huge selection of high quality papers that are nearly carbon neutral due to having their own source of hydroelectric power at their paper mill site. For the spine of the book, we chose a rather unique material: Golden Morel Mushroom Leather! In Astrid’s writing, they create a metaphor for community resilience using the description of mycelium networks. Mushrooms are huge organisms on earth and their communication systems are vast and incredibly fascinating. The mushroom leather we found is called Mylea from Mushroom Leather Supply and is backed with linen fabric making it durable and stretch-resistant. It has a strange, smooth and craterous surface, and also has an aroma that is similar to that of honey. The last material we chose together was the silk thread that I used to sew the book together with. We chose a red silk from Colophon that was nearly identical in value and hue to our cover choice to showcase the texture, line quality, and elegance of the stab binding method.
The binding method that we chose has historical roots to South East Asia with strong connections to China, Japan, and Korea. Stab binding is characterized by the binding itself being secured through stitchings in the front and back covers rather than along the spine. Signatures are not required for this binding, nor are spines. Part of the durability of this binding method is due to the internal binding. Most of the initial binding is hidden once the book is fully constructed, but serves to hold the text block together. Additionally, many contemporary book binders have adopted the methodology and created new patterns that maintain the historical structure but add contemporary design elements.
The second project by yet another MFA student at the University of Arizona is John Zawawi’s, “my mother and I tour the country”. This short essay is 16 pages long and was made in a very small edition of 2. The materials for this book evoke softness and grit, contemplation and immediacy, place and time. For this small book, the design parameters were much more open. John gave me a color palette and I came back to him with material suggestions and we worked from there. We ended up making a hard-cover book with a flexible spine and a visible sewing pattern. The covers are wrapped in Tucson’s own CAVE paper. This luxurious paper is handmade using belgian flax and hand-dyed using natural indigo. It was perfect for a cover that told a story and gave the illusion of the vastness of a 44hr road trip. The rich blue endpapers are an indigo Lotka paper from Hollanders dyed in the color “blueberry” and are fibrous yet smooth. Finally the sewing pattern that we chose is an adaptation of a saddle-stitch with decorative twists added using a silk embroidery thread (RIP Joann’s). The result is memorable and quiet with material truly framing the words of this essay with an unimposing confidence. The texture of the materials makes it feel like home.
Finally, the last piece I’ll be sharing is one from the Troctopus Press archive. ‘I AM NOT A WASTE’ is a book made entirely from free, foraged, and gifted materials that utilizes refuse in a way transforms its initial value. We are all closer to being without shelter, a stable food supply, electricity, reliable internet, and incarcerated than we are to being part of the billionaire class. Imbued within our lives, from early education, we are taught that our value is reflected in the amount of wealth we can accrue. Now with corporate hedge funds purchasing 76% of available real estate in 2022, the Federal minimum having not risen anywhere near the rate of inflation, and The Social Security trustees board admitting that there will be no pension for folks in the years after 2040, and legislation in multiple states making homelessness illegal, our system has successfully propagated us as a desperate workforce, who will work under the threat of incarceration until the day we die. I AM NOT A WASTE asserts that our inherent value is not monetary, but instead lies simply within our ability to experience life.
The paper was made by pulping newspapers, dryer lint, and flowers from Tucson’s own Palo Verde blooms and spraypainted using a hot pink gift from a friend. The end papers are collections of advertisements and junk mail, and the covering fabric was a gift from another student when I attended the University of Arizona. This book was made in a small edition of 5, mostly because I was making the paper in my bathtub and I didn’t want to injure my back! Due to this small edition size, I have chosen to create a varied edition that is unequivocally one of my best sellers at zine fests! This was one project where material mattered, but the idea was also incredibly strong and I had to make the decision to adopt a more affordable and accessible model to help a larger group of people experience the book. You can find both editions available on my website for sale.
