An artist friend recently shared with me an article they wrote titled “The ABCs of Underground Art”. I really enjoyed it, and they encouraged me to write my own ABC’s of the type of art that I do as a fun journaling prompt to use to unwind and organize your thoughts. Those that have followed me for awhile know that I don’t typically stick to just one type of art, so to open up the limits I decided to make my “alphabet” the ABC’s of Creation. I have assigned a word to each letter, along with a video of my illustrating a cool little ACEO sized letter inspired visual to go with each word. Read, listen, or both – whatever works! 

C is for craft. Another word for creating something is to craft this or that object. This may be an unpopular opinion in the art world, but I get frustrated when I am pulled into conversations about “art vs. craft”, what pursuits are fine art and what is “just” crafting. I sure can’t make a quilt. Why should that be considered a lesser skill, especially with the amount of math and attention to detail that is involved? I love when gallery artists give the middle finger to what is supposed to be sophisticated materials, and add glitter, beads, paper ephemera, buttons, and other craft supplies into their work. Without craft, we are excluding an entire discipline that could teach us new ways to approach our art.

Above is a closeup from one of the piece’s in an inspiring Mark Messersmith exhibit I was lucky enough to catch last Fall while visiting family in Ohio – I’m detecting some GLITTER!