Select Page

When defining a “craft,” oftentimes what comes to mind is a child’s art project, sprinkled with glitter and covered in a rainbow of crayon colors, and finished off with a smattering of cartoon stickers. However, the definition is much broader than that when considering what should and shouldn’t be considered a worthy form of art. According to Merriam-Webster, art is “the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects.” By this definition any sort of trade skill, or handmade craft produced using creative imagination is considered art. There is no clause that requires years of training, or display in national museums for something to be considered art. It seems unnecessarily pretentious to define functional items, such as houses, quilts, woven baskets, dolls, or pottery, as a lower form of art, simply because they don’t fit our traditional stereotype of high art like a  European painting or sculpture might.

First, it must be acknowledged while anything, by the dictionary definition above, can be considered art, there is somewhat of a stricter line in defining “high art.” In the 18th century, critics defined high art as something that is appreciated purely for aesthetic value, rather than something that, while still art, had a functional value. Something of function was considered a craft, and a form of lower art. This is how the distinction came about, which led to crafts being disregarded as a form of art worthy of appreciation. Additionally, with regard specifically to African American art, scholars disregarded anything produced by slaves until the late 1900’s. This added additional challenges for African-American art to be properly recognized and contributed to the rift between high and low art.

However, this definition that only things that have purely aesthetic value are considered high art blatantly disregards the skill and work that are required to create crafts. High art should not be limited only to how it looks hanging on a wall, but the level of mastery it takes to create certain items. The quilts created by enslaved African Americans took millions of tiny stitches of many different colored, hand dyed threads to create. Large pieces of pottery often took hours, even days, to create. Certainly, these pieces of pottery or quilts served a purpose, but they are still amazing to marvel at, and many are displayed across the world in museums today.  Additionally, these sorts of crafts were not something anyone could create. It was a skill that was passed down through generations, and took years to master. This sort of talent is rare to find, and the artists should be recognized and applauded for their works—not disregarded because they created a “lower” kind of art.

Furthermore, the oppression and abuse slaves overcame is an impressive feat on its own. To add to that, despite the strict restrictions on their daily lives, they still created these amazing types of art. The repressive environment gave way to unique expressions of emotions through different, functional forms of art. Simply because these pieces of art also served a function does not dismiss the talent, work, and hardships that were overcome to create them. They should be considered no less impressive, aesthetically pure, or “low” than any other painting, photograph, or sculpture.