Why Fiber Art?

Making things is a way of life. I was taught to crochet by my great aunt when I was about 10 or so, but I didn't get really into it until college, where I studied philosophy. When I would sit down to spend hours in front of a single reading, I would often yearn for something to do with may hands. Something productive. I enjoyed reading about labor, so it was fitting that I would find a form of it that allowed my hands to move as quick as my brain. Making my own clothes, decorative pieces, and other goods gives me a very unique and special level of fulfillment. 

Fiber and textile art and craft can often be seen as somewhat of a mere "woman's hobby." But knitting, crochet, and sewing are a lot more than your grandma's pastime. There is a reason that the first examples Karl Marx makes in Capital volume one is follows the production of a coat. The labor involved in doing all these things is one of the most crucial and ancient forms of labor around; as long as humans have been around we've needed to clothe ourselves, and as long as we've needed to do that, people have been making fiber art and craft with their own hands. 

The association that these skill have are not inherently feminine. Rather, these skills have historically been important to women because they provided them forms of production and labor that were deemed societally acceptable for someone in their station. Fiber and textile provided work for women in eras where our labor was not thought worthy of profit or pay. Irish women immigrants to the US fed their starving families by crocheting lace. In rural Appalachia women have gathered in sacred communal spaces to work and share a bond with each other in knitting and quilting circles. 

My passion for working with my hands in these ways isn't just about making silly little stuffed toys or cute clothes. It's about my cultural, intellectual, and political heritage, and I am thankful to have these skills that cause me to reflect on these things.

Making things is a way of life. I was taught to crochet by my great aunt when I was about 10 or so, but I didn't get really into it until college, where I studied philosophy. When I would sit down to spend hours in front of a single reading, I would often yearn for something to do with may hands. Something productive. I enjoyed reading about labor, so it was fitting that I would find a form of it that allowed my hands to move as quick as my brain. Making my own clothes, decorative pieces, and other goods gives me a very unique and special level of fulfillment. 

Fiber and textile art and craft can often be seen as somewhat of a mere "woman's hobby." But knitting, crochet, and sewing are a lot more than your grandma's pastime. There is a reason that the first examples Karl Marx makes in Capital volume one is follows the production of a coat. The labor involved in doing all these things is one of the most crucial and ancient forms of labor around; as long as humans have been around we've needed to clothe ourselves, and as long as we've needed to do that, people have been making fiber art and craft with their own hands. 

The association that these skill have are not inherently feminine. Rather, these skills have historically been important to women because they provided them forms of production and labor that were deemed societally acceptable for someone in their station. Fiber and textile provided work for women in eras where our labor was not thought worthy of profit or pay. Irish women immigrants to the US fed their starving families by crocheting lace. In rural Appalachia women have gathered in sacred communal spaces to work and share a bond with each other in knitting and quilting circles. 

My passion for working with my hands in these ways isn't just about making silly little stuffed toys or cute clothes. It's about my cultural, intellectual, and political heritage, and I am thankful to have these skills that cause me to reflect on these things.