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Craft Needs More Cred: Film Review of Handmade Nation

2010-08-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

When your mind busily embellishes a film while you're watching it, the film arguably inspires your imagination, picking up threads of your own life and experience. One could also argue that the film is somehow unfinished, maybe not fully crafted or articulated. My mind was abuzz, injecting insights and maybe even missing content into Handmade Nation that was just shown this afternoon at the Tower Theater in conjunction with SLUG Magazine's second annual Craft Lake City (where we just vended yesterday). This film documents the increasingly fashionable world of do-it-yourself or indie crafts and was shown today as part of the 2010 Salt Lake Film Festival. I went to see this film plus the panelists of crafters afterwards.

* There of course were soooo many great moments in the film. I actually cared about the crafters who reflected on their lives and their work. The boutique owners' interviews and explanations, especially, were quite, as Stevie Nicks would put it, hauntingly familiar---very much like the voices in my own head that constantly try to explain and justify what's going on with our shop, how and why we run it and how and why we do what we do there. In identifying with this, I might explain more later if I can also get around to writing some more description about the 3 out of 130 crafters at the Craft Lake City festival that I personally headhunted for consignment and commissioned projects at our shop. More on that later perhaps, but let's just say that my posse's orientation is specialized, and much of what was at the festival was derivative, repetitive and not really in step with our boutique's costume theme.

But I digress...

* I was reminded of and also wished for more edification, the sort found in a documentary film such as Laundry, from the early seventies. My guess is that Handmade Nation's director Faythe Levine is wholly unaware of that film's existence, much less its levels of integrated content and craftsmanship. Laundry makes sense out of some specific human behavior patterns (in its case, the act of people hanging laundry on thousands of clothesline reels strung between buildings, before city ordinances made the practice illegal, and what those patterns and evidence meant--as in-- how you could read these patterns like a social text). Ok, so I'm not a total theory whore, and a little goes a long way, but Handmade Nation might have seemed better stitched together had it not stopped short of larger social explanations. It needed some narrative theorizing, some experts to weigh in and reflect on subjects including but not limited to the following issues/problems:

* aesthetics and the art vs. craft dichotomy/debate.
   In Handmade Nation, the interviewed editor of Craft Today didn't even discuss the traditional definitions of 'art' and 'craft' as we typically know them. And we have to know how we're defining our terms from the get-go. Case in point: The American Craft Museum in Manhattan wouldn't even exist if the taxonomic distinction didn't exist. Actually, the museum has had its share of identity crises as well, because in 2002 it changed its name to the Museum of Arts and Design. I thought it was hard to name our own studio, McGrews, which had a few other names prior to its current moniker. Anyway, having studied that particular museum in depth in 1999 while a grad student in New York, I came to learn a bunch of things that may account for this odd shiftiness and queering of terminology. "Craft" has traditionally played second-fiddle to "art", which always gets first chair. Craft typically has been associated with the so-called "useful" and "decorative" arts. In short, it's called 'craft' if it's about decoration, ornamentation or surface design for common objects such as chairs, pots and pans, saddles or other items that have cool paint jobs or beads or crystals or whatever glued on. It's even about the everyday, useful things themselves. A chair is still a boring, utilitarian, quotidian thing. It's a chair. As an archetypal object, it's like every other chair or stool in that it has legs and a seat, just like every saddle has mostly everything in common with every other saddle you've ever seen. A saddle, a dish, a blanket or a cup are all necessary objects, unlike paintings, which one arguably doesn't really need in that whole Maslow's hierarchy equation. A painting is pure, sweet luxury for civilized, settled people who presumably sit on their asses a lot in dwellings more permanant than tents, and they need neato things to look at while they are relaxing. Unlike craft, art has been argued to be more purely about ideas. Therefore, crafts have almost always been more associated with more common folk, especially gypsies and nomadic peoples who had to pack up their stuff and take it with them. This isn't to say that nomads ornament their world less or more. It's been argued that nomads more traditionally hang art on their walls in the form of textiles, which usefully provide warmth, shade and privacy. But brilliantly embroidered textiles and furniture, if they do get preserved, often wind up in different museums and never get front-page coverage the way that paintings do. For a nomadic person, the less less stuff you have to carry, the easier your trip, whether you're a Bedouin or a young couch-surfing urban hipster who travels light and bums money and cigarettes from your friends. But if this is you, there's a high likelihood that you may have craftilly bedazzled your punky little outfit with dozens of safety-pins, well-placed rips and tears, spray paint or other time-honored embellishments. I was born way back in the sixties, kid, and I seen all that before. Now get off my couch and go get a job!

* I needed some experts to weigh in on kinesthetics, on the hand/mind connection of crafters, on polyliths, on evolutionary psychology, plus the psychology of what crafters experience while working in their media. What are crafters actually experiencing at the level of their brain-waves? Much of the raw narrative from crafters could have been really developed with theories from these areas.

* Walter Benjamin was a ghost who'd already left the building, or who'd never inhabited the film in the first place. Tracing some of the many crafters' interviews and statements about their work's value echoed his ideas. His absence probably underscores the director's blissful innocence of mandatory injections of Benjamin that simply won't vanish no matter which academic journals one reads. Anyway, there's his argument that original artwork, made by hand, has an 'aura' which vanishes once work is reproduced over and over by machine, through processes such as printing and photography.Theory punks would find plenty of places to start riots with this idea in Levine's film. Some missed opportunities, that's certain. However, in the crafters' panel session following the film, our local Frosty Darling's crafty owner, Gentry Blackburn, gestured at this concept. I'll never forget a couple of her comments for their sheer awesomeness. She sweetly and hypothetically described, "So, a handmade doll costs $30 and you can collect Beanie Babies at IHop for $10 each." Then she posited, "But which one do you keep? The one made by hand just has that "sweet specialness." And she totally nailed the whole concept.

* Some historical perspective should also have been established.
Obviously, this filmmaker hadn't yet been born in the early seventies when the DIY books simply crowded the shelves of every bookstore (at least on my family's and extended family's bookshelves). Crafts, dressmaking and ornamentation books exploded everywhere, covering every subject from hippie wearable art to embroidery designs to soap-making. The Whole Earth Catalog was big, at that time, not to mention the terrific Foxfire book series that documented and honored the traditional crafts of the Appalachias, the great hippie-commune-survivalist-self-reliance-back-to-the-land culture that exercised plenty of know-how. All this to me suggests the pendulum swing, the behaviors of populations who automatically revert to ingenuity, to doing things for themselves when times get tough, as our recession now reveals everywhere, hence perhaps one of the reasons for the craft explosion. It's a form of romanticism, historically and aesthetically swinging around again. One finds pleasure and meaning in throwing off the signs, symbols, messages and logos of cultural mainstreams, to adopt or develop one's own. Gawd knows it's how I'm trying to stay alive with my poor shop and my motley crew of artists. Anyway, we should have seen some perspective on that era in this film plus some reflection on life during the great depression. My own parents have regaled me with stories of their and their parents' resourcefulness during those hard years. And the challenges always get tougher each time the stories are repeated. Why is that?

* Economics at the personal and corporate level.
   There are sooooo many levels of irony in the fact that huge corporations such as Michael's, Robert's, Provo Craft, Hobby Lobby, etc now "provide" much of the materials that crafters are using, and guess what? Most of it's freakin' made in China now. This really would have complicated the topic and led to more questions about what sustainability, recycling and local materials really mean (a much repeated topic in the film) and how this all matters, or doesn't. None of this was addressed in the film, although more than a few of the interviewed crafters described themselves as dedicated to using thrifted, recycled or upcycled materials. I found it odd to be craving a treatment that tracked the materiality of objects, raw goods and labor we've seen in films such as the unnerving Food, Inc.  Do-gooder documentaries I've seen on television probe the origin of benign-enough-looking Mardi Gras beads, tossed around by the millions by partying Americans, unaware of the slave-labor conditions in Chinese factories where these beads are made and the toxic fumes and hazards workers suffer with extended exposure to molten plastics. Director Robert Greenwald's Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price accounts for many of the hidden costs of crafting, which would probably leave most crafters aghast.

   Experts in these fields could have given much needed articulation to the emic language and perspectives of the crafters themselves, interviewed throughout the film, who gestured at quite a few of these topics/problems but lacked the critical vocab to pull it all together into a coherent narrative of a film. The 'experts,' even if they are dead wrong, are the narrative and interpretive thread. With its interviews and crafter profiles strung together like boxcars, or quilt squares, or beads, one guess is that maybe Handmade Nation is meant to be a meditation instead of an argument. Well, then again, no. My guess is that the film was meant to be a celebratory series of portraits. In film making, there's a point of diminishing returns where you're tired, you have to live with your edit when it's time move on to other projects. The master craftsmen and women in film are those who've made many, many films.

Who knows what will happen with this list... I may at some point craft it into a fuller essay but for now it ought to be safe here, sitting quietly like quilt scraps, until needed.

So if you're out there reading blogs at this late hour, dudes and dudettes, craft on!
Jen

Goth Enough for Ya

2010-06-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

Above image from: http://www.baldheretic.com/2007/06/07/goth-macros-and-lol80s

No cultural group defies a natural hierarchical order. Or at least a perceived one. Not even the goths.

We've enjoyed mingling with all of our friends at the Dark Arts Festival, as we do every year. We withstood the huge deluge of rain last night and are committed to vending for the next two days.

It seems timely to reflect on an interaction that's been on my mind.

A few weeks ago on facebook, this guy (we will call him "S") who befriended us in person at the Salt Lake tattoo convention back in February (and whom we've since learned is a self-professed satanist) posts the following:

"I would love to attend this! Our "Dark Arts Festival" in SLC wishes it could possess a small fraction of the experience of an event like this one (oh, here come the Utah stereotypes... deserve it on this one). Perhaps the Dark Queen and I should investigate spearheading something like this in the future - hmmmm...."

What "S" is raving about above (via one of his friend's postings) is the

Arizona Fetish Ball 2008 Video by CritterTeeth Films - MySpace Video

vids.myspace.com

thesoop.com presents highlights from Horns & Halos AZ Fetish Ball, October 08. *Mature Content* www.azfetishball.net www.thesoop.com. Arizona Fetish Ball 2008 by CritterTeeth Films. Watch it on MySpace Videos.

By "Dark Queen," he refers to his wife (he claims to be a Satanist, remember?).

Upon reading his post on facebook, I chirp innocuously,

"It's our favorite festival of the year!"

(by this, I merely mean it's a cultural and business event at which we rather successfully show and sell our wares to a clientele who are already self-selected--- they love corsets, steampunk jewelry, weird accessories, masks, and all the other stuff our artists create).

To which he replies:

"We've been to a couple of them here in SLC and even had a booth one year. Our thoughts were that it could be cool if the attendees were more than emo fag jobless cigarette bumming punks, modified poseurs, and weekend goths and slew of curious rednecks who honestly believe, that outside the 10 of us who are genuine, that that's what Utah's subculture is comprised of. .....but that's just the opinion of Renee and I."

Finally I reply,

"I am SO all of the above pejoritives you listed. When we vend at festivals such as DAF, I am also big-time WASP- middle- aged- tourist- lady- from- the- suburbs. The 'authentic' goths and 'genuine' cool cats you mention, whoever they are, seem to forgive me and my interloping crew though- lol!"

One could blather on in a blog post about the sanctimoniousness of dedicated Satanists who consider themselves the 'darkest' of the dark, the 'gothiest' of the goth, or jabber on about the pious Christian right or Islamic fundamentalists who argue that occasional church-goers and athiests aren't the 'real' chosen ones and are going straight to hell.

But that strays from my point.

Their talk seems self- explanatory. Althusser pegged this activity best when he talked about the ways people talk when they talk about 'other' people, and that all the talking is done not so much to describe what 'other' people aren't, but about what the talkers are. In fancy parlance, it means the talkers are busily constructing themselves as subjects.

Indeed, me talking about other people's perceptions and pecking orders helps me construct and understand myself better. And yep, I know I'll never pass for goth.

But it's pleasant to be beyond their pecking order while playing into it all the same as participant-observer. Commerce allows me my armchair anthropologist indulgences. I am a corsetière and purveyor of old-school garments which people gladly spend money on to feel more 'authentically' dressed.

In the land of the witches, I am the eye -of- newt and snake-oil salesman. As Hunter Thompson wrote someplace, "the pig is in the tunnel."

It's everywhere you want to be

2010-06-02T23:04:00.000-07:00

We all know the truth about blogging. It's really a vanity thing. The thought that someone might actually want to read the stuff that's here. Like me, aren't you addicted to looking at other people's blogs by clicking "next blog" here inside blogger? I scan at least several new ones a day when there's time.

But I digress. Down at the studio, we are about to make some new custom mascots for America First Credit Union's new advertising and video project.

Ever watched a lady who was too fat try to put on her pantyhose? You're a perv. Nah, just kidding. And no, I'm not talking about myself again. Just get the putting-on-pantyhose image into your head, ok? ....Ok, now imagine a 'naked' (plain white or grey) credit card mascot in a cramped dressing room, struggling, smoothing and "trying on" different costumes featuring the full credit card outer details, magnetic stripe plus a series of different identity photos. And boy are there some serious rules about those photos! Look at these: http://www.americafirst.com/about/help/faq/picture-perfect.cfm

This is a clever idea by the marketing company who bagged the America First contract then hired us to do the costumes, which should be fun but quite challenging. I reckon we'll post some pics when this show gets on the road. Oh, and even though I'm only 5'4", I always buy queen size, in case any lurkers out there are reading. I hate to struggle with pantyhose.

Please, someone repo Repo

2010-05-30T04:08:00.000-07:00

I coerced Robert into getting "Repo the Genetic Opera" for us to watch, so I could see what all the fuss was about and understand what clients have been asking for lately in terms of particular costume items. Costume-wise- I TOTALLY get it. The art direction and costuming in the film are beautiful. Now it makes sense why we just had a local production company here in SLC singing and lip-syncing live, along to the film, in the tradition of the Rocky Horror Picture Show culture. According to Jen Ogle, interviewed in the article (see attached link), the term for this now is "shadowcasting." This is happening world-wide, as this film has a huge cult following. I won't go into detail here about how dreadful the film is on so many other levels, but it definitely gets an A for earnestness. And yeah, pretty fantastic costumes and art direction. And yeah, we'll most likely reproduce some of these costumes and make them available to the public at our studio. Because we can. And we can do them well.

The "Me" in metonomy

2010-05-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

It is the royal WE made famous in lore and films, especially memorable when it comes to Queen Elizabeth I. You've seen these moments in movies, of course.

It is sometimes odd to post items on facebook on behalf of McGrew Studio....items such as 'we' are having an art opening or that 'we' are on the lookout for good costume makers who have creations to sell, when how could I possibly presume to speak for everyone at the place? My minions. My collective.

What choice is there now anyway that the business' identity crisis seems to be over and it is listed in every phone book and directory with its singular name. Tami Cromar was far smarter, naming her prosperous cookie company "My Dough Girl." It's great publicity for her now that the Pillsbury corporation is threatening to sue for naming her business business too similarly. I fear that something fiercer than Pop-n-Fresh will attack someday and bring our whole world down at McGrews. Maybe the giant tax-man, given that our bookkeeper hasn't told me what's up yet with my extension this year. But I digress.

Uncanny events springing from this metonymous mess sometimes happen because I have made others in the cartel administrators of the said facebook page. A sometimes typical response from one of these administrators in reply to an event thread: "sorry, can't make it. Youngest child has a school event that night". Wouldn't be so bad, but that the person's avatar or identifier or profile pic or whatever it is labels this comment as coming from McGrew Studio! Insanity sauce!

I have combed and weeded through the 'administrators' for the McGrew Studio page and cannot for the life of ME find that person and disable his/her admin privileges. And how would I defend such an act anyway. Dare I say, "Your posts make me feel schizophrenic or that I might have multiple personality disorder?" Or that "your comments cut too close to home because they reveal my true impulses and thoughts?" (which are, of course, to run far, far away, screaming). It's true that quite often that I think of putting a gun to my own head and being anywhere other than the studio. The clingy interns. The fact that I can't get anything done because I have too many "helpers." That I am not making it as a capitalist because I'm too soft and am giving my helpers a free education on my dime. Whatever.

When good friends tell me to "own it," they of course are correct. An ego like mine comes from 40+ years of doing excellent work, learning from failures, being nurtured and nurturing other artists. No problem there with the depth psychology or lack-of-depth psychology, given that we are in such postmodern times and many argue that there really isn't any such thing as a core personality-- there's no real there there. The public, though, still seems to need monikers and web pages to land on that make the slipcover and costume divisions clear to them. Because of a phone call yesterday from someone who couldn't figure it out, I am reminded now that I ought to build more specific domain pages for visitors to land on because they do not know that all roads or urls lead to our website, and that all they view there is "of the crown."

Our May 21st, 2010 Gallery Initiation Show

2010-05-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

Picture courtesy of Amanda O'Ryan, curator of our May 21st, 2010 initiation show. Facing camera, front to back: Tony Berrow, Tarra Hanshaw.

It was a GREAT initiation show at 333, our new gallery space at McGrew Costume Studios and Boutique, 333 Pierpont Avenue.

So...the plan forms: We should do this each month with new monthly invited artists, new invited curator/organizer, maybe even do a fundraiser and build some plexi fronts on the hallway walls so the art can stay up for three weeks, protected from passing traffic. I need advice and experienced grant writers on board. In spite of all the advice we've been given to NOT form a nonprofit now, perhaps we should anyway.