A portrait of the artists: paper artist Nikki McClure (above) in her Olympia, Washington, studio; embroidered portraits by Austin, Texas-based Jenny Hart (top right); and Faythe Levine with glass-bead maker Jenine Bressner in Providence, Rhode Island (bottom right).

Credit: supplied

THE LOOK: The art of the craft

The common notion of the craft fair conjures comically old-fashioned, twee images of dried-apple dolls, homemade wreaths, and other assorted bric-a-brac — an outlet for the creative emissions of diehard hippies, blue-hairs, and the type of people who enjoy pillows embroidered with timeless aphorisms and Biblical quotations.

But a new generation of young designers has been slowly transforming crafting at a grassroots level. Equal parts social activism and artistic vision, the basic tenets of this emerging DIY (Do It Yourself) arts and crafts movement are similar to the folk-art revival of the late ’60s and early ’70s (eco-consciousness, anti-mass production, personalized human interaction).

However, today’s crafters are also inspired by the much more aggressive punk credo of fighting against authority and living according to their own rules. As more and more indie craft fairs pop up across North America, they build artistic communities that helped to sustain continued growth in what has become an odd mirroring of capitalist theory in a decidedly communal forum.

Faythe Levine has been part of this new wave in art, craft and design, first as a crafter (she launched a small paper goods company, Flying Fish Design), and, more recently, as a documentary filmmaker. Her film, Handmade Nation, crisscrosses the U.S., exploring the DIY movement and the dizzyingly diverse artists that make up its core. Local promoters Lotus Events — the impresarios behind the clothing exchange Swap-a-Rama and the monthly Got Craft? fairs — recently invited Levine to make her first Canadian appearance for the film at the Vancouver premiere on Thursday, July 9.

WE caught up with Levine by phone from the departure lounge of Los Angeles International Airport, where she was part of a panel of experts for Dwell Magazine’s annual design conference.

WE: Why did you think people making books or knitting hats would make for a compelling documentary?

Levine: The whole reason I think DIY is important is that it involves people taking control of their own lives and living under their own rules. If you see someone doing that already, it makes the idea of doing it yourself that much more attainable. It’s not just that the artists are interesting, which I think they are; it’s that they can inspire someone to find their own way. When I was growing up in Seattle, I didn’t know anything about ’zines [self-published magazines] until someone handed me one and I could see that you could go to Kinko’s and publish your own work. I wanted to get that point across to a wider public, that you can be creative any way you choose. There are no rules in the DIY craft community.

It was somewhat surprising to see how many of the artists in the film stumbled upon their careers by taking a class; or sending off for a mail-order kit; or, as in the case of paper artist Nikki McClure, just messing around with paper and an Exacto knife. It’s reminiscent of the surge in crafting that occurred in the ’60s and ’70s.

Well, crafts aren’t unique to our generation, meaning, in my case, people in their twenties and thirties. People never stopped making things in the interim. They want to connect with something that speaks to them. And teaching yourself is as DIY as making it yourself.

But it’s not always just about making things or creating art. There’s a sector of the DIY community with a strong political bent, is there not?

There is a convergence between crafting and politics. [Blogger] Betsy Greer coined the term “craftivism” to describe the deep relationship between the two. There’s the idea of sustainability and eco-sensitivity, but there’s also the idea that merely making something by hand is advocating a stance against that mentality we in the West have been taught — namely, to always buy, buy, buy. There’s a philanthropic side to it as well, like a knitting circle that makes knit hats for the homeless. There’s even a more radical aspect that we show in Handmade Nation, like Knitta [a group of “radicals” who, under the guise of fun and light vandalism — “fundalism” — cover stop-sign poles and other assorted urban landscape markers with rainbow-coloured cozies under cover of darkness].

But there are also people who are just hobbyists with no agenda, or small-business owners who are looking to make a living, not make a statement.

That’s right. Some people have taken that leap and started a business. But there are many others who don’t want to make it their full-time job. [A craft business] can take an intense physical toll on your body that most people haven’t thought through. Sitting in a chair eight hours a day sewing can really affect your hands and your eyes. And some days you wake up and think, “I don’t want to make 500 stuffed owls.” When you make it your job, it becomes a job.

Do you think that this micro-economy can and will sustain itself, or is it getting ready to burst?

I don’t necessarily see crafting and craft fairs as a sustainable economy in its own right. I mean, there is that old craft fair expression: “Who needs to see another owl?” But I do see it as a valuable alternative to the big-box stores.

You broach the long-running debate between “crafts,” which were traditionally female-centric, utilitarian objects, and capital ‘A’ art, a traditionally male discipline which is given a higher value.

We’re seeing that debate begin to turn now. There’s a huge trend in the high-art scene towards craft-based objects. And most DIY-ers don’t care about the question at all. If I knit a scarf and I call it a piece of artwork, then who is going to argue with me? You can’t, because it’s mine. The debate is framed differently in the DIY community because the answer is 100 per cent up to the individual. It’s less about other people than it is about you.

But there can be so much overlap at craft fairs, so many of the same type of unique things.

It’s the owls again, yes. But I was just in New York and met with a new designer who was working with vintage sheets — the kind they had on their childhood bed. And then I was in California and another artist was using the exact same material because she had the same sheets as a child. So, you could say they were doing the same thing, but they weren’t. The materials may have been the same, but their work was completely different. And there’s no one person to pinpoint design trends. It’s DIY.

Faythe Levine will be on hand for the Vancouver premiere of Handmade Nation, Thursday, July 9 at the Rio on Broadway (1660 E. Broadway).

Doors 7 p.m.; showtime 8 p.m. Tickets $20 in advance at GotCraft.com or $25 at door.