| "Oh, I'm not very creative," is the complaint of | | | | produced clothing and other articles made sewing |
| many individuals when approached about starting | | | | virtually obsolete. |
| up a craft. The truth is that everyone is creative. | | | | Crafting Today |
| Some of us just got the notion in third grade that | | | | Today is a new movement, present even among |
| since we weren't the best artist in the class that | | | | the very educated, wealthy, and politically |
| we weren't "the creative type." The Creative | | | | progressive. Betsy Greer coined the term |
| Type: a mysterious individual with messy hair and | | | | craftivism, a call to shrug off the plague of mass |
| outrageous attire who frequents museums and | | | | produced goods available, in turn for an |
| the theatre and mutters tirelessly to him/ herself | | | | appreciation of all things unique and handmade. |
| when in public. As legendary as Santa Claus-and | | | | Many still ask why, when it is cheaper, faster, and |
| just as fictional. Real creativity manifests itself in a | | | | more convenient to pick up this or that dust |
| myriad of different ways. Creativity is that urge | | | | catcher at your neighborhood Wal-Mart, why |
| that makes you want to move the furniture | | | | would anyone pick up a needle? The answer is |
| around, for the third time this week. Creativity is | | | | manifold. |
| the calm that comes over you as you chop | | | | Some craft because the activity creates |
| vegetables for tonight's dinner. Creativity is the | | | | satisfaction and gratification in a way that few |
| tickle of excitement you get when you find a | | | | other forms of entertainment today do. They |
| new scenic route to work. As humans, we have a | | | | enjoy both the process of creating as well as the |
| basic need to express ourselves, and how we | | | | finished product. There is a certain amount of |
| express ourselves is creativity. | | | | pride and confidence felt when using something |
| A Short History of Crafts | | | | made with one's own hands-whether it is a |
| Crafting has gone in and out of fashion over the | | | | bookshelf or a crocheted dishcloth. And then |
| last few decades. In the 1940s crafting was done | | | | there are the crafters who do what they do for |
| out of necessity. Because of WWII, making do | | | | no other reason than that crafts are fun. |
| and using up what you had was a respected form | | | | Perhaps others craft for their health-although they |
| of patriotism. Middleclass women made quilts from | | | | may not realize it. Crafting has a very positive |
| their family's old clothes, and their children used | | | | impact on one's mental health, as it engages the |
| catalogues or ads to make paper valentines or | | | | mind in creative and imaginative problem solving, |
| Christmas cards. Worn out sheets were made | | | | as well as the hands. Psychologists and therapists |
| into pillowcases, then into handkerchiefs, and | | | | have taken note, and many nursing homes and |
| eventually used as rags. There were not the malls | | | | psychiatric hospitals offer craft classes as a |
| open in the evening as there are today, nor were | | | | potent form of recreational therapy. |
| there the myriad forms of entertainment to be | | | | Crafting has also created its own community, |
| had, so people stayed home and worked | | | | which is a huge draw in our isolated society. |
| needlecraft or baked. | | | | Whether you scrapbook or throw pots, there is |
| This mentality continued throughout the forties | | | | likely an association in your city where you can |
| and fifties, but as the war generation aged | | | | join with other like-minded individuals to craft |
| crafting changed. Crafts were something you | | | | regularly. This feeling of community extends even |
| made in your leisure time. Since crafting was | | | | within one's own family. Many parents now |
| traditionally a women's activity, it was tied to | | | | schedule a regular arts and crafts time with their |
| domesticity and subordination. As the women's | | | | children. This is time well spent-crafting with |
| liberation movement entered the scene, crafting | | | | children builds important practical skills as well as |
| was looked down on as anti-progressive. Mass | | | | interpersonal bonds. |