Tuesday, 5 February 2008

arts & crafts : thought v/s knowledge

One theme that keeps recurring in my reading on craft is the concept of thought v/s knowledge.

Craft is concerned with knowledge: shared knowledge... learned knowledge... ancient knowledge... kinesthetic knowledge... historical knowledge...

Whereas art, to me, is thought... it is like a language, where each artist contributes a new word, pushing the ways art is understood. By association, our underanding of the world around us also progresses. I supose to me it is almost a visual philosophy.

Knitting is a craft that can be done in conjunction with something else. Your body has kinesthetically learned, yet your mind is free to do what it pleases. It can induce a trance like state or leave the mind free for other tasks... personally, I like to watch TV, listen to the radio or read a book whilst knitting.

Knowledge is acquired through time and patience, the ability to think is more inate... Is knowledge the femenine to thought's masculine? There is always a symbiosis between thought & knowledge - you must know how to think... and think to acquire knowledge.

When thought and knowlege combine, something wonderful can happen.

Perhaps this explains why I was so much in awe of the objects in the Collect and the Out of the Ordinary exhibitions.

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