Here’s a lady in Finland who had an ambitious project to create knit / crocheted versions of other people in her village. Wow.
I’ve thought a fair amount over the years about the difference between art and craft, where the line is (if there is one), whether it’s in the eye of the beholder and the value people often don’t place on craft. As a ceramic artist that was a pretty hot debate and I personally lean towards art for anything made skilfully that isn’t strictly utilitarian (though there can be some beautiful, artistic, decoration on the most humble of daily use type objects). Overall, what it comes down to, for me, is level of skill and innate or learned eye for design. To me, kids mostly do crafts and adults achieve a higher skill level. Except for the ones who don’t, due to lack of artistic skill/talent, imagination, lack of practice/interest, or intent. And of course there are exceptions both ways.
What I’m getting at here is this lady is talented. What she is doing is art. And it’s good. Look at the face of the lady with the dog. She gets the cheekbones and nose right – in yarn! Now the dog, not so much, except the legs. I think he would have been more realistic if the rest of the yarn had been brushed out. The yarn woman has all the right shapes and even seems to have similar weight as that of her real life inspiration.
Never let anyone tell you that your art (or craft – whatever you choose to call it) isn’t valuable. It’s not all going to have lasting cultural significance, but creating with your hands and imagination has lasting benefits, at minimum, for the creator and may just bring a little joy into someone’s day.
Create on!
See this post for additional yarn people creations.
February 1, 2019 at 2:58 am
This is obviously completely utilitarian. The clothes can be worn and the bodies make for perfect dressmaker’s dummies. 😉
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February 1, 2019 at 7:49 am
Ha!
At first I wondered if she made both sweaters, but looking closer I think she only copied the original. The texture of the stitches is rougher. I think she even made the shoes on another of the figures. There’s not much on them that she didn’t knit/crochet, except for things like the glasses.
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February 3, 2019 at 12:15 am
I think it is all crochet in this figure – which is why the stitches in the replica sweater look coarser.
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February 2, 2019 at 3:21 am
I guess this is why we call people on the border of art and craft “artisan”? But this is definitely a work of art in my opinion. Anything a human makes can be art, it just needs to have a message or a piece of the artisan’s personality.
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