IN THE STUDIO // INCLUSION IN ART LAUNCHES HIGH CRAFT

by Kristin Grace

With the exhibition High Craft, opening at OCU in late October, five Oklahoma artists engage in craft work such as quilting, bead work, and hand-sewing to produce vibrant, original, and individually realized artworks. Historically, crafts like these have been relegated to domestic or industrial labor, but the intricate skill through which the artists achieved these pieces and the stories they tell elevate them to the level of high art.

High Craft is sponsored by Inclusion in Art, an organization that exists to promote ethnically, racially, and culturally diverse artists in Oklahoma’s visual arts community. Founded in 2004 by Nathan Lee, Skip Hill, and Suzanne Thomas—herself the driving force behind High Craft—Inclusion in Art created the first database of contemporary artists of color living in Oklahoma and went on to form partnerships with galleries that resulted in exhibitions for many diverse artists, some of which were their first showings. Today, several art spaces in the state, like Living Arts Tulsa and Mainsite Contemporary Art in Norman, turn to Inclusion in Art to connect them with artists whose work might be overlooked otherwise.

In August, I sat down with Thomas and High Craft’s five artists to talk about their upcoming show. I was struck by how they considered the exhibition as an opportunity to create community, bringing people together while allowing viewers to get to know them better. As Lawrence Naff said, “Through our art, we show that we are multifaceted, human people.”

Why would you like people to come see High Craft?

Maria Anderson: First of all, minority artists are showcased, and two, we are elevating and bringing things that are considered “craftsy” into a gallery setting. I would love for people to take what they see and go home and realize the work that their grandmothers did is actually art.

Ann Solenski: Yes, you have seen some of this work in domestic settings, and so craft artwork may already be more accessible to some people.

Suzanne Thomas: In the past several years, I think the idea of craft has grown in respectability as we expand ideas of what art is. Historically speaking, as opposed to fine art, craft has been considered women’s work, or simply a “skill.” And let’s talk about that word, “skill,” because it’s been in the news lately [ed. note: in July, with controversial new educational standards in Florida that endorse a distorted view of slavery]. The idea that certain human rights violations could be a good thing, because they helped certain people learn skills, ignores that those people may have already had them.

Beverly Kirk: I would like people to be inspired to think a little deeper about where these artworks come from within.

Maria: All these works have a huge narrative strength, and that makes them so compelling.

Are all of you telling stories with your artwork?

Beverly: I didn’t know that I had a story to tell until I sat down with my fabrics, the colors, images, the state flags— whatever I use. When I quilt, I want the fabrics to speak in their colors and in their crooked shapes. And as I work, they begin to. I hope to make a visual impact on people that pushes them to think deeply about subjects they did not think about before.

Maria: I do a lot of hand sewing, which I got into as art therapy. My work is very emotionally charged. I usually start from a concept, such as family trauma. I like to make art about my relationship with my mother as a way to heal and to contemplate how we don’t have perfect families. For High Craft, I made an interactive booth called Honor Thy Mother. It’s tongue-in-cheek; my mom thinks it’s funny. There is a prayer kneeler that I beaded, so it’s very uncomfortable to kneel on. I love to play with contrasting ideas as well as contrasting materials. There will be an image of my mom in the booth, figured as an icon. Even though it’s my story, I think other people will feel familiar with it.

Ann: All art is self-portraiture. My quilt pieces are mechanical, but they also reflect my adoption story.

Lawrence Naff: The majority of my work is not narrative, but the pieces I contributed to this show have something to do with self-segregation and what’s known as “white flight.” As a response to integration in the 60s, many white people moved out to the suburbs, and I didn’t know about this until I was in my 20s. I think this is a huge part of our racial issues today, the fact that we refuse to get to know one another if we could know each other as a neighbors instead of “those people over there.”

Amy Young: Working in fiber techniques, my pieces in this show are all centered on family and the ways my family has shaped my identity. I’ve split the works in the show into two groups based on their mediums: tufted rugs and weavings. The weavings display words of protection my parents gave to me as an adolescent, based on the perspectives of racism they had experienced. The tufted rugs are images of animals based on the zodiac signs of my sisters and me. The crab, scorpion, and ram all sit constellation-like on the floor, each playing upon the others through color and shape. The sum of the works together depicts a family in all its support, but also its fair share of misguidance.

Suzanne: In the last few years, in general, craft has not experienced a renaissance, exactly, but it has grown in respectability. With a historical perspective, as we expand our ideas of art, we recognize craft was relegated to women’s work and downgraded to just being a skill. But storytelling through craft work is one of the elements that elevates it to the level of art.

High Craft will be visible from October 26 through December 15 at the Nona Jean Hulsey Art Gallery in the Norick Art Center at Oklahoma City University, 1608 NW 26th St.

KRISTEN GRACE is a journalist for 405 Magazine and 405 Business Magazine, a freelance copyeditor for Callisto Media, and a graduate of Oklahoma City University’s Red Earth MFA program. She has authored a picture book for children, The Stepmother Who Believed in Feathers, as well as Wings, a collection of feminist fairy tales, both available from Literati Press. She has recently published poems in Focus Magazine, Mid/South, Freezeray, Behind the Rain Anthology, and other literary journals.