As part of DIY @ Artscape, there was a free screening of Handmade Nation at UBalt. I went up there directly after my ballet class so I had to watch it while secretly still wearing tights and a leotard under my dress, but that’s neither here nor there.

One thing I thought was interesting/amusing was how all throughout the film all the crafters were talking about how the rise of handmade and DIY reflects a rejection of mass marketed/ generic items and embraces the personal and the unique. I might actually believe that if every damn piece on etsy wasn’t covered in skulls* or cupcakes (or both – so subversive). It’s all so…cute. And, dare I say, marketable? The handmade/craft scene rejects one protocol in favor of another. There’s nothing wrong with that but it’s a little funny when placed right next to this ideal of personal expression/involvement in your pieces.

It’s important to note that the people interviewed were established/recognizable crafters, who no doubt started so many of the trends popular today. So maybe when they were doing it, it WAS totally rad and something they loved. But these days, I just see all the same stuff and have to imagine it’s just a lot of copy-catting in the interest of sales. But, that’s true anywhere – for every 1 original there are at least 15 poor imitations.

I love the DIY/handmade scene and try to support it, but a lot of the stuff I find there is generic in its own way which is frustrating when it’s supposed to be this bastion of uniqueness (I wasn’t sure where the screening was to be held and I knew I had found it when I spotted a group of girls in quirky cheap-fabric summer dresses with cute purses). Some stuff I geniunely like, but not enough to have it in my house or wherever. They’re novelties.

That all being said, I would rather have people making the same Victorian-esque prints of birds (or people with bird heads), or necklaces with stylized octopuses**, or whatever the kids are into these days, than making nothing at all. One of the women in the film did mention that this is a way for these skills (embroidery, quilting, bookmaking, etc) to be passed down and adapted for new generations, which is definitely preferable to letting them die out. AND, although the finished products may be just as popularly-dictated as “regular” goods, I do have to agree that taking these skills and learning/changing them for our own purposes is in fact a way to gain some sort of autonomy from commercial culture, which is awesome and I can only hope the scene continues to grow. If the doc brings attention to it and encourages people to do it themselves, whatever it may be, I can support that.

To be fair, the film was not about the “merit” of the craft scene at all (its awesomeness is presupposed) – that’s my own beef right there (sorry guys). It was essentially a series of interviews of successful crafters with no commentary and no real framework as far as I could tell (it seemed to be grouped by general topics but that was it). It never really seemed to make a point (kind of like this blog entry). Basically, worth seeing but not worth going to see.

Full disclosures:
* = I love skulls.
** = I love stylized octopuses.

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July 14th, 2009 |