Flint Knits

I adore you, I adore this post, and I adore your reading list. Thank you.

I find your blog topics fascinating and thought provoking. As a graduate of a fashion school, I’m wondering why these topics were never broached in our studies? I now work in higher education, specifically teacher education, where these types of conversations happen daily. Thank you for the reading list. I look forward to doing some research and reading future posts. Thank you!

P.S. I had a pair of the grooviest red hot pants in 7th grade

1. fantastic follow-up post, pam!

2. “the way we never were” is a really, really good book.

3. check out this book if you haven’t already: http://tinyurl.com/49h4om4

4. when will people EVER learn that Eskimo people and polar bears do not live in the same hemisphere as penguins? (at least the fabric above doesn’t have an igloo on it) If polar bears and penguins lived together, well, we probably wouldn’t have any penguins left. Duh.

A few things:

First, for shame using a cherry-picked fabrics to prove a point. I just poked around on spoonflower and found lots of adorable ethnically-inclusive prints: it’d be easy to make a collage demonstrating the opposite points (actually the awful geisha-y fabrics seem to be the most common offenders.) I’m not saying the point you’re making is necessarily wrong, just that it’s a logical fallacy.

Second, while I’m also a bit disappointed in Ross’s response- and, frankly, feel it was a poor business decision (but honestly people wouldn’t have been happy if she brownwashed a few designs either- she was put in a hard spot and maybe shouldn’t have said anything at all, or left her response vague, but I respect her for not doing that,) it is completely within her rights to make that call as an artist, even if it is a bad one. Vote with your dollars- there are lots of cute inclusive designs out there, contrary to what commentors on the previous post think.

(including the adorable brown mermaids one poster wanted-

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/272901 )

No one has a right to demand an artist change her work and then get mad when she doesn’t- it’s fine to not like her or purchase her work, but this targeted pile-on has been awfully unfair. If she only wants to draw her own childhood, that’s totally her prerogative, even though it would’ve been kinder to be more inclusive.

thanks for continuing the convo, pam! i think you bring up very important and interesting points to it, and like caro said, your posts are becoming part of the personal reassessment of my own views and choices, conscious and unconscious, and how i can change my place to properly reflect how i feel and how i want to support human rights, environmental issues, and my impact on the world at large.

@Jen: I think Spoonflower is a great way for folks to create their own fabric prints. I use it, I love it, and am really interested to see where these kinds of technologies lead. It doesn’t exactly allow us to, you know, seize the means of production, but it does open up certain kinds of opportunities for crafters and designers.

But I also think there’s a big difference between Spoonflower on one hand — where individuals who aren’t professional fabric designers and don’t have contracts with textile companies can have their ideas made into fabric (sweet!) — and, on the other, the fabric and textile corporations and sellers that dominate the commercial quilting cottons market.

If you look at, say, Hancocks of Paducah, fabric.com, Pink Chalk, or any of the large stockists of commercially available fabrics, it looks to me like these mosaics are pretty representative.

If Spoonflower is chock-full of interesting, diverse kinds of human representation, fantastic! But it’s important, IMO, to ask WHY that’s the case with Spoonflower and not with any of the fabric producers stocked at your local craft or quilt shop. The presence of those kinds of prints on Spoonflower suggests that folks are responding to the fact that they *aren’t* available commercially.

thank you for the food for thought. somehow I missed the January post, but I just read it. Thanks for bringing these kinds of issues- things we SHOULD be thinking about- to the forefront of our crafting “conscience”. You’re awesome, Pam.

True, re: spoonflower- and all the more reason to demand diversity from the larger manufacturers! But targeting one indie designer isn’t the way to do it, and at least there are some options available to support. The big companies always end up following the lead of the small artisans eventually- look at Anthropologie and etsy

awesome. the world needs more of this.

WOW. First off, let me thank you for this post.

As a crafter and person of color, these are things i think about regularly. It makes me ecstatic to not only see your post, but to see the discussion it generates amongst people of all races about Privilege, Classism and understanding the nature of global capitalism and how it effects the craft industry.

I feel like you raised an incredibly valid point when you brought up the fact that multi-national corporations are the ones bringing us a lot of our yarn and textiles from countries where women who are working under exploitative conditions would never be able to afford the things we take for granted.

A lot of people think that simply by not shopping at walmart they’ve somehow opted out of consumerist slavery to these corporations and their systematic exploitation, and that’s simply not the case.

The lack of brown faces on quilting cotton is, of course, merely the tip of the iceberg of many racial issues that still exist, deeply ingrained, in our society.

If you read this post and thought to yourself “I’ve never noticed the lack of racial diversity in this situation”, or if you never realized that the craft community would have people of color in it, then congratulations - You have been benefiting from privilege. one of the greatest and most obvious symptoms of privilege is to not HAVE to notice the inequality, because it doesn’t effect you.

The correct response to being confronted with this privilege isn’t to attempt to deny it or explain it, because seriously, it’s very rare that when somebody can point out a situation where somebody benefits from privilege where it’s not actually the case. The correct response is to acknowledge it and figure out what you can do to help level the playing field. Privilege is what it is, and if you have it you have it, but denying you have it or refusing to acknowledge you benefit from it is the problem.

Thank you so much for promoting ongoing discussion on this issue, this is one of the many reasons i adore your blog.

Hiya, Heather — thanks for dropping in again. This post was actually an attempt to step *back* from the more small-scale focus of the previous post, and frankly, from you and your work. Politically, I’m just not that interested in you or your work, and yes, I’m sure you’re a lovely person. (Personally, I’m hugely interested in your work, since it’s freaking fantastic — right this moment, I’m looking at three little pink & green gnomes in a frame on my living room wall.)

The idea actually IS to, as you say, “be a place for discussing topics like this as a whole,” which is why this post is devoted to the stepping-back and the zooming-out (and if you care to read the hot pants post, you’ll see that it’s also a piece about politics and history).

Also, I suspect I’m actually *losing* readers by focusing on politics instead of just on pretty things (though I guess I might be gaining trolls). But I’m initiating these discussions because I think they’re important, and I know they’re rare in online crafty circles.

So rather than pretending the earlier conversation didn’t take place, I think it’s important to ask what productive directions it can take us in. I did use Ashley’s guest post as a starting place, because (1) I think it’s important to take the focus off of one designer or one print and look at a broader political picture, (2) that post generated some really useful discussion that I don’t want to ignore, and (3) it would feel disingenuous and weird to never speak of it again.

But I specifically say here that I’m not interested in re-hashing anything said in/about the earlier post, but on looking out and forward — I also ask commenters to respond to the content of *this* post, rather than doing that re-hashing, and most folks have been respectful of that request so far.

If you read the post, I think you’ll see these things, and I hope you’ll realize that we’re having a conversation that’s not really about you, and that’s bigger than you — or me or Ashley or any other individual artist or crafter. Thanks for your time!

TRIGGER WARNING & MOD NOTE FROM PAM: Ordinarily, I would delete racist hate speech from my web site, but I’m leaving this comment alone for now, because I think it says a lot about the attitudes and bigger issues we’re facing here.

So?

If African American’s feel so keenly about the representation of their race in fabric or any other art form besides RAP perhaps some African American artist could step up and instead of making money by calling women whores and cunts they may just spend some time and make designs for fabris that represent their lives. I hardly think a white artist should have to bear all the burden of studying to do that and end up being shot down by trying to emmulate or depict someone they are not.

Also, so easy to prove a point by carefully picking your samples. In science we call it cheating.

Another thing? Hot Pants? That was not freedom, definitely did not help having men respect me as a Human Being, more like an easily accessible hole.

Well, whoopsie! Looks like the previous attempt I made at posting to this thread didn’t make the cut. That’s ok, coach.

This topic is very interesting to me as an activist and someone who has created and helped organize events for people learning DIY and crafting skills (including spinning, weaving, knitting and dying) so I’m going to try to add a few more ideas that could be explored.

It’s going to be an inappropriately long post, so I suggest skimming or ignoring it.

First, there are tools of aesthetic thought and criticism that are common in art schools, which could be interesting if applied to this discussion.

Secondly, I’d like to see this discussion evolve to include certain issues of very deep structural racism in how we create culture in the west.

1. Culture creation is segregated by privilege and power into roles that are considered:
1) “creative,” like “designer” and “artist, “which are highly valued economically and socially, and considered to add a great deal to the final value of a cultural product, and:
2) “non-creative” roles, which are considered low value, and paid accordingly.

In reality, this is deeply unfair. These “roles” have little to do with actual “creativity” and how much value is added to a product and have more to do with the status and privilege of those doing the work. Of course, economists would claim that these disparities have something to do with “risk.” This is utter bullshit.

For example, consider a line of hand-made Persian rugs branded by Martha Stewart. http://www.marthastewart.com/article/rugs-101 None of these rugs claim to be designed by Martha herself, and most claim to be traditional designs. And while they claim to be “hand made” in various exotic locales, it doesn’t appear that the actual artists making these pieces are featured in any way!

What a shock! Apparently, it is the mere touch, the very taste of a western “designer” in selecting the pieces that is valued, while those actually MAKING the stuff (and also acting as creative curators of special cultural knowledge) are treated as simple tools in the hand of the great western artist. Whose hand, in your opinion, added the most value to these rugs? And who do you think received more pay for their contribution? Martha Stewart, or one of the artists hand-making these rugs based on traditional knowledge and skill? Perhaps I missed the “fair trade” icon somewhere that would have let me know that these skilled workers were receiving fair pay for their contributions….

I also haven’t been able to locate a statement from Kokka Fabrics about their subcontractors or the workers actually making the fabrics. On the other hand, Spoonflower fabrics are at least made in the US, though I don’t know if they’re union or not…

Anyway, this deification of the “creative,” the “artist” the “designer” is very probably a form of western insanity, and one that helps institutionalize segregation, exploitation and racism. And while it seems “natural” to us, it isn’t. As I learned in 3 different art schools, it is actually an aesthetic construct that arose with Beethoven and “Werther” and the ideal of the Romanic Artist-Hero. Prior to that, in European culture, and in most of the world until the very recent spread globalism, the aesthetic norm was much more a “takes a village” approach to culture creation.

Creating culture and art was just a normal thing that everyone participated in, not the domain of a few celebrated “geniuses.”

A non-academic discussion of that in the context of aesthetic/Buddhist thought can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Dharma-Art-Ocean-Chogyam-Trungpa/dp/1570621365 The author suggests that there are intrapersonal ills (to go along with the social ills) that come from this strange western deification of the creative artist. A contrast can also be seen in this VERY DIFFERENT (but still probably exploitive and self-serving) business from the Martha Stewart model above: http://www.hilltribeart.com/artists.html

So in this way, aesthetics that value the “artistic” contributions of western WHITE “artists” are in themselves deeply racist. And I’m very suspicious of lauding artists like so and so in such a way that treats 9-year-old Indonesian textile workers as mere crochet hooks in the hands of western genius.

Even in the United States, this segregation in culture-creation roles has dire consequences. If you’ll pardon a hasty and lazy couple of citations, we can discuss the fact that those filling these “DESIGN” and “ARTIST” roles in the US are disproportionately white. Ridiculously so. Only 1.5 percent of licensed architects are black, and only about 2 percent of interior designers are black. In other words, the valued “CREATION” of culture is done by whites, while the less valued role of actually MAKING THE STUFF is often done by people of color, usually in the global south (and virtually for no pay.)

http://www.di.net/articles/archive/addressing_design_disparities_role/

http://www.stepinsidedesign.com/STEPMagazine/Article/28650/

A very important component of this discussion is “read/write” culture vs “read only” culture in the centralized “cultural industry.” For those with access, professionalized culture can be participatory, whereas for those without access, “culture” is something that is imposed on them. Great “beginning” level discussion on this topic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q25-S7jzgs

2. Role reversal. Ironically, when white people do the “hands on” work, it is suddenly seen as “creative” and often VERY highly valued. An example of this can be seen in the farmers market/local food movement. Traditionally, white people do the “managerial” roles in food production (which are highly valued) while people of color have done the actual GROWING STUFF. But it seems that as soon as white people get involved with the actual GROWING STUFF, it is suddenly seen as something that should be fairly valued by society! As another example, my acquaintances who hand-spin flax get quite a bit of money for their “local,” “specialty product…”
3. The Artist’s Dream! Given all that, it’s kind of bizarre that many privileged whites now dream of crafting and art (to become the Romantic Artist-hero) as a sort of “escape” from “work” when people of color are forced to do this same work in sweat-shop conditions for little pay. All this makes me think of a famous “genius” white rock musician who bragged about going to the poor part of LA to hire cheap (but very skilled) mariachi musicians for HIS “signature sound.” Anyway, while I applaud the local farmer’s market movement, I have to cringe that we’re all willing to pay more for my produce with the “made by whitey” guarantee. While the more skilled Mexican migrant worker could never DREAM of making that kind of money off of agriculture!

4. Wabi-sabi. One aesthetic “tool” that could be used to evaluate the work of crafters and artists is called “wabi-sabi” in Japanese and is closely related to “punk” culture in the west (if you ask the author of this: http://www.amazon.com/Wabi-Sabi-Artists-Designers-Poets-Philosophers/dp/1880656124.) “Wabi-sabi” is emerging buzzword around people who care about art and design these days, and there are many who believe that it could even remedy many social ills including the economic imbalances of globalism and the structural racism addressed above. It has become “cool” to think that embracing such a DIY-based aesthetic with an emphasis on “terroir” materials could lead to democratization of design that could help spontaneously reorder our communities in ways that are more sustainable and fair. Like this: http://www.patternlanguage.com/

And the original text on this wabisabi aesthetic that once helped remedy rampant conspicuous consumption and inequality in Japan is Okakura’s Book of Tea: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/tea.htm

If you take the time, this aesthetic/revolutionary vision is compelling and closely related with DIY culture and crafting.

And shouldn’t we make it a point to like things that don’t make life suck for other people?

5. The Feudal White Craftopia. It has become popular in many and various crafting communities world wide to discuss the solution above in the context of a sort of DREAM that we will all be saved by a SPONTANEOUSLY ARISING benevolent dictatorship of liberal white people.

Yes, white people actually talk this way, I’ve heard it many, many times. It’s frightening that people who should know better don’t see the racism in it.

This is apparently the new “liberalism” in a world where liberals (like me) have lost faith in government to solve problems of inequality and injustice. This new liberalism is a belief in spontaneously arising new “grass roots” local cultural systems that will form in the ruins of the centralized cultural industry. These new systems will be a magical utopia.

This is something I personally want to believe in. But it’s also a reason for serious concern. This sort of thinking is exemplified by the new rising Transition movement (which I take part in) and its “Great Reskilling.”

Video on Great Reskilling http://vimeo.com/20024618
Or read some: http://campfire.theoildrum.com/node/5226

When I talk to people interested I DIY culture, this often comes up.

What IS relevant to our discussion is this common new dream of a sort of craft salvation that will be headed by middle-class liberal whites. The same dream can be seen in various punk DIY movements and “Craftivism.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craftivism

Admit it, crafter! You’ve had the thought before that making mittens, rather than buying them from Walmart, was revolutionary activity.

Yes, such is the white man’s burden that he can’t even knit socks without saving the world! And even the beverage choices of white people are heroic and revolutionary! http://www.amazon.com/Fermenting-Revolution-Drink-Beer-World/dp/0865715564

Yes, I’m fond of these theories myself. I drink (and attempt to make) craft beer with revolutionary zeal, to spite the man with each tasty sip. But we need to be careful. I’ve been to a few craft beer festivals, in very diverse communities, and I can tell you that the turn-out was lilly white!

I recently attended a “reskilling” event (again, all white) where attendees discussed “reskilling” and small-farm ownership in Illinois. The “dream” they had was of small farms and “reskillers” “saving” Illinois by providing food, shelter and clothing, (beer!) etc. Yep, everything would be ok, because well-meaning liberal white people owned all the land that would be required and possess all the necessary beer-making skills. All that will be needed is labor, and the new utopia would be complete. And that, they explained, would be provided by all those urbanites fleeing the cities….

This is a strange, strange fantasy of feudal utopia that many people are taking very seriously these days. And an example of how well-meaning liberal whites can drift into strange exclusive visions of society.

thank you. thank you for expanding your blog so much to talk about these kind of subjects and really get people (me) thinking and evaluating. i am loving these posts/ discussions!

thank you! thank you for this post - it made me realise that my m.a. thesis on afro-american quilting is, well can’t possibly be, not finished. i missed out on important things. i did not see. i stopped at “the work must be political”. i stopped there because i did not know better. you made me see - thank you. especially for the reading list.

Good. Thoughtful discussion and a reading list. It’s been a long several weeks of frustration at the political things going on in state governments, and your blog gives me hope for the world. So, thanks. I needed that.

If I could interject a possibility for further reading on the economics of textile production, Pietra Rivoli’s 2005 book The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade does a fantastic job at muddling the issues surrounding the dwindling American textile market.

That dude - your comment was fantastic. These are just some of the issues I’ve been thinking about surrounding crafting and the DIY-slow food-ethical shopping movement and the way it paints this vision of wealthy whites saving the world one pair of fair trade shoes at a time. So much of it is about giving participants a sense of personal purity as a stand-in for action (mittens as revolution made me laugh out loud). Your post has given me so much extra food for thought.

I am of mixed opinions on this whole issue. On one hand, I can see where the issues with Heather Ross sparked this conversation — which I believe has gone it’s correct route and is no longer targeting a single designer, at all. It just started with her, and that is sad because I truly believe that Heather Ross never intended to represent a racist or biased or privileged view of the world. She was just introducing us to her own imagination and past through her fabric designs. I do not even particularly feel that it is fair or necessary for crafters to request that a single particular designer should change parts of her design to be more PC. I think that it’s within each and every crafters’ rights to present their opinion to those that produce things they buy, as consumers, but in the same way that you are presenting your opinions here on the blog, I think that Heather has a right to represent herself in her art as she sees fit, without being called a racist.

On the other hand, the bigger issue here is obviously a misrepresentation or lack of representation of other races in crafting. I think that part of this error is cyclical — we see images of white women crafting, and therefore grow up, unless we see other women or men crafting, believing that those are the people who craft. And this is simply not true. People of all races and genders and ages across the entire globe craft.

While Carla’s post in particular was coated in extreme racist views and misinterpretations of SO MANY things, I will admit that she has a point. If white women like Heather Ross are presenting their childhoods to the world, where are the designers from other races and countries representing their childhoods? If they are designing fabric, why do they feel that in order to make it sell they have to present certain views or images? And if they ARE presenting their fabric with images of only african-american children or only native-american children, why is it wrong for H.R. to present only pictures of white children?

I guess what I am trying to say is that yes, there is something wrong with the textile/crafting industry’s underrepresentation or misrepresentation of other ethnicities. This needs to change. This needs to have attention (like this awesome post and the ones before and in response to it on other blogs from other people, too) brought to it. But I also would like to believe that in the same way we should push the celebration and showing of people of other nationalities and ethnicities, we should also stop attacking white crafters and artists for being white.

Love your blog and the topics you’ve been exploring lately. I have another suggestion for the White privilege section. It’s an article called “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack” by Peggy McIntosh. http://www.uakron.edu/centers/conflict/docs/whitepriv.pdf