Put Your Thing Down, Flip It, and Reverse It: Reimagining Craft Identities Using Tactics of Queer Theory

Abstract

T phrase “identity crisis” has frequently been used to describe the current state of contemporary craft.1 3is identity crisis came to a head when, as discussed in the introduction to this volume, several prominent educational and cultural institutions dropped the word craft from their formal names, choosing to exist under the banner of art, and in some cases design. 3ese institutions’ actions seemed to demonstrate that the public image of craft is in shambles—the word itself evokes stigmas and stereotypes with which museums and schools do not wish to be a4liated. In her essay “Homespun Ideas: Reinterpreting Craft in Contemporary Culture,” Lydia Matthews writes: