How Craft Became an Art Market Force

Textiles have not always been given a seat at the table when it comes to representation in the art market. Nor have many other material crafts such as glassblowing, woodworking, ceramics, etc. This is not a secret to the many that work with and deeply love these materials. However reports continue to describe the ever growing prominence of craft in the gallery setting, in public and private art collections and museums, demanding high prices and high praise.

What is behind this theme of resurgence and revaluing within the arts community? Artsy lays out some possible explanations and examinations in their article How Craft Became an Art Market Force.

Excerpts

“Craft is really accessible—it’s really open-hearted, and it’s inclusive,” said Isobel Dennis, the director of the Craft Council’s Collect fair. “It stands for something, it means something—that handmade quality, that expert experience—that skilled person that’s behind the object.”

“Craft is in its very nature anti-consumerist, anti–mass production, and sustainable.”

Image: The Reality is Shadow, 2018, Meriem Yin