Back in September, each graphic design senior proposed three possible topics to explore for their year-long senior thesis project. After their proposals, members of the class and professors voted on what they thought was the most interesting topic or had the most depth. I narrowed down my list of ideas to three: 1. Heroic Produce - portraying healthy foods as superheroes 2. Re-branding Laumeier Sculpture Park and 3. Craft vs. Art and the exploration of the indie craft movement.
Craft was the winning idea and my original proposal included researching what defines art and craft, interviewing local crafters, diving into the crafting lifestyle by creating my own crafts and selling them on Etsy and creating a blog/book/print piece to summarize my crafting adventures. The more I researched the argument of art vs. craft, the more I realized that people had varying opinions of what they determined craft to be, but in the end, no one really cared about the argument itself. I decided, what's the point of arguing about what is art and what is craft? I feared for the depth of my thesis. It was becoming a shallow, albeit entertaining romp through the craft culture.
The "Ah Ha!" Moment
While sitting with my mom during one of her chemotherapy treatments it dawned on me that while she was laying in bed, maybe we could work on some crafts together. It would serve as a mother-daughter bonding activity and it might take her mind off the infusions she was receiving. I thought back to the crafters I had already spoken with and most of them had described crafting as a soothing activity, something they did to de-stress and unwind after a hectic day at work. Then I wondered....could craft be used as therapy?
**Disclaimer** Art therapy is a noble profession and there is no way during the course of one semester I would even begin to understand what it takes to become an art therapist. My project is in no way trying to re-create art therapy with crafts and renaming it "craft therapy." It is simply exploring the possibility of using crafts as a meditative and communicative process.**
New Direction
The art projects offered to patients in the waiting room at Siteman Cancer Center are great, but my mom is only in the waiting room for 30-45 minutes before she is whisked away to her chemo "pod" for 6-7 hours of treatment! My idea is to package several small-scale craft projects my mom and other chemotherapy patients can complete within their treatment time. I am much happier with the new direction of my project for many reasons. 1. I get to spend more time with my mom during treatment (for research, of course) 2. The crafts might provide a therapeutic escape for patients 3. My thesis becomes a packaging & branding project still related to crafts.
Interviews, photos and mood boards (from September, oops!) will be updated shortly. Please feel free to give me opinions and advice, however sweet or snarky they may be. I love feedback and collaboration! Also, please let me know if you have any interest in teaching me how to knit. It's the one craft I'm terrified to learn!
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