Craft Works

Enza Gandolfo and Marty Grace. Women Craft Wellbeing: It Keeps Me Sane. Carlton North, Vic: The Vulgar Press, 2009.

Reviewed by Adrienne Sallay

A new book about domestic crafts, Women Craft Wellbeing: It Keeps me Sane, is part of a wider research project, The Everyday Creativity of Women Craftmakers, that documents the role and meaning of craftmaking in women’s lives. Published by Vulgar Press, the project has been assisted by Victoria University, Spotlight and Docklands Press. The book includes key themes that have emerged from the research of two Victoria University academics, Enza Gandolfo and Marty Grace, highlighting the link between craftmaking and wellbeing.

From Mrs Beeton’s cookbook to Debra Adelaide’s The Household Guide to Dying (2008), women have celebrated a range of domestic work, from doing the laundry or planting a garden to making a wedding cake. However, Gandolfo and Grace’s research narrows the field to that of craftmaking, allowing for an in-depth exploration of a variety of craftworks. It includes interviews with women who work in areas of craft such as embroidery, knitting, patchwork, appliqué, mosaics and crocheting.

Women Craft Wellbeing provides a well-researched definition of craft and a discussion about its meaning and importance for women. Issues addressed in the book include the joy of making things; seeing something grow from your own hands; the skill of paying close care and attention to an object; the making and giving of gifts; the preservation of cultural elements; and the freedom to use one’s imagination in providing a creative outlet that ends up with a functional object.

Psychological aspects to emerge from the women’s discussions are those of the conviviality of craftwork (sewing circles, quilting bees), the constancy of it, and the healing nature of it in times of stress or hardship. Another positive aspect of craftwork that women mention is the portability of some forms of craftwork, making it easy to interact with others while they work.

The connectivity of craftwork is a recurring theme: to other craft workers; to our past; and to our future. Quilter Vicki Cameron says: ‘Because my family means so much to me, I’d like to be able to leave them a memory of me that’s tangible. Something that is not just a picture. Rather than have a gravestone, I’d rather them have a quilt’ (42).

Craftwork also provides status for women. It enables them to enjoy a certain reputation amongst other craftworkers, at the same time as it gives them a sense of autonomy and ways of contributing to home and family. In addition, while the tactile, concrete nature of the materials differs from words on a page, crafts can sometimes become vehicles for political expression.

Women Craft Wellbeing explores the craftworks of fifteen women and their feelings about their work. It also looks at the work of a group of quiltmakers, the Wednesday Quilters. It examines the joys implicit in the creation of each craft, and most importantly, the sense of wellbeing that results from involvement in a craft. As Gandolfo explains, ‘at particularly stressful times in my life the act of making has provided time out and relief’ (6).

One of the contributors, Linda Rohrs, has a passion for knitting: ‘I love the craft. I love knitting. I love the way you can do things. I just love making things… When you’re sitting in a tram or trains knitting, very often it’s a way of communicating with people. [They] have an excuse to say something to you (29).’ Rohrs’ work, knitting functional and artistic pieces, and making carpets and rugs, reminds me of Anne Bartlett’s 2005 novel, Knitting, in which the protagonist knits a large horse and hangs it from her loungeroom ceiling.

With so many colour plates, the A4 landscape format of Women Craft Wellbeing lends itself appropriately to the material. It contains clearly written, accessible text on each left-hand page and includes colour photographs of each contributor. On each right hand page there are colour photographs of whole craftworks, with some close-ups to reveal details. I especially liked the detail of wool embroidery on a woollen blanket by Angela Monitto (25) and the cross stitch sampler by Marilyn Sullivan that reads This house is protected by a layer of dust… (53).

Like my friend, Reet, who celebrates the art of drawn-thread work with a group of women that meets each week to work on the curtains for their Estonian church, women use crafts as a way of preserving cultural heritage, connecting, creating, giving and staying sane. This delightful book, based on well-researched material, provides colourful visuals and useful insights that elevate women’s craftworks. The outcome of the research concludes that craftworks are vital for some women’s mental health and wellbeing.

Adrienne Sallay has a PhD in Creative Writing from Macquarie University. In the last ten years she has published essays and short stories in Best Stories Under the Sun, Emerge, MUPRA Survival Guide, Yellow Moon, NewsWrite and Southerly. She has received awards for her short fiction, has completed a historical novel, Loaded Hearts, is working on a second, White Wedding (a domestic drama examining wedding preparations and their aftermath), and is developing a collection of short stories, The Change Room (tales from six women who attend aquarobics at the local pool).

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