Bree Rosberg

Craft Dinner

"Craft Dinner" is a combination of sculpture and video. The sculpture is a dinner set made from the kids' craft material, melting beads. This dinner set is then used by me as I struggle to consume a plate full of food using the disfunctional objects.

“As a continuation into my exploration of the debate between what makes art differ from craft in the professional art scene, I created "Craft Dinner". Sally J. Markowitz describes craft being different from art because of craft’s inherent purpose to serve “practical or utilitarian functions” (57). This is different from traditional art mediums that purely exist for aesthetic purposes and have little to no use at all beyond such (Markowitz, 57). Taking Markowitz’s definition of craft being used to create purely functional objects, I created a plate. This plate is made from a crafting supply commonly used by young children: melting beads. The melting beads are formed together and glued into the shape of a plate, knife, and fork. By using a material that is traditionally used to make small trinkets and keychains that would be called ‘craft’ and not ‘art’ because of their medium, I remove the functionality of the object. I prove this point in the documented video where I sit before a dining table and attempt to eat the food on the plate with the crafted utensils. Though able to eat some of the food, the functionality of the objects is lacking as the fork is unable to pierce, and the knife is unable to cut. The plate’s surface is covered in small holes that fill with pieces of food as I attempt to eat, making it difficult to clean after the meal. The plate does not work for its intended purpose, so despite being a craft, it becomes dysfunctional. So, if it no longer serves a function, does that make it art or craft? Markowitz, Sally J. “The Distinction between Art and Craft.” Journal of Aesthetic Education, vol. 28, no. 1, 1994, pp. 55–70. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3333159. ”