The dictionary defines "craft" as a "skill in doing or making something, as in the arts; proficiency. When I think of craft I think of the hands-on DIY trend that's swept the nation, in the form of knitting, crocheting, weaving, pottery, letterpress, sewing, baking and cooking. I think of people home-brewing beer, young urbanites building gardens on their roofs, the droves heading out to design and skill centers like 3rd Ward in Brooklyn to learn how to screenprint, make jewelry, weld and work with wood, and sites like Etsy exploding with new shops everyday selling the work of the hand-and-homemade.

Common Jive, an exhibition currently on view at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA) Project Space, takes a deeper look into craft and its range of approaches. The EFA Project Space is also a multi-disciplinary art venue hosting events, classes, lectures and space for creatives to interact, supporting craft as much as they do community. Is craft-ing, in verb-form, more about the creating itself? Or is the revelry in the finished project? Many would argue that the process is as crucial as what one is crafting—and it is artful dedication to steps along the way that makes something crafted at all.

Color Work Station by Megan Whitmarsh

Megan Whitmarsh's Color Work Station, on view in the exhibition, riffs on her interpretation of a busy, creative studio. EFA writes, "Cheerfully quirky, the work "celebrates the process of making art" while making the often evasive artist's workspace accessible." Furry androgenous creatures move amongst an imagined workspace, in which vibrant paintings, objects and sculptures appear to be in-process. Other pieces in the show are interpretations of traditional forms of crafting—a quilt woven out of found detritus, and embroidered pillows with humorous messages that incorporate modern day social commentary into age old domestic decoration. The show remains on view for just a few more weeks through Saturday, May 15th, so stop on by to see craft, re-examined.

Featuring work by artists: Scott Andresen, Karen Azoulay, David Brooks, Milton Carter, Kate Gilmore, Nate Kassel, Ai Kijima, Shana Moulton, Natsu, Brent Owens, Maria Pineres, Tanea Richardson, Whiting Tennis, Megan Whitmarsh, Vadis Turner and Saya Woolfalk

Common Jive
EFA Project Space
A Program of The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts
323 W 39th Street, 2nd Floor