ABSTRACT
In 1984, art historian Rozsika Parker first published her research on the history of embroidery and its relationship to the status of women in The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine. As abstraction became an increasingly limiting means of self-expression, a new generation of artists like Robert Rauschenberg embraced readymade quilts, decorative patterns and craft media as a means of making art more accessible by infusing it with “real life.” Although this feminist dialectic seems open to the charge of simply appropriating women’s craft history, the materials and making processes of that history serve as metaphors and symbols that communicate complex meaning. The craft community understands and embraces the importance of making for surviving tragedy. Contemporary craft advocates would not have been surprised to learn the findings of a study at Otago University, New Zealand.
