My husband does most of the baking in our house and has for the 29 years of our marriage. It’s one of his favorite pastimes. Yet after all these years, it’s still not unusual to show up at our friends’ dinner party with one of his delicious strawberry rhubarb pies or orange chocolate cakes and have our hosts thank me instead of him. I remind them again that Roger is the artist in this case, not me.
I’ve actually had a few people criticize me over the years for “making” my poor husband do most of the cooking and baking. It’s odd to think in the 21st century such an activity could still be considered “women’s work.”
For most of history, women’s crafts, things like needlework, sewing, or china painting, have not been considered “high art.” Women’s art has also traditionally sold for less, been displayed less often, and been presented with fewer awards. All of this is fact. Men, too, have been relegated mostly to certain types of art, although they’ve had more freedom to wander among the styles.
When a football player admits he likes knitting or a female artist takes up chainsaw sculpture it makes national news. Why? Why are we still so hung up on putting gender to art? If it’s true that art is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination,” then shouldn’t anyone be able to create any art using any tools or mediums they choose?
