Inside My Hideaway

(Clockwise from top left: collage/painting by Karine Léger; textured pottery vase by White Earth Studio; paper necklace by Elsa Mora; string painting by Andrea Rogers; and "Plumed Bird of Paradise" by Aly Parrott.)

If you're the type of person who secretly wants to touch all of the art in the museum, this is the collection for you! (I mean, really, who hasn't wanted to run their fingers along a smooth marble statue, or grab hold of a wooley fiber art piece hanging on the wall?)

I love texture, and I get excited when I see artists mixing traditional "craft" with "high art." All of these pieces share a natural, organic feel...a rawness paired with precision. I feel compelled to note these are all women artists as well. In the 1970s, feminist artists went a long way to prove that craft was not "lesser" because it was so-called "women's work" or work made in the home...that craft need not be purely functional. This discussion is ongoing in the art world, though now I see more and more male artists exploring traditional craft media as well, and I hope it's losing some of the stigma.

When a piece of art affects you completely, when you leave an exhibit and keep thinking about it for days, it doesn't matter what media the artist used to get the message across. In my opinion, there's no high or low art, only successful or unsuccessful, in terms of whether the artist achieved what he or she was trying to do, and how it impacts viewers. And of course, objects or art pieces that are simply beautiful on their own need no classification.