Emma Tann’s piece In My Craft or Sullen Art is beautifully invested in the source from which the title was derived. It is a piece of art – something to be viewed and studied – but it also as forlorn and unattended as a spider web. That the artist uses the doily as reference, and sometimes material, is particularly interesting in this context. Often overlooked, doilies have a strange doubleness, being practical and weirdly decorative, and though designs of doilies were often published in the early 20th century, most of the designers were anonymous.
In My Craft or Sullen Art
BY DYLAN THOMAS