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Arts & Crafts

Dive into the hobby of arts and crafts, which describes a wide variety of activities involving making things with one’s hands. The materials used in arts and crafts generally involve textiles (such as cross-stitch, crocheting, embroidery, knitting, lace making, macramé, needlepoint, quilting, sewing, and string art); wood, metal, or clay (like jewelry, pottery, cabinetmaking, and sculpture), paper (such as calligraphy, bookbinding, collage, origami, papier-mâché, and stamping), or glass (like beadwork, glassblowing, and stained glass). Many types of art can be found in a museum or gallery.

For a number of years, all items were made by hand. With the Industrial Revolution of the mid-19th century, however, more items were made in factories. An arts and crafts movement began in the 1850s in reaction to this development, which proponents saw as countering the worker alienation, upper-class extravagance, and artistic degradation associated with machine-made items. While the movement died out after a time, arts and crafts endure as a favorite hobby of many, particularly children, who often participate in activities as part of school projects.

There is much debate as to the difference between art and arts and crafts. Some people believe that art involves a creative statement, whereas arts and crafts are more about the application of technique. Others point to the difference in skill level needed for art (perceived as very difficult) versus arts and crafts (perceived as less difficult). There’s  no question that the boundary line between the two categories is often blurred.

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Arts & Crafts Resources

Gale provides scholarly art resources, including databasesprimary source archives, and eBooks.

Databases

Ideal for school, academic, and public libraries, Gale databases offer researchers access to credible, up-to-date content from art publications.

Primary Source Archives

Gale Primary Sources offers archives and collections that provide researchers with firsthand content, including art publications, letters, magazines, and more, that can be used to examine and analyze the evolution of art over time.

Gale eBooks

Gale offers a gallery of eBooks covering a wide range of topics, including outdoor crafts, painting, artists, and more. Users can add Gale eBooks to a customized collection and cross-search to pinpoint the article most relevant to the topic. Workflow tools help users easily share, save, and download content.

Resources to Boost Your Research

From trending social issues to classic literature, Gale resources have you covered. Explore overviews, statistics, essay topics, and more or log in through your library to find even more content.

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