Lacey Jane Roberts

& CRAFTS
Screenshot of http://www.laceyjaneroberts.com/

Lacey Jane Roberts is a graduate of the California College of Arts, which used to be known as the California College of Arts & Crafts. The CCA voted to take the "& Crafts" out of the name because they thought it negated the high art that they wanted to be associated with. Roberts took this as an attack against history, tradition, and feminism which is integral to the Art of Craft, so she hand-knit "& Crafts" and put it back in its place on the façade of this building. This guerilla style knitting or graffiti is common in Robert's work, which typically involves a play between "feminine" handicraft and violence throughout the world, such as in the pink knit barbed wire fence of We couldn't get in. We couldn't get out.

We couldn't get in. We couldn't get out.
Screenshot of http://www.laceyjaneroberts.com/

She also works with the relationship of tool to craft, "reclaiming the mastery of craft to create an alternative set of tools that could potentially dismantle 'the master's house.'" This has an air of self-destruction, because as she states on her website, "to 'master' is to wield power over others, but 'to master' in the context of craft is to possess a self-sufficient creative agency over materials and tools." So, she is, in a sense, dismantling her own craft through her making of a new form of tool. 

Spinning (taking back control)
Screenshot of http://www.laceyjaneroberts.com/

Roberts is currently teaching at Virginia Commonwealth University, one of the top fiber arts schools in the country.