Buying the creative life: The rhetorical function of Australian quilters' magazines as advocates for choice

Abstract

"Creative" and "creativity" may be words used indiscriminately, but they are also used deliberately for rhetorical, or persuasive, ends. This paper applies rhetorical criticism as a methodology to reflect critically on, and augment understanding of, contemporary meanings and uses of "creativity". It draws attention to the rhetorical status of creativity as well as the contextual inflection of the word for specific audiences for whom creativity is presented as a defining attribute both individually and communally. The paper does so by examining a segment of the Australian print media representative of the industry that has grown around quiltmaking as a form of creative expression. Objects of study are three commercially-produced, newsstand magazines: Down Under Quilts, Australian Patchwork & Quilting and Australian Quilters Companion. Each title espouses creativity as an ideal state or way of life; moving beyond that generalised view of the magazines as rhetorical texts, the paper identifies and explores a fundamental tension in the nature and meaning of creativity shaped by the magazines for their readers. That tension arises from the simultaneous promotion of an egalitarian view of creativity as a means of personal fulfilment, and the promotion of certain modes of consumption that commodify creativity and can be exclusive. Taking two products that are commonly represented in advertising content - fabric and sewing machines - the paper discusses the acknowledgment and negotiation of this tension by the magazines through editorial content. In conclusion, the paper finds a degree of subversion by the magazines of their commercial bases, and the implicit encouragement of readers as creative practitioners to do the same.