Art vs. Craft - an Old Debate?

Long ago, I thought I was tired of the old art vs. craft arguments. Then I read the Redefining Craft, a blog by Dennis Stevens. I think Stevens’ comments on appropriation struck me with new vigor because I am wrestling with this issue in my studio. I know an Afghan threshing utensil from a Santa Fe gallery inspired my current project. The thresher was a large wooden form hanging on a white gallery wall, separated from the context of it’s original use. Rows and rows of sharp stones embedded in the wood added mystery, until I knew their function was to separate grain from straw. It gave me the idea to put stones into a clay/fiber piece. After collecting stones, I lined them up in the studio. Living with this row of stones for months convinced me that they were like vertebrae. Now they are embedded into clay/straw that I pressed between a narrow ladder-like form of branches that arches slightly away from the wall. I sometimes marvel at the way different influences converge into a piece. While the natural materials and the raw branches give a certain primitive look, I hope that this piece does not look derivative, that it has some poetic ring.