As expected, the recent American Craft Council conference Creating a new Craft Culture, generated much lively debate. This event seemed to provide a stage for the confrontation between two very different craft cultures: the older studio model of individual craftsperson contributing unique works to the field of craft, versus the new renegade model of craft collectivities engaging with the issues of the day. It may be too early to find a clear outcome for this encounter, but it sets up an important argument about contemporary craft in years to come.
The opposition between craft and DIY relates quite closely to the current issue in the Journal of Modern Craft, which considers how the current politicisation of craft engages with the history of the craft movement.
As a flavour of the new position, here’s a reflection on the conference written especially for JMC by craft blogger Harriete Estel:
The D.I.Y. movement is reinventing the American Craft scene in its approach to the marketplace. The D.I.Y. ‘ers grew up with the Internet and know how to connect with a wider audience. They engage their community and the general public with their accessibility and enthusiasm in the making of handmade objects. By empowering artists to reach out and be found by any person interested in their media or work, the Internet demolishes the monopoly of the traditional gallery and the limitation of available pedestal space. Art and craft no longer needs to be a rarified environment. All studio craft can benefit from this new dynamic and all should embrace this new potential. The Internet and the D.I.Y. movement have forever expanded the art and craft universe.
That’s quite a challenging position. It resonates well with Faythe Levine’s contributions to this site. You can read more of Harriete’s views from her blog here.
Handmade Nation in Austin with covered pipe installation by Knitta' Please!
Handmade Nation in Austin with covered pipe installation by Knitta' Please!
For those who may not be familiar, I started shooting Handmade Nation in June 2006, the book (based off of research from the film) was released by Princeton Architectural Press in October 2008, and the film was released in February 2009 and the DVD will be released in November. The first three screenings were Milwaukee WI (where I am based), Hamburg Germany, and New York. The immediate feedback was and continues to be very positive. The audience, regardless of location, consistently talks about how they feel inspired, ready to go home and finish a project, re-organize their studio, start a class or for those who are not of the creative breed, support more artists. A lot of people tell me they leave feeling like they were a part of something much larger then they had realized. Overall, the general feeling is of empowerment. Empowerment to me is what craft is all about. Making choices and using those choices to create something.
Handmade Nation screening at Viva La Craft hosted by Chicks On Speed at Kampnagel Theater
Handmade Nation screening at Viva La Craft hosted by Chicks On Speed at Kampnagel Theater
Since February, Handmade Nation has been shown in over 6 countries and over 20 states in America. The dialogue discussed at the Q&A’s following the film are always fairly consistent. People are very interested in how I selected who was featured (I worked with people I knew and admired for the most part). The age long debate about what is art and what is craft and more specifically, the idea that our generation is less concerned with defining ourselves and more concerned with community. Race, class and gender politics come up sporadically as does the discussion around third wave feminism. More recently discussion around the economy and how it has effected makers whose income is based on the sales of their work.
And, what has surprised me most is that more often then not, older viewers are defensive about not being represented in the film. To this I always reply in one way or another, that the whole point of this film is to show that a younger generation of makers, my generation, are here doing things different. The point is not about ignoring what came before us, but acknowledging that things move forward and grow. Handmade Nation is a single step in that direction, educating and documenting a small slice of what is happening today within the larger art, craft and design community.
Handmade Nation in Milwaukee, WI
Handmade Nation in Milwaukee, WI at the Oriental Theater
Second Issue of 2009
Editorial introduction
Articles
Style, Skill and Modernity in the Zisha Pottery of China by Geoffrey Gowlland
Elbert Hubbard, Transcendentalism and the Arts and Crafts Movement in America by Jonathan Clancy
Hungarian Pottery, Politics and Identity: Re-presenting the Ceramic Art of Margit Kovacs by Juliet Kinchin
‘Acts of Association: Allison Smith’s Craft as Civic Practice’ (pdf) by Jennifer Geigel Mikulay
Looking is a Way of Touching by Gabriela Gusmao
Commentary by Mireia Freixa and Anna Calvera
Reviews
Application of the Arts to Industry by Salvador Sanpere i Miquel
Design in the Age of Darwin: From William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright by Baird Jarman
Jean Nouvel Cesar, Anthology by Patricia Ribault
Battleground: War Rugs from Afghanistan by Susan Cahill
Kingdom of Beauty: Mingei and the Politics of Folk Art in Imperial Japan by Alicia Volk
Craft in Dialogue: Six Views on a Practice in Change by Henrietta Lidchi
