History and Theory of Craft @historytheorycraft - Tumblr Blog

Final Question [Emily Osborne]

Of the people and craft movements we have studied, who's views do you most agree and disagree with when defining the difference between craft, art, and design?

Essay Question

Over this course we have seen craft respond to changing economic and cultural conditions to remain relevant in a time period in which it no longer dominates as the exclusive means of production and expression. How have developments in craft changed the relationship between craft professionals, hobbyists, and the public over time? In what ways have professionals distinguished the qualities of their work in a class separate from that of hobbyists? How have movements attempted to make crafts more accessible to segments of the public who have had less participation previously? Does/should a distinction between fine and vernacular craft exist? If so, what might best distinguish them from each other?

A Snead

Address the notion of artists and craftsmen using their status as a marketing technique. What concerns or delights can arise from such? Consider the question of if these major artists/craftsmen are staying true to the values of craft. Also consider what values traditional craft possesses.

Taylor Dunivan- essay question

Throughout the history of craft there is typically a strong connection between the maker and their object; however that is not always the case. Machines or even other people can be used to produce someone else’s work. Do you still consider this “outsourcing” of work to be craft? Does this change the traditional definition of craft in any way? Discuss three examples to support your claim.

Anna Gale Essay Question

From our prior knowledge of the views of craftsmen during the height of the Industrial Revolution and their views on the positive/ negative effects 'the machine' would have on the craft industry, how have the views been similar / different when considering the increase of the more recent use of technology when creating craft? Are there any major comparisons between the two 'movements'? Do these changes determine how we define craft itself?

nate greiner essay question

From it's inception as a unique disciplinary field, craft has struggled to define what qualities set it apart from sculpture, design, industrial labor, and fine art. Along what lines have thinkers, reformers, craftsman, and institutions sought to distinguish and validate craft. What arguments were used by its opposition in an attempt to dissolve it.

The importance of an object being handcrafted is always a point of conversation through out the history of Craft. How has the role of the depiction of the handcrafted, or hands themselves, been changed beginning with Diderot's Encyclopédie through today's modern Craft?

-S. Schaefer

Craft and technology

In what way has Crafts involvement with machines and technology changed from the eighteenth century to present? Keena

Shoemaker of Dreams [Emily Osborne]

I never realized that Salvatore Ferragamo is the perfect example of someone who was able to take Craft to the furthest extent with the highest success. He had a dream about creating beautiful shoes for specific people. Because his work was so focused on tailoring his designs to fit very specific feet, he was extraordinarily successful. He did not sell out, like we so often see every day. There are so many people who gave up on their dreams because they didn't believe their ideas and talents were worth as much as they are. As artists and designers, we can dream up things that other people can't, whether it be an object, a space, a building, or a city.

I feel a very strong connecting to Ferrigamo in the way he approached his dream, and did not settle for anything less than a full realization of his ambition. People rejected him in cities all over Italy. It seems that all the most successful and famous artists, designers, and thinkers in history were trying to do something against the common grain of society. Many were immediately rejected and thought of as crazy, but they are the ones who had the most grandiose effect.

Importance of Tactility in Craft

In his essay, "Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand," Malcolm McCullough addresses the issue of increasing technology and its potential to restore craft to the center stage. It is inevitable that technology will increasingly become a tool and medium for artists, craftsmen, and designers. Younger generations have grown up in educational systems that are heavily centered around technology. The computer is often our life line. The integration of computer aided design with the traditional aspects of craft can create a serious problem. McCullough suggests that a skilled computer graphics artisan works in a manner similar to a traditional craftsman. He states, “his or her hands are performing a sophisticated and unprecedented set of actions. These motions are quick, small and repetitive, as much traditional handwork.” However, there is an component of construction that is not considered here: tactility. McCullough goes on to state, “so far, the much ballyhooed ‘look and feel’ of contemporary computing is almost all look and hardly any feel.” I am a firm believer that a craftsman’s hand should be directly involved in the process of construction. Tactility is at the center of craft. Craftsmen become experts on the materials of their respective trades through touch and feel. Too often, designers and artists rely on software such as Google Sketchup to solve all of their problems regarding material, form, and function. This diminishes your work and as an artist/designer, it truly sells yourself short. Although programs such as this can be helpful if used in the proper manner; they should not be the primary tool used to produce a finished product. As a maker, your hands are your primary tools. This doesn’t mean moving a mouse around or typing commands on keyboard. Although computer programs exist that take material properties into consideration, I believe you learn more by physically handling the materials used for construction. (Posted by Michael Rader)

A Snead April 21st reading

I enjoyed this week’s readings primarily because of the diversity of each of the readings. I feel that within our History of Craft course we have focused on distinct regions of the world, mainly Europe and America. I believe this is because these two areas are the most noted in the history of craft but it is important to recognize and to understand all of the other regions which craft exists. I found the essays written by Salvatore Ferragamo and Susan Terrio to be the most intriguing. Both essays embrace the notion of traditional craft. Ferragamo and Terrio project the message that it is important to remain true to the values which traditional craft possess while flowing with the changes of modernity in order to maintain the traditional form of craftsmanship. Ferragamo’s essay demonstrates that sometimes manipulation of production is key in sustaining traditional craft. He also raises the question of how to allow the masses access to good quality, handmade objects of craft, considering such objects are typically quite expensive and only targets a select market who can afford the well-made objects.

taylor dunivan-4/20

Generally I tend to side with Ferragamo’s view of machines in craft. I feel like they strip away the uniqueness of a certain item and also, jeopardize the overall quality. You just cannot beat a handmade item. McCullough’s article opened my eyes a bit. I feel like he may have broadened the term “craft” a bit more than most craftsmen would but, I do understand where he is coming from. I just feel like I couldn’t use a computer to make something for me, while still feeling like it was “my” art piece. I think that part of being a craftsmen is the need to touch and actually craft items.

Computing craftsmen by Keena Williams

Going into this reading I thought I knew how I felt about the role of technology in craft. I was in total agreement with Salvatore Ferragamo's attitude towards me hinges at the beginning of the section. As a crafts advocate I feel like machines have no place in my work, I am very process oriented. Meaning I have be apart of every step physically using tools with my hands to complete a piece. Even in the conversation as to what craft I felt craft was specifically the handmade no exceptions, if machines were being used it's not craft to me. Once I got to Malcolm McCullough's "Abstracting Craft: The practiced digital hand" I started to feel guilty about the way I thought of technology and craft. McCullough put it in such a way that made me reconsider my entire take on craft. It was like I was thinking of technology and machines the same way Fine art had been viewing Craft for decades. This entire semester we have been having the this conversation about why craft is often dismissed as fine art when on the other side of things there was the same kind of hierarchy exclusive attitude towards people who work with their hands and look at screens rather tan safety glasses. This is going to sound dramatic: everything I know is a lie. Keena N. Williams

Production Lines - Kelley Morrison

I find it interesting that production lines and craft are often presented as being at odds with each other. In Shoemaker of Dreams Salvatore Ferragamo describes the struggle he had convincing craftsmen that a handmade, craft based production line would work. In a more contemporary setting the term production line is often used in the crafts, but on a smaller, more individual scale. When making a series of work it is common for the artist to “production line” it. Starting with a fully designed series all of the pieces can be made simultaneously by working through them process by process instead of piece by piece. This way of working is taken advantage of by not only production artists (potters and jewelers) but also by artist who make more unique pieces. By working on all or most of the pieces in a series simultaneously an artist can produce their work more efficiently. There seems to be this idea that craft is stuck in or weighed down by tradition, but the way that I see it craft has the ability to hold on to traditional techniques while also bringing new technological advances into the fold. A production line is just a way of working that the crafts have been able to adopt and use for their benefit.

Irked by Natalie Kaminski

Paul Greenhalgh states “none of us should tolerate the absence of quality” and skill is, and was, always associated with the notion of quality. I completely agree with this. I don’t, however, agree with most of Modernist culture and activity. Most of it is bull anyway. I do not, in any way, believe that good craftsmanship “limits the potential of the mind to generate a truly liberated poetic vision.” Most of my best work has come from the methodic rhythm of craft. It typically lulls me into my ‘liberated poetic mind’ and sparks inspiration. Being conceptual is not limited to those who typically make such work. Anyone who can think and has a basic understanding of the world around them can be a conceptual artist, but not everyone can become a skilled artist without a little bit of hard work. It takes a full understanding of a material in order to execute skill. I am so sick of hearing/looking at conceptual work and having to talk about it for hours at a time, and yet when an individual brings in something of skill, the critique only lasts a few minutes. It probably took weeks to execute work at such caliber, but for some horrible reason – I refuse to believe it is because skill is “interpreted as the perfection of mechanical techniques.” Sure, craft went through a rough patch but this new “studio craft movement” is bringing it further than - where I feel – craft has ever gone before. It’s not just about making skillfully made things anymore. Studio craftsmen are liberating their ‘poetic minds’ in the same way conceptualists do in modern culture. Only, we know the proper way to do things.

Persistence of Craft [Emily Osborne]

In the article by Greengaugh, he says that for artists, designers, and craftspeople, “the key to success has been found in the willingness to collaborate.” I believe that this is completely true. This is why I love the m.O.b. studio that I’m a part of. Because many different types of artists and designers are able to work together on projects, we are each able to stretch our abilities in different directions instead of being boxed into one category. I have thought about the opportunities that could be opened up if I labeled myself as a “designer” on my business card as opposed to an “interior designer.” As I have been looking for places to work once I graduate, it has been much harder to find collaborative groups than it is to find firms with a single focus. It seems that many architecture firms tend to have a few interior designers who do nothing more that construction documents all day, and pick out materials. There is not much room for pushing creativity here. The world of interior design that I’ve been introduced to as a student has revealed that there can be so much more to an interior than those elements. It is hard for me to be okay with the idea of designing without using my hands. I excel when I have model-building materials to touch and experiment with, and the ability to push an idea as far as possible.

It seems that the industry of interior design is often taken over by “big business” principles, and designs are halted in their process. The element of making is not always a part at all. I see the value of working in a small design group that values craft and concept as well as the ability to facilitate the design actually being built. It is a tricky game trying to balance how a group will make money and how much they will utilize production abilities. I find design-build firms very appealing, as they seem to be a mix of craft, architecture, and interior design.

Greengaugh writes, “a space filled with such objects has the potential to become a place,” when talking about craft objects in relation to spacial design. I’ve realized the way that I tend to approach interior design is by creating customized furniture or “things” to divide and create the space. It seems that these elements of the interior could border on their definition as craft objects. The difference there though is that I would love to prototype out and specify a design, but once it is designed, I don’t care to be the one crafting it after the first rendition.

Keena N. Williams

This weeks reading sparked a little bit of inspiration for a studio practice for me. The reminder of the steps that were taken to establish the handcrafted as studio practice. Earlier this week I was reading a Garth Clark's "How envy Killed Crafts" and while it was a breath of fresh air, I was thinking "is craft dead? And if it is what is my role?" Heavy stuff. I began reading our assignment starting with Jeannine Falino's "Craft is Art is Craft," the upbeat positive tone towards craft turned my attitude around and i was ready to avenge the "death" of craft single handedly. Falino laid out the history of studio craft with the major events in history. Craft practice boomed like other things in the US after WWII but not for economic reasons like other nations that we're trying to rebuild. Craft was an a kind of an alternative to factory work for those who wanted to maintain individuality. I like the idea of this unified nation coming out of the war and feeling the need to revive their senses of self, (this might be a stretch) wanting to get away from uniforms and rations to protect singular creativity. The studio craft being sparked by ideas of individuality makes me think I was to be a studio craft artist a little bit. Then I think back to Clark and his feeling that craft started trying to be fine art and died in the 90s. Which makes me question how people outside of craft really view it. I'm probably too far emerged in craft to see. Keena N. Williams

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