How can the role of the traditional craft maker be rethought to adapt to changing times? In November 2007, NSCAD University created the ideal forum to elicit dialogue in response to this question. NSCAD hosted a ‘Neo Craft Conference’ in partnership with the Canadian Crafts Federation. The conference, initiated by NSCAD's Craft Historian, Sandra Alfoldy, was attended by an international audience and brought together several panels of distinguished guest speakers. The purpose of the two- day conference was to challenge and to begin to rethink the position of craft and craft makers; lively debate and exchange of thought, ideas and research are all essential to that ongoing task. By all accounts, the conference was a success; and podcasts from the conference, as well as information about the exhibitions and presentations are available on the conference website at: http://www.neocraft.ca/.
While the conference generated poignant discussion on many important issues surrounding the craft community, perhaps the most pertinent issue presented itself as a debate between traditional practices of craft and new techniques, materials and technologies. As increasing numbers of craft participants and historians argue, in order to ensure the survival of craft in the future, it is necessary to define a new model of making that can encompass cutting-edge contemporary methods of production, design and technology. For example, Professor Jay Coogen, in his keynote address at a ‘Craft in the Digital Age’ Conference at the New Hampshire Institute of Art in 2004, predicted that “in a short time, I can imagine most artists, craftsmen and designers using digital processes with the same comfort level as they use with any of their current equipment and tools.”
The ideal place to begin such renovations is directly within post -secondary curriculums where fine art and craft are the disciplines of study. Students are first educated and groomed to become skilled craftspeople in these programs. For them, as well as many others, the word ‘craft’ often evokes the traditional romantic vision of the solitary craftsperson, selling her charming hand-made objects at outdoor markets on a Saturday afternoon. For decades, post-secondary craft curriculums have been preparing students to do more or less just that--if not preparing them for a future of selling their wares in weekend markets, nevertheless structuring their programs with the assumption that craft students would afterwards be setting up their own businesses to market and sell their work as independent crafts people.
However, today’s craft makers do not address the same world that craft makers of twenty and years ago did. Then, it was a matter of rediscovering, reclaiming and stringently defining, through handwork, practices that, in many cases, have been in existence for hundreds of years. Today’s craft makers, by contrast are computer literate; media savvy, environmentally and economically conscious, and act as social critics capable of developing new design concepts.
Contemporary craft students may thus familiarize themselves with Rapid Prototyping Technology: the name given to a host of technologies in which a physical object gets directly built from three dimensional computer drawings. Once the model has been created by the software, the file can then be sent off to be built by a bureau or in a research lab. Imagine the possibilities that can be achieved when skilled and design savvy crafts people are matched with these kinds of innovative digital technologies! This is one sort of new technology that points to work that extends beyond the boundaries of what is defined and appreciated as craft.
In line with such technological extensions, there seems to be is a growing trend of craft graduates taking on managerial roles within companies and using their skills as craftspeople to occupy jobs within the streams of design, manufacturing and production. Today’s craft students are departing from the solitary role of the craft maker working long hours alone in the studio. They are instead opting to participate in dynamic group projects and collaborations with their communities, interacting frequently with external clients, and taking advantage of the technological tools that are available to them. The results are not always "technological"; you may be sure however that they will be interesting.
Having a sustainable source of income after graduation is an important issue for craft students, and being prepared to respond to a constantly changing and moving culture is a necessary asset for the survival of a crafts person.
By Laura Mitrow
Works Consulted
1. Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Rehoused in History. Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 1979.
2. Hung, Shu. By Hand: The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art. New York: Princeton Architectural P. 2007.
3. Risahi, Howard. A Theory of Craft, Function and Aesthetic Function. Chapel Hill: The University of North Caroline P, 2007.
4. Alfoldy, Sandra. Ed. NeoCraft: Modernity and Craft. Halifax, Nova Scotia: The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 2007.
Images are of paper sculptures by Laura Mitrow
Coming Soon: An interview with NSCAD's Dr. Sandra Alfoldy.
