Redefining the Role of the Craft Maker

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.

Notes on a Little Chat with Steve Farmer

Many different characters work in the NSCAD photo department; Steve Farmer is one of those characters. This animated man can be found dashing about the department with photo gear tucked under his arm, trailing students full of questions he tries to answer while on the way to his next class.

Steve is very approachable, he seems always more than happy to stop and help out with any problem a student may have--including, say, the need to write and post a brief article on the photo department. A recognizeable figure in his trademark glasses, beard and running shoes, Steve is an energetic and caring person invested in his students. But he also has a private life--hes'a appily married man and father of two boys.

After graduating from NSCAD in 1989, Steve came back to teach at NSCAD in 1999. The three classes Steve teaches at the moment are "Colour Photo," "Digital Photography" and the "Lighting Studio Workshop". In addition to his teaching, Steve is also a commercial photographer.

When I stopped Steve in the hall to see if I could ask him a couple questions for this piece, he invited me into his office for a chat. In our conversation about photography at NSCAD and photography in general, Steve stressed the importance of a strong technical base in supporting conceptual works. We talked about analog photography; Steve said that he thinks we are losing some of the tactile qualities of the medium. He wonders if some of the magic of photography is slipping now that darkrooms are virtually a thing of the past. --Yet he probably can’t remember the last time he shot a real old fashioned roll of film.

Our discussion on photography was long and winding and could have gone on for hours. I got the feeling that Steve, as both teacher and practitioner, strives to find a balance or artistry and technique in the medium of photography. As student-artists, he advocates that we learn to use all of the tools at our disposal. When asked about how the department has changed, his answer was simple: the technology has changed. Drastically.

I also asked him about his favorite memories from his time as a student at NSCAD and he had three. One was bringing his Mom to his studio where he shared a space with the late Mark Deberov. Deberov was watching a porn flick just as Steve brought his mom into the studio for her tour. He also remembered when Robert Del Tredici spoke on his series “In the Field of the Atom Bomb” and sitting beside Robert Frank during the screening of “Cock Sucker Blues.” As a final question I wanted to know, what was the NSCAD Photography Department like when Steve Farmer was still a student? He answered, “Students were edgier, more conceptual and more international.”
Guess that raises the bar for US now.

by Andrew Farrugia

Fine Art and Industrial Art, 1887

October 31 1887, was an exciting day for the community of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The first art school opened up to the public, called The Victoria School of Art. The institution was located on the corner of Hollis and Prince St, in the Union Bank building. Backers of the school, Anna Leonowens, Jeremiah Kenny and Alexander McKay helped promote both fine art and industrial art. It appears that such classes were largely gender segregated, reflecting the very different career paths open to men and women during the late 19th century. Evening technical classes, for example, tended to be the province of men, while daytime Fine Arts classes were often followed by middle and upper class women.

In the art magazine, Art Movement of America, in 1887, Anna Leownoens, credited with initiating plans for the school, stated “the establishment of a school of art and design not only encourages the Fine Arts, such as painting, sculpture, architecture, but gives a remarkable artistic value to mechanical and industrial arts.” Leonowen's mission of promoting public art education was intended to raise skill levels and incomes, but not really to achieve any changes in class or social status. The structure of the Victoria School of Art thus accommodated workers and the middle and upper classes, and both men and women.

Mrs Jeremiah Kenny, for example, helped to promote the Fine Arts. During the day, she spent two and a half hours, twice a week in the amateur class, also known as the "A class," with five female students. During class, students created motifs, illustrative renderings, and crafts consisting of decorative needle work. The principal concern of the programs was to encourage the aesthetic, cultural, and spiritual aspects of art, as well as to appeal to consumers of good taste.

Evening classes, on the other hand, were designed so that working men could attend. In 1880, Alexander McKay, supervisor for the Board of Commissioners for the City of Halifax, believed the expansion of industry required people with special skills in industrial drawing and manual training. The courses cost $5 dollars for thirty lessons, $8 dollars for sixty lessons and $10 dollars for ninety lessons. These fees were far lower than the cost to Fine Arts “Amateur” students.

Evening classes in the industrial arts included lessons in geometry, projections, mechanical and isometric drawing, free hand modeling, design, and clay modelling. Young men of the working class, city mechanics, artisans and general labours were among the population of students enrolled in the industrial arts program.

The art institution now known as NSCAD University—perhaps Canada’s most internationally recognized art school—still draws a diverse population to its doors. 121 years later, however, it is a much less class and gender-stratified place. Continuing Education classes introduce children and adults working in other fields to various aspects of the arts, while degree granting programs mix academics with technical and critical skills learning.

Amanda Moura


Works Consulted

Bronson, A.A., and Ren Blouin, Peggy Gale and Glen Lewis. From Sea to Shinning Sea Toronto: Power Plant, 1987.

Gandhi. Omar Reviving the Megastructure:Nova Scotia of Art and Design ( Canada), 2005. Dissertations & Theses at Dalhousie University. Accessed 25 Sept. 2008 http://www.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.dal.ca/

Mueller Richard. Wallpapers: An Illustration and Exhibition of Wallpaper Works of Nova Scotia College of Art and Design Facility, Alumni, and Guest Artists. Halifax, NS: the Anna Leonowens Gallery, 2000.

Soucy, Donald, Harold Pearse. The First Hundred Years: A History of Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Fredericton & Halifax: University of New Brunswick Faculty of Education and the Nova Scotia of Art and Design, 1993.

Stacey, R H (Robert H) Wylie Li. Eighty Twenty: 100 Years of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
Halifax: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 1988.

Design at NSCAD: A Two-Part History

The history of Design at NSCAD can be broken into two eras: before and after the Presidency of Garry Neill Kennedy. Although the more current of the two periods is well documented and recognized, the beginnings of the school and it’s ties to industrial art and design are often overlooked.

The earliest inception of what we now know as NSCAD was VCAD, or the Victoria College of Art and Design. It was partially modeled on technical institutes that were popular in Europe and the US during the mid-19th century. Such institutes pointed to rapid industrialization as evidence that the proper education of architects, draughtsmen and industrial designers was essential to the smooth operation of the economy. These principles were carried forward at VCAD, where night classes featuring similar subjects to those taught in technical schools elsewhere, educated workers and trade apprentices.

The school continued to develop these industrial courses into programs, and eventually began to offer diplomas. However, the school saw a drastic decline in industrial enrolments when the Nova Scotia Technical College, (an institution more singularly on industrial education), opened in 1907.

When Arthur Lismer became Principal in 1916, he established classes in non-industrial design, for he thought that this subject was an essential component of an art education. Elizabeth Nutt, Principal from 1919-1943, changed the name of the school from VCAD to the Nova Scotia College of Art, but carried on Lismer’s initiative. The disappearance of “design” from the name of the College did not mean that Nutt considered design education to be insignificant. Rather, the name change was indicative of how strongly she felt about design being a form of art, and not separate from it. Design thus continued to be a part of the NSCA, although the department was extremely small, and often taught by only one teacher.

This all changed when Garry Neill Kennedy became President in 1967. In 1969 he changed the name of the school to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, in order to reflect the school’s history and to recognize the increasing importance of design. Kennedy hired teachers from Europe, notably Horst Deppe and Hanno Ehses, who brought new German Minimalist graphic design ideas and principles to the school. This, coupled with the huge success of Canadian design seen at Montreal’s Expo 67 and ’76 Olympics made the program a very popular area of study at NSCAD.

Although no trace of the pre-Kennedy industrial design program remains, environmental, communications, product, and interdisciplinary design have rounded out the current program. Graphic design continues to remain popular at the school; the program enjoys international renown and widespread success.

Lucy Poskitt


Sources
"1990 Recipients". The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada. Oct 15, 2008.

“A New Era.” NSCAD University. 24 Sept 2008.

Discussion with Senior Faculty member. Personal Interview. Oct 15 2008.

"Graphic Art and Design". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Oct 15 2008. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0003400.

Soucy, Donald and Harold Pearse. First Hundred Years: A History of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Fredericton / Halifax: University of New Brunswick Faculty of Education / NSCAD, 1993.