The Future of Craft

[Gabriel Craig]

This discussion group will focus of the future of craft. Please feel free to post comments about your vision for the future, about the implications of current practices and trends, your thoughts about sustainability, etc. Basically, this is a space to talk about where we are going individually and collectively. It is also my hope that this discussion might lead to some pragmatic steps rather than just postulation. I would also like this to be a safe space, meaning keep the discussion civil if you want to participate. Of course all view points are welcome.

[Gabriel Craig]

To get the ball rolling I invite you to visit my blog, conceptualmetalsmithing.com, where I have posted a number of essays that deal with the future of craft. Most recently I posted an essay exploring the potential of Craftivism.

[Thea Clark]

I love the performance piece I viewed on your blog, as well as your bringing the process to the people in the square. I think the obvious next step is a reality show "American Art Jeweler", with an assortment of "in it to win it" contestants. Curators, gallery owners and a few collectors for good measure, can judge.

Now in all seriousness, I believe the next generation of craft appreciators, who can grow into collectors or makers, must be cultivated at the middle and high school level. The same place where wood shops and a few hold over metal shops have already or will soon inevitably give way to the ubiquitous computer lab. It comes down to exposure, experience and education. Perhaps you are on to something, by packaging art process as performance, you open another method to gain access to students' minds. In my state, the arts council provides one means for visual artists and another for performing artists, so your approach doubles the chances of exposing young people to craft.

[2Roses]

Performance art has been here through the decline of craft over the last 40 years. We can appreciate Gabriel's intent and approach - it is an entertaining theosophical exercise. Thea, we think your comment about a reality show probably hits closer to the nerve center - namely harnessing the self-absorbed culture of celebrity and fame.

Most, if not all, of us in the arts (of any kind) are compelled to do what we do. It is a calling, a way of life. These inklings typically start at an early age. We absolutely believe that exposing children to the arts, starting WAY before high school, is the tried and true method of teaching appreciation. This happens in only the rarest instances because adults who have no appreciation of the arts cannot teach it to their children. The ugly truth is we live in a time when people place more value on humiliating themselves in public for 15 minutes of fame than working anonymously for 15 years to develop mastery of an artistic skill. We live in an impatient world, but the arts will survive because there will always be people like you, Gabriel, us, and countless tens of thousands who do this because it is who we are, not what we do.

[Gabriel Craig]

Are we suggesting then that:

1. The future of craft (or art) must start at a very early age.
2. People's innate identity compels them to make.

If that is true then I have a couple questions:

1. Of the people who are not art appreciators, how to we wrestle their children into art appreciation? Certainly I have given up on the public school system in general as being capable of prioritizing art and music education.
2. Is there a role for the internet to play in early arts education? In a culture of less than 10 minutes of fame (the youtube standard), everyone can be a contributor to art. For me art and meaningful cultural experiences are synonymous, and if sharing websites like flickr, youtube, blipTV, and even (gulp) crafthaus offer a culturally enriching experience, then art, craft, and cultural are only a click away.

What do you think...?

[Michelle Pajak-Reynolds]

I think art appreciation can start at any age, some people are just late bloomers. My husband is a perfect example. When we first met, eight years ago, he had visited an art museum only once in his life, on a school field trip. He had never been to a gallery or really understood all the time and effort that goes into art making. Then, BOOM, he meets me. I've been making artwork practically since birth and I took him to all of these arts events and introduced him to all of my creative friends. Now he looks forward to arts events and we've spent a small fortune on art pieces. He would also rather hang out with a bunch of artists then some of the other people we know. Of course to be fair, he's turned me into a NASCAR and football fan, but that a whole other conversation.

I do think the internet has a role to play in art ed. Most young children are very tech savvy and they are often more in tune to what is taking place on the internet than many adults. The internet is a great tool for introducing artwork, in all its diverse forms, to anybody. It can also foster a new appreciation for established artforms. The YouTube Symphony Orchestra is a perfect example. You can learn more about them here http://www.youtube.com/symphony

[2Roses]

We are not speaking in absolutes about anything as we don't feel there are any such things. Thus, we are not suggesting that art MUST start at an early age. Rather, when children are exposed and nurtured in the arts at an early age they will usually have a greater appreciation of same in adulthood. We particularly like Michelle's solution whereby we all go out and marry someone not into the arts and recruit them into our nefferious ranks.
We do think people's innate identity compels them to make. But again, it is a question of degrees not absolutes. Hence the range of dabblers, hobbiests and professionals.

We're not going to wrestle anybody's kids into anything. Nor should we try. The laws of attraction apply. We are all art appreciation educators. We do this 24-7 in a million different ways, in the grocery store, the dentist's office and yes, on the Internet.
It is not a question of whether the Internet has a role to play. It has been playing a role and evolving from its inception. The only question is how will we use this ethereal mercurial nebula, or be used by it.

[SIENNA GALLERY]

Just wanted to add that from dealing with the public day in and day out, talking about art-craft-jewelry-design I have found that if you can meet someone half-way and take the time to communicate- it is never too late to educate. I have seen clients who are by no means "young" have that same ah-ha moment that children do in school.

[Michelle Pajak-Reynolds]

Sienna and 2Roses are right. The ah moment can occur anywhere and I think it's not a matter of wrestling anybody into anything. It's a matter of creating an environment/experience where the likelyhood of an ah moment is increased.

[Sean W Scully]

Here I think the physical is completely called for. But perhaps we can make it fun.
If people don't realize that craft is a full-contact sport, how will we get primo bucks for our ad time?
I just tackled someone today to tell them all about anodizing and when he asked how toxic the process was I smashed his ice cream cone in his face. That kid will never forget how craft has impacted his life.
Hook them while they're young is an essential but I think it's a matter of proper framing. If we can tap into the flag waving/American Dream/family values market, we could actually revive the NEA. Or we could follow the undercurrent frame of responsibility, home-grown innovation and sustainability to appeal to the other side of the American brain.
Perhaps, heroes rather than celebrities, mentors rather than gameshow hosts, achievement/skill rather than prize money?

[Gabriel Craig]

Sean I think you put your finger on it. The future of craft really rests on marketing and branding. Our product is craft. Who do we try and sell it to? Your over generalizations of the American Public certainly play. What I keep wondering is how do you get thousands of fiercely independent thinkers to unite under such a controversial umbrella as craft. If we can't agree on it, how do we market it to anyone?

Of course the schizophrenia of craft is what makes it such an interesting field to work in, at least for me. Its too bad that schizophrenia doesn't translate into creating a vision or a stable future. Can a unified vision for the future of craft be created? Or better yet should such a vision be created?

[Brad Johns]

On the subject of art, children and public schools I have thought for some time now that part of the danger for the future of the arts at large is how they are PRESENTED to children; that it's sort of a PR problem. By and large, and it is handily supported by public policy, the arts are framed as a bunch of kids stuff; as just for fun.
The kind of thinking that leads parents, educators and others into the generalized attitude that the arts are meant primarily to foster healthy childhood development is the same kind of thinking that leads them to determine that when push comes to shove they are an unnecessary component of later life. Though school art programs are typically the first to get cut no matter what it is no-coincidence that they are more likely to get stripped from secondary education where children are supposed to be nurturing newly minted grown up attitudes which, if I my assumptions are correct, do not include an interest in the arts. By perpetuating the stereotype that art is something you stop caring about at about the same time you stop drawing with crayons instead of, as I would prefer, framing the arts as an augmented (and for that matter a very mature) path to understanding people, society and our environment, art education endangers the world of the professional arts by threatening it at it's roots.

[Brad Johns]

I should amend my last statement...Art Education- in its current state as I see it- threatens the future of the arts by presenting them as an immature subject. Of course Im all for Art Education in principle.