Page 138 - Constructing Craft

Gordon Tovey, Mere Kururangi and Cath Brown. Photo:
Nelson Photo News.

The persistent division between art and craft remained. Frank Dean, a painter and
teacher at Dunedin Teachers College during the 1950s, and a supporter of Tovey,

suggested that there was a schism and that people were either ‘poetic and
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imaginative’ or ‘logical [and] craft-orientated.’ The distinction emphasised the
difference between the way that art and craft were taught in primary and secondary
schools. By the 1960s however, Tovey’s views had moderated and he saw value in

both process and ideas although ‘education for art’ continued to be the priority in

secondary schools.

Teachers/Artists/Craftspeople

The system progressed under the guidance of the 1945 Tentative Art Scheme
through a long period of experimentation and finally the publication of the Revised
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Syllabus in Art and Craft for Primary Schools in 1961. In an interesting parallel
development, many of the personnel involved in education during the period

became artists and craftspeople, including Doreen Blumhardt. Others, such as Cliff
Whiting, Cath Brown and Para Matchitt, although not specifically trained in Māori

arts and crafts, would later lead the changes in that field. Many also became

influential in craft education at the tertiary level thus giving some credibility to craft in
higher education circles.

Constructing Craft