Page 189 - Constructing Craft

A craft stall at Nambassa. Photos such as these constructed representations
of the studio craft movement that distorted understandings in New Zealand.
Photo: Nambassa: A New Direction.

‘They actually all looked like doctors and lawyers’

The Nambassa association between craft and alternative lifestyles seemed fixed in
the minds of the wider community. But, as the counter-culture movement faded, the

term itself became a burden for many craftspeople. The label ‘hippie’ ‘became an

easily tossed term of disparagement, implying silliness, self-indulgence, and
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ridiculous dress.’ Craftspeople often had to defend a public image that many felt
had no basis in reality. June Reay and Jane McCallum were both involved with
pottery clubs in Nelson in the 1970s and 1980s. McCallum recognised that there

was a disconnection between public perception and reality: ‘A lot of people thought
that potters were just a bunch of hippies – but they weren’t really. They were

generally businessmen or women.’ Reay was also aware of the perception: ‘There

were very few potters that actually looked like what people perceived potters to look
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like. They actually all looked like doctors and lawyers. Reay and McCallum’s
words reflected the desire to, in a Bourdieuian sense, ‘professionalise’ craft. The
concern for some in the 1980s, as craft became more urban-based and moved

closer to art, was that an association with the counter-culture and hippies would
provide little cultural and symbolic capital for serious craftspeople and craft artists.

Nevertheless the connection between craftspeople and hippies was established and

Constructing Craft