Page 10 - Constructing Craft
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teapots and pieces which can be references to teapots. The
term “craft art” came into use.
It became obvious that the aims of this next generation of
craftspeople had more in common with the fine arts than with
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traditional views of craft.
What had emerged over the previous forty years was the development of a
movement that had grown out of the desire of human beings to create with their
hands. The movement’s beginnings were based on traditional ideas about craft
such as the rejection of modern machines and the integrity of local materials.
The first studio craftspeople often produced objects that looked ancient, rustic
and indeed, crude. But by the 1980s, and certainly the early 1990s, craft was
becoming more modern, slick and urbane – more like art – and more of a
challenge to the art world.
As the movement matured it changed and a new generation began to challenge
the accepted ideas about the separation of craft from art. However, the forces
that believed that existing art structures and accepted understandings of the role
of art in New Zealand society must be upheld resisted the intrusion of this new
generation of craft artists.
The New Zealand public also found the notion that craft could be art difficult to
accept. Gibbs’ earlier description of craft in the 1960s and 1970s remained the
enduring image of the studio craft movement in the minds of many, perhaps
because craft in this construct was more understandable than art or perhaps
because at its height the movement appeared united and inclusive whereas the
art world seemed combative and divided.
The Appeal of Craft in New Zealand
Constructing Craft is the story of a craft movement that emerged and flourished
in New Zealand during a time of prosperity and growth. The movement was
founded on a belief many New Zealanders held that they possessed a unique
ability to make things using materials found at hand, often with tools they
constructed themselves. This pragmatism was based on a colonial past and was
Constructing Craft
