Page 120 - Constructing Craft

Each author appeared to be aware of the content of the other’s article. Sanders’
description of amateurs lifted them into a more rarefied domain and Greig’s

comment about the ‘interesting reversal’ appeared to be downplaying the economic
success that many craftspeople had experienced – perhaps to avoid having craft

lumped in with small business or the trades. Both articles were an attempt to bring
the two areas of craft closer together but the difficulty in defining ‘amateur’ and

‘professional’ remained, in part, because the new craft movement had emerged

through education innovations that were not intended to produce ‘working’
craftspeople.

James Grieg. Photo: Wairarapa Times Age.

The Hierarchical World of Craft

The American sociologist Howard Becker, in Art Worlds, begins his book with a

description by Anthony Trollope of his morning ritual before he began writing for the
day. Trollope engaged an old groom to wake him at 5.30am and bring him coffee.

He credited his groom with being as responsible for his work (art/craft) as he was
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himself. Becker, in telling this story, employed the groom as a metaphor for the
larger networks of cooperation that were the central theme of his book. Craftspeople

were also reliant on networks to achieve their goals and the position of craftspeople
within a network could determine how they were perceived by other craftspeople

and subsequently, the wider art community.

Constructing Craft