Page 128 - Constructing Craft

Chapter Six: Education for Living

The studio craft movement had one of its foundations in a section of the education
system that emphasised creativity rather than entrepreneurship or preparation for a

career. Living as a ‘full-time’, ‘professional’ artist or craftsperson was not considered

by most people to be a realistic career ambition. Nevertheless, the growing middle-
class wished to have their children introduced to aspects of culture that they

believed would enhance their position in society. The middle-classes were
searching for the non-financial assets that involve educational, social and

intellectual knowledge that children who grow up in highly-educated and
intellectually-sophisticated families possessed. A person’s position in society could

not be judged purely on how much economic capital they accumulated or inherited.

An introduction to the hidden codes of art through education had the potential to
increase ones social and cultural status. Without education, the codes employed by

cultural producers (artists) would not be accessible to potential cultural consumers ‒

hence the incomprehensibility of some art to some observers. If craft was to be a
branch of art, with the social and cultural capital that implied, rather than an aspect

of trade, the middle-class needed to imbue it with codes that could only be acquired
as a ‘gift’ through social distinction. To achieve that, craft needed to be detached

from function, but it would take time to establish that division and create codes of
‘craft art’. At first, craft in education swung back and forth between the trades and

art.

Many of New Zealand’s first post-war craftspeople and craft consumers were

exposed to some degree to the changes in art and craft education that began in the
late 1930s. The changes did not have an immediate impact and the link between

education, particularly primary education, and later life decisions is often not direct
or linear. However, Grace Cochrane had no doubt that in Australia the connection

between the Australian education system and later craft developments was clear ‒

and by implication a similar link probably existed in New Zealand.

Constructing Craft