Page 15 - Constructing Craft

Women were the mainstay of the studio craft movement. Women however, had
many barriers placed in their way. Before the movement expanded dramatically

in the 1960s and 1970s craft was often defined in gender terms. Women
participated in craft in the home and formed craft groups. Men went to work and

belonged to unions. Craft was largely a leisure activity while the ‘real’ work took
place away from the home. This form of classification suggested that while

crafts could be a pleasant pastime it could never be seriously considered as a

‘real’ job by men. The craftspeople of the studio craft movement would prove this
notion wrong.

The formation of thousands of clubs and numerous national craft organisations
appeared to suggest that studio craft had united and formed a solid foundation

for the future. The peak of this period of ‘togetherness’ was the founding of the
New Zealand Chapter of the World Crafts Council (NZWCC) in 1965 followed by

its rebirth as the Crafts Council of New Zealand in 1977. However, the
foundations of the Crafts Council were insecure and craftspeople struggled to

feel an affinity with crafts outside their own field or with those craftspeople who

were knocking on the door of the art world. In 1992 the Crafts Council went into
liquidation amidst accusations of betrayal and incompetence. Craftspeople had

become hopelessly divided over what craft was and where its future lay. The
acrimony and despair surrounding this event showed how divided the craft world

had become. For many craftspeople the Crafts Council had become an elitist
organisation that had promoted only one form of craft – craft art. It was a sad

reminder that like all arts or crafts movements the studio craft movement had run

its course.

A Tribute to Peter Cape

Craft is rarely controversial in the eyes of the wider community and the literature

of craft has, by and large, not disturbed this perception. Many books have been
written about craft but most have either explained how craft is made – the ‘how

to’ books – or shown craft objects with brief biographies of the most well known

Constructing Craft