Page 233 - Constructing Craft

already achieved a degree of financial security by the time demand for studio craft

had passed its peak. Some craftspeople – and artists ‒ became part of the new
craft education programmes as formal qualifications became signifiers of cultural

achievement. By the 1990s, despite strenuous efforts by many to defend and boost
craft, most craftspeople remained on the edge of the art world and could only ever

expect to operate a small, peripheral business. Some, for instance women and
Māori, as will be seen in Chapter Thirteen, had to contend with additional

impediments, but many craftspeople had also become very adaptable and managed

to balance economic and cultural success by constantly changing how they
interacted with the art world and the business world.

Constructing Craft