Page 248 - Constructing Craft

incapable of creating their own original ideas or expressing their own values,

experiences and fantasies. An additional concern was that the language used in the
magazines, through linking crafts with ‘giving and gaining love, as offerings for the

family, presents for others or as gifts for charity bazaars’, identified women solely as
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housewives and nurturers.

Women's Craft Magazines and patterns helped establish brand loyalties and
reinforced gender stereotyping. Photo: Gabreial Wyatt.

Craftswomen in New Zealand

The studio craft movement in New Zealand was slow to recognise the contribution

of earlier craftswomen despite the numbers taking part. In 1967 Helen Mason, who
was instrumental in founding the New Zealand Potter, wrote a review of the

preceding ten years of studio pottery. In it she made no mention of the women who
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were practising potters between the wars and immediately following it.
Furthermore, in a book on the history of studio pottery in New Zealand, the authors

observed that when these women were mentioned in later issues of the New
Zealand Potter they were referred to as “the lady potters” and their work, usually

made in earthenware, was described in dismissive terms such as ‘amateur
production’. The authors noted that these women were not treated seriously

Constructing Craft