Page 250 - Constructing Craft

influential the gender balance in the senior roles became more even, or in some

cases, dominated by men. For instance, the position of President of the Crafts
Council of New Zealand (CCNZ), and its predecessor the New Zealand Chapter of

the World Craft Council (NZWCC), had predominantly been held by women up until
the end of the 1970s. From 1982 to 1992 the position was occupied exclusively by

men. Organisations such as the CCNZ could also apply selective memory when
recounting the history of their organisation. In 1984 for instance, when the Executive

Director claimed that the CCNZ was founded in 1976 she was corrected by a

member of the NZWCC who pointed out that, in all but name, a crafts council had
existed since 1965. The member suggested that the Director talk to the former

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members of the early crafts council. All the names she suggested were women,
highlighting the importance of women in the history of craft organisations in New
Zealand – and the capacity for later writers to disregard their founding role.

Cooperatives

Women used their organisational, craft and business skills to experiment with
different ways of living and working. The women’s liberation conferences of the

1970s encouraged feminists to form cooperative organisations to pool resources in
areas such as education, child care and employment. For instance, in 1979, the

Onekaka Feminist Front (OFF) decided to establish the Golden Bay Work Centre

Trust to create ‘work that fitted in with child care work’ in a region with very limited
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employment opportunities. After conducting a survey of the needs of women in the
region, a weaving co-operative, a quilt-making business and a slipper-making co-
operative were set up and skills training workshops were organised.

Professionalism was emphasised: ‘Shortly after the OFF seminar, two weavers
rented a house in central Takaka and began to weave professionally. Suzie’s

weaving experience and Hess’s skills as a business woman enabled them to build
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up orders.’ Professionalism was contrasted with amateurism: ‘Weaving, like many
women’s crafts, is generally done as a hobby, Suzie is determined to prove it can

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be a profession. This will give status to the craft’. An environment suited to women
was central to the aims of the Trust: ‘Childcare, creativity, and mutual support are all

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intrinsic to its operation.’ These were also the characteristics that women who
were part of the studio craft movement valued.

Constructing Craft