Page 256 - Constructing Craft

designers, historians and craftspeople applied the low-ranked crafts of china

painting and embroidery to a work that appeared to exemplify the feminist ideal
through its content, the materials used and the manner in which it was constructed.

Women in New Zealand held dinner parties to coincide with the unveiling of the
installation and sent a telegram to Chicago. In both New Zealand and Australia the

exploration and politicisation of gender issues, encouraged by Chicago’s work,
appeared to open up investigations of women's craft, including materials and

techniques used and approaches to production, to determine the role of craft in

advancing feminist issues.

The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago. Celebrating the achievements of thirty-nine women in
Western history. Photo: Judy Chicago and Edward Lucie-Smith.

Feminism ‒ Professionalism

Paradoxically, by the late-1980s and early-1990s, feminist discourses, never very
strong in New Zealand craft magazines, had almost disappeared completely. This

may have been the result of legislation that had satisfied many of the demands
women had been making, but for people involved in the craft movement it may have

been a result of the drive to make craft more ‘professional’. In fact, at times the

Constructing Craft