Page 298 - Constructing Craft

construct, supported by unquestioning promotional literature which attempted to

depict craftspeople more as artists rather than trades people. To support these
changes the already well-educated participants established a system of craft

education based on their own educational background and modelled on the
educational structure used by artists and art educators and informed by art

philosophers. Craft education in the form of craft design and visual design
qualifications provided an external legitimacy to craft. A form of ‘pecking’ order

developed in the craft design education system that placed art above craft.

But craft was more than the end product. The early studio craftspeople (pre-1970s)

and some of their protégés (post-1970s) believed they were part of a holistic

movement that was concerned with more than just the making of objects by hand.
They discovered that craft provided opportunities to explore ideas they held, not only

about art or craft, but also about technology, work, business, education and different
forms of social organisation. Craftspeople became associated in the minds of the

wider community with resistance to what many believed were regressive
developments in these areas. The received version of the craft movement suggested

that most craftspeople lived in a rural settling, possibly in a commune, used a

minimum amount of machinery, looked like hippies and rejected normal society. It
was both a romantic and nostalgic narrative that appealed to the wider public that

was both fascinated and concerned by people and groups who formed social
configurations that were different to the ‘norm’. However, some commentators

believed that if craft continued in this way it had no future. The move by craftspeople
to seek accreditation through polytechnic courses to validate their new position as

craft artists was a development that was seen as an answer to this problem. The new

craft artists were urban, welcomed new technology and were more closely aligned to
artists. With the demise of the CCNZ they became integrated into the world of art.

Not all sectors of the craft movement however wished to adopt the ‘artist alone’
model that this new art-based approach offered. The early movement, with its ethos

of cooperation and sharing, mirrored the working methods that many women and
Māori preferred. Women also took leading roles in the administration of craft

organisations and thus established policies and procedures that formalised the way
that craftspeople interacted – often injecting their own values. Māori gradually

Constructing Craft