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twentieth century, even when the craft produced appeared to have been made for
use in the home. One was a Canadian potter and scholar, Robert Kavanagh, who in
his 1990 PhD thesis questioned Collingwood’s analysis.
Robin George Collingwood. Photo: Walter
Stoneman. October 1934.
Robert Kavanagh
In his thesis, Kavanagh set out to prove that Collingwood’s model was flawed when
applied to the studio workshop environment of contemporary craftspeople. Starting
from the fundamental idea that craft has two meanings ‒ the activity of ‘making’ and
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‘the range of objects and artefacts produced by this activity’, Kavanagh attempted
to link the two definitions and compare art and craft. He claimed that some craft
objects have characteristics that were ‘creative, innovative, expressive and
imaginative … and that these characteristics express[ed] features of the process of
making as well’. Alternatively, he stated, some ‘art objects are primarily technical
accomplishments, and are called ‘art’ simply by cultural associations with respect to
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the appearance and similarities of things.’
Constructing Craft
