Page 85 - Constructing Craft

By the 1980s Collingwood’s black and white demarcation between art and craft still

remained an important determinant in the debate. However, many associated with
the arts and crafts realised that with the changing social makeup of craftspeople

and the changing appearance of what was being produced his rules were becoming
difficult to relate to much contemporary craft. Although the social theories that

Bourdieu had proposed were only beginning to emerge in English translation they
appeared to reflect more accurately what was actually happening. The British craft

writer, June Freeman, recognised these developments in 1989 when she stated: ‘It

is ... important for the crafts world to engage in the debate about the social role of
culture’. She suggested that thinkers such as Bourdieu would ‘help to establish how

and why certain objects come to be defined as art in contemporary Western
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societies while others are excluded from that categorization.’

New Zealand as part of an International Movement

New Zealand’s membership of the World Crafts Council (WCC) from 1965
confirmed that New Zealand craftspeople and consumers were increasingly part of

the international craft market. New Zealand craftspeople were exposed to a range
of different interpretations of craft and were increasingly aware that social and

educational factors influenced who made craft, who critiqued craft and who

purchased craft. At times this exposure to international influences was not
welcomed. For instance the craftswoman, Robyn Tunstall, complained to the editor

of New Zealand Crafts in 1988 that the selection of work for the new Craft Index ‒

itself an overseas idea ‒ was influenced by overseas design. She derisively
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described the designs as “International Noughts and Crosses and Zigzags”. In
New Zealand the changes that took place in crafts in areas such as the definition of

art and craft, where it was displayed and how practitioners were educated, seemed
to reflect aspects of Bourdieu’s theory of intergenerational social and cultural

mobility. Comments such as those by Tunstall reflected the concern that the social
and educational influences on overseas craft might influence New Zealand’s culture

– and her dismissive language suggests that she did not believe it was a positive

influence.

Constructing Craft