Page 91 - Constructing Craft

Chapter Four: Craftspeople and the Art Craft

Divide

A small number of craftspeople in New Zealand openly expressed their views on the

art and craft question. Others were more circumspect, often refusing to become

involved in the debate. Another section of the craft community, through their actions
as advocates of craft or their roles as administrators and leaders of the craft

movement, clearly were aware that the debate, openly discussed or not, was critical

to the future of the movement. As the following profiles of craftspeople and others
show, the way their careers developed, the type of craft that they produced, how

their work was received and how involved in craft politics they became determined
how important the issue was in their lives.

Open Debate

Harry Davis

Harry Davis was a highly regarded English potter who, along with his wife, May

Davis, emigrated to New Zealand in 1962. Davis had extensive experience within

the ceramic industry as a potter, working for Bernard Leach at St Ives Pottery and
operating his own workshop in Cornwall. In addition, he was a self-educated art

historian. Davis was vocal in opposing the separation of art and craft primarily
because he believed that those who attempted to engineer the separation were

motivated by class distinctions. Davis believed the replacement of ‘workshop’ with

‘studio’ signalled the changes taking place within the craft movement as some
craftspeople began to call themselves artist-craftspeople. They were using the word

as a form of class division – middle-class craftspeople worked in studios while
working-class craftspeople (usually men) laboured in workshops. ‘Studio’ therefore,

was a signifier of social and cultural advancement.

For twenty years Harry Davis took every opportunity to argue his case for the

integration of art and craft – or at least a level of acceptance that craft was not
inferior to art. His views changed over the period, going from advice on crafts being

Constructing Craft