One group that had a major impact was The Crafts Advisory Committee (CAC), they were founded in 1971. The CAC, now known as the Crafts Council, was a state-backed, central organization tasked with the ideological devel opment and management of craft, and effectively solidified the craft revival in the 1970s. The CAC was not the first post-war British craft organization that had government support, but due to being larger and better funded, it shadowed its predecessors. when compared to the fine arts, crafts at this time had been virtually neglected by central government. The creation of the CAC would dramatically reverse this position. The CAC’s remit was to create a position of greater prominence for the crafts, and specifi cally emphasise the term ‘artist craftsman’. This was a significant ideological term, adopted by the state as an attempt to distance craft from previous ties with industry. The CAC managed grants and loans, commissioning and patronage, exhibitions, publica tions and publicity, and also training and conservation projects . By April 1974, grants of over £140,000 had been allocated to craftsmen and various organizations across Britain. The CAC’s efforts in reinvigorating the crafts are shown in their tax-free bursary scheme, that allocated a generous £2000 to makers (equivalent of £20,000 today). A selective index, ‘Craftsmen of Quality’, was published in 1976, to encourage the commissioning of high-value craft objects, underlining the CAC’s aspirations towards excellence and status. The CAC went on to create a high-profile magazine, Crafts, in 1973, which is still in circulation to this day. Noticeably different to other art magazines of the time period, Crafts’ style was contemporary and celebratory, f... ... middle of paper ... ...l as the desire to live sustainably, had direct links with the resurgence of interest in ‘making’, and provided ideal circumstances in which craft could flourish. … As in the 1970s, government-backed infrastructure continues to be instrumental in maintaining and reaffirming the identity of craft. Today, the craft sector is supported by a number of government and voluntary bodies (Jennings 2012: 8). The Crafts Council (the CAC in the 1970s), now funded by the Arts Council England, persists, as does Crafts magazine. Its emphasis continues to be on contempo rary, fine art studio craft, rather than traditional heritage craft. England was not the only place where a revival in the crafts was observed, places such as America and Scotland had their own revivals. In America this began with an exhibition by Robert Judson Clark, an arts professor of Princeton University
The exhibition of recent stoneware vessels by Peter Voulkos at Frank Lloyd Gallery featured the sort of work on which the artist established reputation in the 1950s. The work was greeted with stunned amazement. However now it is too, but it's amazement of a different order -- the kind that comes from being in the presence of effortless artistic mastery. These astonishing vessels are truly amaising. Every ceramic artist knows that what goes into a kiln looks very different from what comes out, and although what comes out can be controlled to varying degrees, it's never certain. Uncertainty feels actively courted in Voulkos' vessels, and this embrace of chance gives them a surprisingly contradictory sense of ease. Critical to the emergence of a significant art scene in Los Angeles in the second half of the 1950s, the 75-year-old artist has lived in Northern California since 1959 and this was his only second solo show in an L.A gallery in 30 years.”These days, L.A. is recognized as a center for the production of contemporary art. But in the 1950s, the scene was slim -- few galleries and fewer museums. Despite the obscurity, a handful of solitary and determined artists broke ground here, stretching the inflexible definitions of what constitutes painting, sculpture and other media. Among these avant-gardists was Peter Voulkos.” In 1954, Voulkos was hired as chairman of the fledgling ceramics department at the L.A. County Art Institute, now Otis College of Art and Design, and during the five years that followed, he led what came to be known as the "Clay Revolution." Students like John Mason, Paul Soldner, Ken Price and Billy Al Bengston, all of whom went on to become respected artists, were among his foot soldiers in the battle to free clay from its handicraft associations.
Getlein, Mark. "Chapter 17-The 17th and 18th Centuries." Living with Art. 9th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 2008. 384-406. Print.
Benjamin, Walter, and J. A. Underwood. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.
The Art Bulletin, Vol. 57, No. 2 (Jun., 1975), pp. 176-185. (College Art Association), accessed November 17, 2010. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3049368.
As a conclusion, Mingei and nationalism can be perceived as fundamentally interwoven through Japanese handicrafts. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, many factors came to play a part in bringing the Japanese spirit to the forefront of craftsmen minds, whether as reason to bring attention to themselves and their own work or as a way of providing necessary utensils to the average Japanese home. The efforts of the Mingei movement and the Japanese Traditional Crafts Exhibition cannot be ignored. Yanagi can be said to have foreseen this radical decline in traditional styles and if not for his and his fellow founders collecting and preserving crafts in the Japanese Folk Art Museum, many of the regional methods and styles could be lost today. After the destruction of the war and
It corresponded to the emulation, which emerged among the lower classes of the postindustrial era, to pretend to have a good taste of art like the upper class. After the Industrial Revolution, the underprivileged, who had previously produced things to fulfill their own daily needs, turned into the working class of the urbans, producing things whose value in daily usage they would never see . This shift from crafting to manufacturing, from formulating to fabricating, and from creative to repetitive triggered a new need among these people. Although they did not have the time or education to enjoy and appreciate fine arts when they were in the countryside, the lower classes felt a new inclination towards art in the factory towns where they had the opportunity to observe that taste in art provided social status. Their desire to own works of art was precluded by their incomes which were no match for the high prices of the art market. With the aid of the mass production technologies and the manufacturing-commercial culture that followed, it became possible to produce multiple copies of artistic works and reduce the prices. This situation not only expanded the scope of art market but also provided the lower class with what they desired –or at least what they thought they desired: affordable art
Peter, S., 1996. The History of American Art Education. 7th ed. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Thoughts about art changed and evolved in many ways over time. Efland’s The History of Art Education: Intellectual and Social Currents in Teaching the Visual Arts offers a concise history of art education, chronicling its changes and evolutions. In chapters two and three, Efland begins with attitudes towards art in the Hellenistic time period and moves forward through the Roman Empire, Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Industrial Revolution. According to Efland, during the Hellenistic time period, owning artwork related to status, to a degree, yet the artist was not considered to be an esteemed profession. The primary role of Roman education was to prepare individuals to work for the state. As a result, visual art did not play a role in formal educational practice. Moving forward in time to the Middle Ages, life revolved around faith. While art did play a role in the lives of the people, it was in the form of craft guilds. The apprentice system became more prevalent during this time period as well. It was not until the Renaissance that craft and art became separate entities. Although fine art was stressed more in the educational setting, and students were taught formal skills during this time period, it...
Rowland, Kurt F. A History of the Modern Movement: Art Architecture Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1973. 142. Print.
Eisenberg, Christiane. “Artisans” Socialization at Work: Workshop Life in Early Nineteenth-Century England and Germany.” Journal of Social History 1 May 1991: 45-57.
During the 1980’s Graphic Designer, Paula Scher helped design and define the decade of color, music, and fun. Scher began her graphic design work by creating designs for the inside of children’s books. Later on, the artist received a larger gig working for record labels such as CBS and Atlantic Records. After she began her work as an album cover artist, Scher’s artwork became known for its exaggerated use of typography and its unique style. Early in her work, Paula built her credibility with her design of the Boston album artwork from 1976. From there Scher continued to shape the decades of the late seventy’s and the early eighty’s by designing albums for Cheap Trick, The Blue Oyster Cult, The Rolling Stones and more. After some time, Paula resigned form the record industry and began her own design company with her friend Terry Koppel. The two designers called the company Koppel & Scher and ran the business for seven years until the recession, which eventually caused them to go their separate ways. By 1991 Paula received an irresistible job offer to work for Pentagram as a graphic de...
The Arts and Crafts movement, led by William Morris, was established in the 1860s as a response against the manufacturing of low quality goods due to industrialization. He also felt that the society was degrading as a result of this. The philosophy behind the Art and Crafts movement was that the Industrial Revolution had taken artistry and design away from of the quality of goods produced. The goal was to advocate a return to craftsmanship and enable individual craftsmen to assert their own creative independence. More importantly, the movement wanted to promote mor...
During the 1800’s Great Britain’s empire stretched around the world, and with raw materials easily available to them this way, they inevitably began refining and manufacturing all stages of many new machines and other goods, distributing locally and globally. However, despite being the central ‘workshop of the world,’ Britain was not producing the highest quality of merchandise. When comparing factory-made products made in England to surrounding countries, most notably France, those products could not compare as far as craftsmanship and sometimes, simply innovation. It was suggested by Prince Albert that England host a sort of free-for-all technological exposition to bring in outside crafts into the country and also show their national pride.
Conclusion 12 XIII. Bibliography 13 I. Introduction The Custom Woodworking Company (CWC) was founded in 1954 by Ron “Woody” Carpenter. Woody, after an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker, started his own small woodworking business, specializing in furniture manufacturing. Due to the high quality of the craftsmanship, CWC gained a reputation for their high quality and attractively designed furniture.
Caves, R. E. (2000). Creative industries : contracts between art and commerce / Richard E. Caves. Cambridge, Mass. ; London: Harvard University Press.