Craft Perception and Practice: A Canadian Discourse, Volume 1

By Ronsdale Press

Canada's ceramists, tapestry weavers, and other craft artists are recognized amongst the world's finest artisans. Craft Perception and Practice celebrates the excellence of Canadian crafts by bringing together twenty-four essays and critical commentaries by sixteen independent critics and curators, professional artists, art historians, and studio art instructors. Highly readable texts by internationally published authors Glenn Allison, Amy Gogarty, Paula Gustafson, Paul Mathieu, Gil McElroy, and Anne McPherson as well as by noted Canadian painter Mary Pratt discuss the conceptual, social, and cultural significance of craft media, engage linguistic and feminist theories, and consider aspects of tactile, sensual, and tacit knowledge in the context of works by a distinguished group of Canadian craft artists that includes Prix Saidye Bronfman Award winners Steven Heinemann and L opold L. Foulem. The inaugural edition of a three-volume series, Craft Perception and Practice features substantive writing about contemporary Canadian craft presented at conferences, in national and international periodicals, and in exhibition catalogues during the past decade. Illustrated with 37 full-page colour photographs. Indexed."This important volume promises to provoke critical discussion on the personal, social, and aesthetic programs of artists who work in craft media." Dr. Stephen Inglis, Director General of Research, Canadian Museum of Civilization

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ronsdale Press
• Release date: Sep 1, 2002
• ISBN: 9781553800828

Book preview

CRAFT Perception and Practice

CRAFT Perception and Practice

a Canadian discourse

Glenn Allison

Greg Beatty

Margaret Cannon

Katharine Dickerson

Sandra Flood

David Garneau

Amy Gogarty

Trudy Ellen Golley

Susan Andrews Grace

Paula Gustafson

Gloria Lesser

Patrick Mahon

Paul Mathieu

Gil McElroy

Anne McPherson

Mary Pratt

edited by Paula Gustafson

Copyright © 2002 by Paula Gustafson

All essayists, artists, and photographers to be identified as the author of their work.

Published by

Ronsdale Press 3350 West 21st Avenue

Vancouver BC Canada V6S 1G7

www.ronsdalepress.com

Co-published by

Artichoke Publishing

209-901 Jervis Street

Vancouver BC Canada V6E 2B6

www.artichoke.ca

           National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data

           Main entry under title:

           Craft perception and practice

             Includes bibliographical references and index.

            ISBN 0-921870-94-9 (v.1)

            1. Art, Canadian—Themes, motives. 2. Art criticism—Canada.

            3. Art, Canadian—20th century. I. Gustafson, Paula, 1941-

            NK841.C735 2002 709'.71’0904 C2001-911445-1

Designed by Michael Dymund of Silent Queue Design and by Paula Gustafson.

Cover image:

Handblown Chroma glass bowls (2001) by Joanne Andrighetti.

Photography by Raymond Lum.

Ronsdale Press wishes to thank the Canada Council for the Arts and its Art Book program, the

Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP),

and the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council for their support

of its publishing program. Artichoke Publishing gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of

the Jean A. Chalmers Fund for the Crafts and the Canada Council for the Arts Writing and

Publishing program.

All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or

used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical—without the prior written

permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping or reproducing in

information storage and retrieval systems of any part of this book shall be directed in writing to

the Canadian Reprographic Collective (CANCOPY), 379 Adelaide Street West, Suite M1, Toronto,

Ontario, Canada M5V 1S5.

Printed and bound in Hong Kong.

PREFACE

The selection of essays and commentaries for this first volume is based on the author’s directness of language, the integrity of the work being discussed, and the text’s illumination of the critical discourse that has engaged Canadian craft practitioners during the past dozen years. Some of the texts were first printed in magazines, others appeared in exhibition catalogues; two are previously unpublished. Reflecting the lopsided demographics of craft practice, ceramics and textiles are well represented, glass and metal are briefly mentioned, wood, leather, and paper are conspicuous by their absence. As exemplary texts become available, these and other important aspects of contemporary Canadian craft will be included in future publications in this series. Recommendations from readers are welcomed.

Craft Perception and Practice is more than an addition to the craft lexicon. This book and the volumes that follow are the first in Canada to be catalogued as art books. Previously, books published about craft—whether histories, narratives or reportage—have been indexed under the subject headings of Handicrafts, Arts & Crafts Movement, or other outdated classifications. Commencing with this series, books concerned with contemporary craft practice will be placed in the art section on library shelves and given the same recognition as photography, sculpture, and other forms of visual art.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The editor is indebted to Janet Deboer of Australia’s Textile: Fibre Forum for sharing her collection of critical writings from Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and the United States.

Calm Suspense is published with permission of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery.

The Magic of Glass is published with permission of Mary Pratt and the Glass Art Association of Canada.

Speaking in Circles, Throwing in a Straight Line, and With Regard to Charmian Johnson and Her Bowls are previously unpublished texts by Glenn Allison.

Look At It This Way is adapted from texts published in the Calgary Herald and Textile Fibre Forum. It is published, as is Imaging the History of the Present and Serious Stuff, with permission.

Visual Paradoxes, Getting to the Heart of the Matter, Dinner at the Banff Centre, and Sarah Saunders: Songs of Sanctuary are published with permission of Ceramics: Art and Perception.

On the Dignity of Craft and Thinking in Clay are published with permission of Ontario Craft.

Viewers, Owners and Objects, Busy Work, The Lives of Objects, and Is Bias Binding Contemporary Textile Work? are published with permission of The Craft Factor.

Weaving, Writing, Movement, Speech: Jane Kidd’s Figured Tapestries is published with permission of the Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta College of Art and Design.

Fancy, Aho Tapu: The Sacred Weft, and Léopold L. Foulem’s Monochromatic Abstractions are published with permission of Artichoke: Writings about the Visual Arts.

Conceiving a Quilt is published with permission of The Nickle Arts Museum.

Paul Mathieu: Suite Serpentin is published with permission of Espace.

Embodied reCollections: An installation by Trudy Ellen Golley is published with permission of the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba.

AUTHORS

Glenn Allison is the Director of the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario.

Greg Beatty is a Regina visual arts critic and a regular contributor to Artichoke: Writings about the Visual Arts.

Margaret Cannon writes for The Globe and Mail, Canadian House and Home, and Toronto Life.

Katharine Dickerson is the head of the Textiles program at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary.

Sandra Flood has a doctorate in Canadian craft history and is the author of Canadian Craft and Museum Practice 1900-1950, published by the Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2001.

David Garneau is an artist, writer, and teacher of art theory and practice at the University of Regina.

Amy Gogarty is an artist, essayist, and Head of Liberal Studies at Alberta College of Art and Design.

Trudy Ellen Golley is Head of Ceramics at Red Deer College.

Susan Andrews Grace is a Saskatchewan fibre artist currently living in Nelson, British Columbia.

Paula Gustafson is editor of Artichoke:Writings about the Visual Arts and a regular contributor to arts publications in Canada, England, Hong Kong, and Australia.

Gloria Lesser is an interior designer and art historian in Québec and an active member of the Canadian Society of Decorative Arts.

Patrick Mahon is an artist and writer living in London, Ontario, where he teaches at the University of Western Ontario.

Paul Mathieu is a potter in Vancouver. He teaches ceramics at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design.

Gil McElroy is a visual arts essayist and the former curator of Confederation Centre Art Gallery and Museum. He currently lives in Colborne, Ontario.

Anne McPherson is a former editor of Ontario Craft and curator of Miró: Playing with Fire, an international exhibition of Joan Miró’s ceramics.

Mary Pratt is an acclaimed Canadian painter. She lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

RESPONSE AND REVELATION

Calm Suspense

DAVID GARNEAU

Speaking in Circles, Throwing in a Straight Line

GLENN ALLISON

The Magic of Glass

MARY PRATT

SURFACE AND IMAGERY

Getting to the Heart of the Matter

GLORIA LESSER

Look At It This Way

PAULA GUSTAFSON

Embodied reCollections: An Installation by Trudy Ellen Golley

GLENN ALLISON

Visual Paradoxes

PAULA GUSTAFSON

OBJECTS AND OBJECTIVITY

On the Dignity of Craft

ANNE MCPHERSON

Viewers, Owners, and Objects

SANDRA FLOOD

The Lives of Objects

SANDRA FLOOD

Dinner at the Banff Centre

TRUDY ELLEN GOLLEY

LANGUAGE AND THEORY

Paul Mathieu: Suite Serpentin

PAULA GUSTAFSON

Fancy

PATRICK MAHON

Weaving, Writing, Movement, Speech: Jane Kidd’s Figured Tapestries

AMY GOGARTY

Léopold L. Foulem’s Monochrome Abstractions

PAUL MATHIEU

MAKING MEANING

Sarah Saunders: Songs of Sanctuary

GIL MCELROY

Aho Tapu: The Sacred Weft

KATHARINE DICKERSON

Thinking in Clay

MARGARET CANNON

Serious Stuff

PAULA GUSTAFSON

REDEFINING TRADITION

Imaging the History of the Present

PAULA GUSTAFSON

Is Bias Binding Contemporary Textile Work?

SUSAN ANDREWS GRACE

Busy Work

GREG BEATTY

Conceiving a Quilt

PAULA GUSTAFSON

With Regard to Charmian Johnson and Her Bowls

GLENN ALLISON

ILLUSTRATED ON PAGE X

SSSSSSSS (detail), 2000

earthenware with terra sigilatta glaze

122 cm long × 19 cm deep × 41 cm high

Greg Payce

INTRODUCTION

"…things men have made with wakened hands and put soft light into, are awake through years of transferred touch and go on glowing for long years, and for this reason old things are lovely, warm still with the light of men who made them…"

– D.H. Lawrence

I once spent a week locked in the attic of the Smithsonian Institution, a Dickensian storeroom filled to the rafters with artifacts from all over the world. Allowed into this ethnographic heaven each morning (and released, exhausted by the experience, late each afternoon), I was privileged to roam amongst the stacked cabinets, look into the drawers, and lift out and hold delicate feathered Maidu baskets, a coyote-skin dance costume, or Stone Age weapons from the South Pacific islands.

My purpose at the Smithsonian was research related to Pacific Northwest Coast indigenous textiles, and I was given the run of the attic treasure because, at the time, no one at the museum knew for sure what had been stored upstairs. Delving into the Smithsonian’s archives I discovered a number of Northwest Coast artifacts previously unrecorded or misidentified in their files; however, the overwhelming experience during my five days of self-imposed incarceration was not the scholar’s pleasure in correcting historical facts. It was the opportunity to touch, to embrace objects that people had made and used in centuries long past. When I picked up stone axes or pit-fired clay bowls in the quiet of that dim attic, my fingers unerringly found the places where the maker had spent hours smoothing the surface, where years of everyday use had created subtle indentations. Holding these ancient objects in my hands, I knew far more about them and their former lives than I learned from reading the descriptions on the museum identification labels.

Haptic knowledge is seldom, if ever, mentioned in the same breath as intelligence. Yet, as babies, it is how we first come to know our world. We touch and fondle texture, space and form—even colour. Later in life, when our hands explore our lovers’ bodies, we don’t need to turn on the lights to know the poetry of their contours or the subtleties of their movements. Skin is a primary receptor of abstract understanding. The body is a permeable membrane. Somatic knowledge—the pre-linguistic knowing gained from physical, sensory experience—is thought to be somehow separate from, and certainly less lofty, than cognitive intelligence.

Whether this division of senses—body knowledge as a suspect activity; visual/literal knowledge as a better, purer occupation—is a consequence of the development of perspective drawing in the fifteenth century, or whether it is a modernist notion, is less important than how it effectively separated craft from painting and sculpture. Ideologies have subsequently been built around fine art and architecture. Craft was simply pushed aside, the undervalued orphan of the art world.

Despite the arguments in support of craft advanced by John Ruskin, William Morris, Bernard Leach, and Walter Gropius, which influenced the direction of architecture and design for over a century, craft is rarely mentioned in contemporary visual art discourse. Until the last decade, studies of craft were deemed unsuitable topics for academic theses and critical writings in the public sphere. As late as 1986, the Globe and Mail art critic John Bentley Mays felt confident in declaring in an article in American Craft that art critics would never pay much attention to crafts because craft or craft-as-art (as I have experienced it) are inferior to art…they are not art. Ceramic and fibre artists, like novelists and composers and physicists, belong to other tribes of creative discourse, with peculiar languages, technical strategies, codes, and histories. These may be engaging to the critical imagination. But, at present anyway, it is all most art critics can do to keep up with the developments in visual art without trying to take on and do justice to so large an area of human creativity as crafts.

A statement like this leaves the reader breathless. Was Mays dismissing crafts because it presented a subject that was too large, too complex to be comprehended, or just too large and too complex for art critics? Was he suggesting that crafts could not stand up to the rigours of critical analysis?

Mays’s comments merely affirm an attitude taught to every North American art history student. H.W. Jansen, who co-wrote The Picture History of Painting, used for generations of introductory art courses, promulgated that originality is what distinguishes art from craft. He wrote that the purpose of craft was to beautify the useful, an important and honourable purpose no doubt, but of a lesser order than art pure and simple.

Yet craft defined the earliest civilizations. Craft was the first industry, the first creative expression, and gave form to the first spiritual identifications. From carved bone talismans to Benin bronzes, from the clay slips used to paint on cave walls to the stained glass windows in medieval cathedrals—and the design and construction of the cathedrals themselves—crafts have continued unabated throughout human history.

The academic world would have us believe that art history began 600 years ago with European painting and sculpture, blind-eyeing the fact that the greatest achievements in ceramics and weaving occurred 5,000 years ago, and not in Europe but in Japan, India, China, and Africa.

Brother Ass, I will tell you a short story. A team of Chinese anthropologists arrived in Europe to study our habits and beliefs. Within three weeks they were dead. They died of uncontrollable laughter and were buried with full military honors….

– Lawrence Durrell

My Conversations with Brother Ass in Clea, 1960

Durrell’s little story is quoted here not to disparage European culture but to emphasize that narrowly defined art theories, whether academic, nationalistic, or ideological in origin—and no matter how popular or timely—can be devastatingly wrong.

The purpose of theory is to help us make sense of life, how we behave in it, and how we predict what might happen next. Theories are created by developing a set of propositions or generalizations which establish relationships between things in some systematic way. They are derived by collecting information, by observation, by reading, discussion, and debate.

Theory can operate at a formal or informal level. At either level, theory is grounded in human experience. Theories are human constructions to structure our expectations and provide insight into our response to phenomena. Craft theory is, however, as difficult to define as a theory of food. Its scope encompasses the entire range of human activity. As soon as we believe we have it pinned down, it slips away. Even defining craft by what it is not is a futile exercise. For example, craft is not naive peasant art, although it can be. Craft is not a radical activity, although it can be. Craft is not mass production of objects, although it can be. The only certainty about craft is that it did not spring full-blown from the sociopolitical unrest of the 1960s, as is commonly believed. Contemporary Canadian crafts are a manifestation of the age-old human occupation of transforming natural materials into meaningful, valuable, and useful objects—the messy, living story of idiosyncratic individuals and dynamic communities. They cannot be generalized, subsectioned, or autopsied.

A discourse is an organized framework for discussing theory: the themes, ideas, terminology, symbology, and meanings attached to a subject. If a discourse on craft is to make meaningful links and serve as a source of claims across the practice, processes, and products of craft making, it must include sentient and sensual experience as well as cerebral knowedge. The essays and reviews that follow have been selected for the insight and integrity they bring to the subject of craft as practised in Canada. Written by a distinguished group of artists and cultural critics, the texts offer thoughtful commentary about the integration of materials, methods, and concepts—and the perceptual, social, aesthetic, and spiritual values—that comprise craft’s refined labours.

Paula Gustafson

Editor

Response and Revelation

OVERLEAF

Chroma bowls, 2001

handblown glass approx. 10 cm high, 15 cm diameter

Joanne Andrighetti

Photo: Raymond Lum

CALM SUSPENSE

by David Garneau

This text was published in Ceramics: Art and Perception, No. 27, 1997. It previously appeared in the exhibition catalogue for Greg Payce: Vase to Vase, shown at Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta, 1995.

Ceramics seduce the practitioner with beauty, utility, history, a body of technical knowledge, and community. Working with earth, water, fire, and air is an exhilarating experience that feels universal, timeless, and natural. When a person gains proficiency in a craft and adds the personal touch that exceeds utility and decoration, then the work is about something other than its beauty and function; we are tempted to call it a work of art. But there