Introduction -- Chapter 1. Supplemental --"Homage to Brancusi" -- Wearable Sculptures: Modern Jewelry and the Problem of Autonomy -- Reframing the Pattern and Decoration Movement -- Props -- Chapter 2. Sensual -- Ceramic Presence: Peter Voulkos -- The Essence of Clay: Yagi Kazuo -- The Materialization of the Art Object, 1966-72 -- Breath -- Chapter 3. Skilled -- Learning by Doing: Teaching Modern Craft -- Thinking in Situations: Josef Albers -- Learning Architecture: Charles Jencks and Kenneth Frampton -- Chapter 4. Pastoral -- Regions Apart -- Two Versions of Pastoral -- North, South, East, West -- Chapter 5. Amateur -- "The World's Most Fascinating Hobby": Robert Arneson -- Feminism and the Politics of Amateurism -- Abject Craft: Mike Kelley and Tracey Emin -- Conclusion.
Summary:
This book is an introduction to the way that artists working in all media think about craft. Workmanship is key to today's visual arts, when high 'production values' are becoming increasingly commonplace. Yet craft's centrality to contemporary art has received little serious attention from critics and historians. Dispensing with clichéd arguments that craft is art, Adamson persuasively makes a case for defining craft in a more nuanced fashion. The interesting thing about craft, he argues, is that it is perceived to be 'inferior' to art. The book consists of an overview of various aspects of this second-class identity - supplementarity, sensuality, skill, the pastoral, and the amateur. It also provides historical case studies analysing craft's role in a variety of disciplines, including architecture, design, contemporary art, and the crafts themselves.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.