Chapter 12Crafts

CRAFT• Most crafts have roots in the middle ages, when a

craftsman had a trade – potter, glassblower, woodworker, weaver.

• The word “craft” alludes to expert work done by hand.

• “Craft” and “Art” originally had the same meaning. During the Renaissance, painting, sculpture and architecture were elevated to a different level.

– Thus much of art history before the Renaissance includes craft.

Craft vs Art• Western cultures (Europe & US) have Fine Art

and Craft in separate categories.– Often the dividing line is function.

• Many other cultures around the world attribute artistic meaning to craft objects.– Often fine art objects like sculpture have a spiritual

function.

• There is no definite division between art and craft, nor should there be.– Labels are a convenience for talking about art.

Traditional Materials of Craft

• Clay

• Glass

• Metal

• Wood

• Fiber

Ceramics• Many kinds of clay

• Terra cotta ∙ Stoneware

• Earthenware ∙ Porcelain

• Greenware – Clay before it is fired• Bisqueware – Clay that has been kiln-fired once.

After clay has been fired its chemical composition changes, it can never be clay again

• Glazeware – Clay that has been glazed, it can be fired multiple times,

not all ceramics are glazed

Ceramics Forming Techniques

• Wheel throwing– Used in Egypt 6000 years ago

• Slab construction• Coiling– Maria Martinez used this method

• Hand-forming or pinching

Maria Martinez, BlackwareThis type of blackware was only fired once.

Maria used a red clay.

Before firing she would burnish the entire pot and then paint on a design with a slip (liquid clay.)

The dull area is the slip.

The shinier area is the raw clay that has been burnished.

The ware becomes black by smothering the flames with dry manure partway thru the firing. The smoke reacts with the iron in the clay to turn it black.

Maria Martinez

Magdalene Odundo, Vessel Series II asymmetrical, no.1, 2005, red clay, carbonized and multi-fired

Bodily terms are used to describe vessels

Mouth

Neck

Shoulder

Body

Foot

Etruscan amphora of the Pontic group, ca. 540–530 BC. From Vulci

Chinese Longquan celadon, Song Dynasty, 13th century

Elaine Coleman Incised Lizard and Leaf Teapot

Hellenistic Tanagra figurine, ca. 320 BCE

Earliest known ceramics are the Gravettian figurines that date to 29,000 to 25,000 BC

Chris Antemann, Paradise, 2009, porcelain, decals, luster, 27 × 17 × 17 inches

Islamic tilework in a mosque,

Iran, 1602-1619

17th century Kütahya tiles in Hall of the Ablution Fountain, Topkapı

Palace, Istanbul, Turkey

Glass• Made from silica (sand)• Becomes molten as it is heated and hardens as

it cools• Can be formed in many ways– Blown glass– Fused glass, fired in a kiln– Various types of molds – pate de verre

• Can be decorated with sandblasting• Stained glass is made by cutting sheets of glass

into pieces and fitting them together

Dale Chihuly

Chihuly

Dale Chihuly

The North Transept windows from Chartres Cathedral, France, c. 1230

The Mucha window in Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral was designed in the early 1930s

Metal• Types of metals

– Copper - Silver– Brass - Gold– Bronze - Steel– Nickel - Iron

• Can be shaped in many ways– Casting - Forging– Cutting - Hammering– Soldering

• Can be decorated in many ways– Enameling– Chasing & Repoussé– Inlay– Vermail (a marriage of 2 metals)

A blacksmith forging hot iron

Handforged silver wine goblets by Emma-Kate Francis.

Modern Chinese cloisonné enamel

Detail showing cloisons before enameling. Wire is soldered to the piece to separate

each color

This slide shows a girl meticulously adding frit to areas, the piece will be kiln fired, then

ground and polished.

Lidded copper-body cloisonné enamel vase with a dragon motif, Probably from Nagoya, it is dated to 1880-1890

Chasing and repoussé - high relief

The underside of the ginko leaf relief

3 bronze custom butterfly cupboard pulls

Chasing tools

Wood

• Easy to work with• Readily available• Subject to environmental effects (it rots,

distorts, insects)

• Furniture– The Chair was developed about 2800 yrs ago

The Chair of Hetepheres, Egypt, 2575-2551 BCE, wood and gold leaf

Chair designed by Henry Van de Velde for his house "Bloemenwerf" in Brussels

LCW (Lounge chair wood), Charles and Ray Eames1946, molded plywood and rubber

Fiber• Almost endless design possibilities• Some civilizations highly prize textiles– Incas

• Construction methods are unique to itself– Weaving – the general method for all textiles

• Warp – held taut • Weft – is interwoven through the warp

• Tapestry – a type of weaving wear the warp yarns are manipulated to form a pattern or design– The golden age of tapestry was in Europe from late

14th to 17th century, it was the art of choice.

The Hunt of the Unicorn, 1475-1500Netherlands, wool, silk and metallic thread.Bought for $1million in 1922 and donated to the

Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1937.

• A series of 7 tapestry panels• Depict a midieval story showing the unicorn

being hunted • When it lays its head in the lap of a virgin it is

captured and killed, then later restored to life• A mixture of pagan and Christian symbolism• Its an allegory to the Passion of Christ

The Hunters Enter the Woods

Unicorn Is Found at the Fountain

The Unicorn is Attacked

The Unicorn Defends Herself

The Unicorn is Captured by the Maiden

The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle

The Unicorn in Captivity

In the Sterling Castle, Scotland, there are replicas of the original Unicorn Tapestries

Gee’s Bend Quilts • A rural community near Selma, Alabama• Was once the site of cotton plantations• After the Civil War, the freed slaves took the last name Pettway

and became tenant farmers• The unique quilting style has been practiced for at least 6

generations• In 2002 there was an exhibition titled “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend”

featuring 70 masterpieces.• There are still more than 50 women there who are part of the

Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective• Their style is reminiscent of Amish quilts and modern art • In early years, the primary influence for the style was the

newspaper and magazine collages used for insulation on the inside walls of homes

Women of Gee's Bend, Alabama, quilting, 2005

Roman Stripes by Deborah Pettway Young, circa 1963.

Drunkard´s Path -- Variation (Snowball) by Lucy T. Pettway, circa 1950

Allie PettwayHousetop, 1970-1975

Annie Mae Young, Work-clothes quilt with center medallion of strips, 1976; denim,

corduroy, synthetic blend; 108 by 76.5 inches.

Jessie T. Pettway, Bars and string-pieced columns, 1950s; cotton; 95 by 76 inches.

Annie E. Pettway, Flying Geese variation, ca. 1935; cotton, wool; 86 by 71 inches.

Blocks & Strips Quilt by Mary Lee Bendolph, 2002

Jade and Lacquer• Jade – a mineral stone of either nephrite or jadeite– Color from white to brown to green– Found mostly in the East, Central Asia & Central America– Prized in China for 6000 yrs

• Lacquer – made from the sap of a tree that originally only grew in China, it is brushed over wood in very thin coats– Hardens to a smooth glasslike finish– Demands patience, can take 30 coats to build up a

substantial layer, must fully dry between coats

A jade Bi with dragons, Warring States (403–221 BC)

A Chinese Ming Dynasty mother of pearl lacquer box, 16th century

Carved Cinnabar Lacquer Tray with Blue Magpies and Camellias,

China, Yuan Dynasty, 14th century

Blurring the Boundaries between Art and Craft

• Taking something functional and making it nonfunctional gives it a whole new meaning– Voulkos’s Pottery broke this barrier

• Using craft methods to make Fine Art elevates the notion of craft– Chicago’s The Dinner Party used traditional

“womens work” in multiple ways to create a fine art installation.

Peter Voulkos,

Noodle, 1996,

stoneware sculpture

Peter Voulkos plates, 1981

Peter Voulkos is on the left.

The Dinner Party, Judy Chicago, 1979

• http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/webtour/

• The table has 39 place settings to honor influential women in history.

• An additional 999 important women’s names are written on the tile floor.

Mary Wollstonecraft and Sojourner Truth place settings

The Virginia Woolf setting

Judy Chicago with her masterpiece.