Craft Research - Volume 13, Issue 1, 2022

This article seeks to shed light on the transposition of traditional crafts related to the popular religion of the Azores into the secular context of art in the works of Catarina Branco, taking two of the artist’s exhibitions – Fez-se Luz, 2012, and Alminhas, 2013 – as case studies. The research first shows how this transposition leads to the cross-fertilization of the religious and artistic domains, imbuing art with greater spirituality and introducing reflections concerning contemporary issues, such as emigration and the position of women into the context of religion. Second, I discuss how the contingent nature of craft in art is used as a disruptive element that liberates the imagination, thought and feelings, dismantling hierarchies between the manual and the intellectual, the masculine and the feminine, as well as those between religion, art and craft, through embodied gesture. Religion is here understood in its wider sense as a form of mediation of the transcendent (Meyer 2009). I argue that these works can be seen as a political gesture, which highlights the past of women who lived in anonymity, simultaneously preserving and renewing traditional crafts that are dying out while also deconstructing the false dichotomy between the manual and the intellectual or spiritual. The act of papercutting gives physical form to the experiences of Azorean women, while at the same time addressing questions relevant to the human condition, including migration and the eternal search for transcendence. Through its inevitable polysemy, this act reveals meanings that have been hidden by habit, allowing the viewer to rediscover them.

Theatre of the Imagination aims to demonstrate that making artefacts provokes a transformative way of thinking about the world while fostering independent learning skills in children. Signature pedagogies from art and design education help to build a learning culture that embraces the concept of childhood as a time of being and becoming. The workshops set out to explore the potential of making as a way of thinking in primary education through a constructionist epistemology, which demonstrates how sharing three-dimensional artefacts can help cultivate mutual respect. Transition design thinking is introduced to foster a socially and culturally inclusive vision for the future. Children and their teachers are encouraged to undertake interventions aimed at incremental change in the way we collaborate with others who live locally and with those who live on other continents. The UN global goals for sustainable development framework is used to set up situations worthy of debate at a time of social and environmental disruption. Insights emerging from Theatre of the Imagination suggest new ways of exploiting the value of design and making in mainstream primary education at a time of impecunity. Making as thinking provokes reflection and helps children and teachers to visualize ideas about how we may protect non-human and human life on earth.

While it is acknowledged that craftwork has the potential to generate well-being, relatively few empirical studies explore how this happens in practice. Some scholars have used the theoretical concept and phenomenological experience of ‘flow’ to analyse why craft-makers find their work satisfying and engaging. This article builds on such scholarship by empirically demonstrating how ‘flow experiences’ emerge. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork among Lulesámi craft-makers in Northern Norway, the article argues that ‘flow’ should not be taken for granted or seen as a straightforward and easily achieved benefit of craft. Instead, it is a skilful practice that requires learning, collaboration, time and repeated, embodied effort. It involves the transformation of the body through collaborative learning; something that makes ‘flow experiences’ not only learnt but deeply personal and communal at the same time. Through a detailed ethnographic account of how ‘flow’ emerges through the making of the gáppte (characteristic dress), the article provides important insights into contemporary Lulesámi craftsmanship at the same time as it speaks to the wider literature on craft, well-being and learning.

Expanded Wood is an openwork panel made out of wood that maintains its original strength but significantly gains width and minimally loses weight. The material uses raw wood in a more efficient way that can help to reduce deforestation and may offer a solution to the problem of dwindling natural resources. This article explores the process of creating and developing the new material through making, experiencing physical models and empirical, physical testing. The combination of these three techniques produces a creative process that is based in both individual sensory perception and quantitative data analysis.

Twined flower making has been a handicraft practiced by women since the Qing Dynasty (1885–94) in which wires, papers and silk threads are the main materials used by entwining the materials together in various combinations into the forms of flowers. However, the rise of plastic flowers in the 1970s, the evolution of lifestyle and weakened folk traditions has led to the gradual decline of twined flower craft. The craft of twined flower making has not been taught in a systematic fashion and thus is more difficult to pass onto new generations. The research aims to bring the art of twined flower into daily life to continue the future of this craft. The eastern region of Taiwan has an abundance of stone resources. The conception of the project is to unite the contrasting materials of twined paper flowers and to augment the scope of the craft. Traditionally twined flower handicraft has been applied mostly as an ornament or fashion accessory for women. The project extends the craft to the context of stationery by combining features found in traditional Chinese painting to produce a modern object.

Review of: Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning through Making, Anna Ploszajski (2021)

London: Bloomsbury Publishing (Sigma), 320 pp., 288 pp., 288 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-47297-107-4, h/bk, £16.19

ISBN 978-1-47297-106-7, e-book (Epub and Mobi), £12.59

ISBN 978-1-47297-106-7, e-book (PDF), £12.59