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- Convenors:
-
Anneli Palmsköld
(University of Gothenburg)
Johanna Rosenqvist (Linnaeus University)
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- Formats:
- Panel
- Stream:
- Material Culture and Museums
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 23 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Helsinki
Short Abstract:
This panel focuses on creative aspects of craft and making. The main questions asked are: What are the rules within craft and making, and what does it mean to break them? We invite you to contribute to the craft research field, whether you are doing contemporary or historical studies.
Long Abstract:
Creativity is an important aspect of peoples' everyday life, often connected to artistic and art-related practices and to what was called "folk art" in early ethnological studies. In this panel, we focus on creative aspects of craft and making. What are the social norms and rules within craft and making, and what does it mean to break them? Who makes the rules, how are they transmitted and why should they be followed, or broken? Does it matter who the maker is, or what hands and bodies are involved in the making?
Contemporary craft research addresses many themes, such as: the history of crafts; historical craft practices; contemporary engagement with craft traditions; innovation in crafts; material engagement in craft; social practices related to craft; political use of craft as a tool of change; craft and sustainability; maker spaces, and many more. Within craft research, many use participant observation, interviewing, autoethnography, and visualization techniques, archival studies, and research through actual making and taking part. From a theoretical point of view, craft researchers have been inspired by performativity, gender, intersectionality, affect theory and craft consumption in their studies.
We invite those who are interested in contributing to and developing the field of craft research. We welcome presentations dealing with interesting empirical examples, methodological development and theoretical discussions related to all aspects of craft and creativity that address both introspective and wider implications of craft and making.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 23 June, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
What were the rules for painters in late 18th century Hälsingland and did they break them? This is the main question asked in this paper dealing with theoretical aspects of the decorating of farm houses and churches. The aim is to explore new ways of understanding a complex culture.
Paper long abstract:
The research questions asked in this paper are: What were the rules for painters in late 18th century Hälsingland and did they break them? What happened if someone broke the rules? Both folk art painters and painters in the guild system decorated festivity rooms in farms and churches in Hälsingland in the late 1700s, but did they act in different ways and if so, how? How was their work received by consumers? Did the folk art painters relate to the same work structures as the guild system painters did or did they create their own?
Preserved paintings in situ and in museums, church records and folklore collections are examples of material used for this study, which will be discussed with theories from e.g. Bourdieu. The aim is to explore new ways of understanding a complex culture in the point of intersection between folk art and guild art in which the UNESCO World heritage Decorated farmhouses of Hälsingland is part of.
Paper short abstract:
In this paper I will present my insights regarding contemporary golden embroidery crafts in Slavonia (Eastern Croatia) used in bottles and imitation jewelry decorating. I will explore the connection between this craft and rules of traditional costumes, applying affect theory on this phenomenon.
Paper long abstract:
Golden embroidery is the most valued traditional textile technique in Slavonia (Eastern Croatia). It decorates the richest traditional costumes in that area, made by women till the middle of 20th century. Since then, the making of golden embroidery, notably reduced. In the nineties, along with revitalization of folklore groups and different societies for heritage preservation, there are many golden embroidery interpretations with considerable shift from traditional patterns. People started making individual motives and applying them to different objects: glass bottles or jewelry imitations (necklaces, bracelets, medallions...). While glass bottles became a perfect gift, jewelry became symbol of Croatian Šokac identity. Mass production of these items led to asking is this craft heritage or trivial hobby, desirable heritage preservation practice or complete shift to modern craft interpretation of traditional technique. In my paper, I will follow few individuals and societies who are engaged in heritage preserving practices, theirs motivations for making these objects and practices with them. As opposed to them, I will bring experience and practices of a young man who begun the golden embroidery making motivated by, by his own words, bad golden embroidery makings and hyper-production of this technique on bottles and jewelry. I will try to reveal the unwritten rules system and to answer who is setting the rules and why is ti seemingly easier to brake those rules in the domain of bottles and jewelry than in the domain of traditional costumes.
Paper short abstract:
Based on ethnographic research with Polish craftswomen, this paper explores weaving as co-produced through a historical dialogue with the arts. It points to the contradictory effects of introducing and redefining creativity through the interplay of rule-making and rule–breaking in textile craft.
Paper long abstract:
Creativity is a key component of artisanship, constituting an interplay of rules and their contestations. Although ‘traditional’ textile production is often seen as a domain of heritage, the work of the craftswomen in north-eastern Poland demonstrates how craft has been co-produced through a historical dialogue with the creative sector. Based on recent ethnographic research with weavers in Poland, this paper explores how making of textiles sits at the intersection of creativity and the rules of past practice. The presentation uses examples of weaving techniques from north-east Poland to explore the tangled history of these forms of making as well as the different contexts in which creative engagement between the rural producers and the art practitioners took place.
The paper argues that the craft partially owes its reputation and dynamic status to generations of professional artists, ethnographers and museum practitioners who recognised, co-produced and supported its creativity. The discussion demonstrates that on the one hand, creative work within the craft allows the weavers to break the rules of pattern, shape or composition. On the other, these creative expressions are situated within particular frameworks of institutionalised competition and expectations of art market and the heritage industry. The exploration of the different historical and contemporary contexts of engagement between craftswomen and creative practitioners sheds light on what counts as creativity and what constitutes craft rules in such encounters. Finally, the paper points to the contradictory effects of introducing and redefining creativity through the interplay of rule-making and –breaking in textile production.
Paper short abstract:
Materials and their sources are integral to craft processes. When heritage sheep are separated from their native context, new opportunities and limitations motivate creative rule-breaking to conserve and recontextualize wool through traditional making and artistic innovation.
Paper long abstract:
The production and preparation of natural materials is a rarely acknowledged part of the creative process of crafts, and wool is a prime example. Although it is familiar as an industrially processed and standardized commodity, producing wool traditionally involves numerous aesthetic decisions that start with breeding sheep for fleece textures and colors suitable for their creative applications. This may involve heritage sheep, old breeds that are associated with specific cultural landscapes and textile crafts, thus linking livestock and handwork in the cultural imaginary and conservation efforts. Recognition and conservation of these animals relies on subjective decision-making by humans who create breed standards and farm subsidies. Farmers, craftspeople and officials may link the value of the sheep with their relationship to their native landscape, farming practices, and local craft traditions, or they may frame their value in terms of biodiversity or utility in commercial applications. The influence and power of stakeholders varies, leading to controversial decisions that shape the material reality of farmers, animals, and the environment while also affecting the availability and qualities of traditional craft materials. When heritage sheep are separated, physically or conceptually, from their native context, new opportunities and limitations motivate creative rule-breaking to conserve and recontextualize the wool and its traditional applications. Using the example of Estonian native sheep and their connection to Kihnu Island, a cultural space recognized by UNESCO, this paper examines the complications involved in conserving heritage sheep in the context of contemporary environmental concerns, local intangible cultural heritage, and creative innovation.