Paper short abstract:

Ethnography of skill is a method to analyze the skill of craft makers in artefacts. The knowledge base and interpretations are derived from tacit, experimental and verbal knowledge contained in the research data, of the researcher and the interaction between them.

Paper long abstract:

Skills are learned culturally in interaction with the social and ecological environment. Craft skills are largely based on experiment and sensory based tacit knowledge which can be observed in the process of making, as well as in the end products. Museum artefacts act as silent witnesses of their maker’s craft skill and creativity. They also create the image of tradition and represent power in the choices they make about what is deemed worthy of preserving in the collections and what is left out.

It is relevant to ask, what does the skill museum artefact represent reveal of the rules by which they were selected to the collections? And further on, how can the skill museum artefacts represent be analyzed? These questions are answered by using the ethnography of skill where the knowledge base and interpretations are derived from tacit, experimental and verbal knowledge contained in the research data, of the researcher and the interaction between them.

The research data consists of 110 knitted mittens dating from 1876 to 1969 in the collections of the National Museum of Finland and experiences of knitting the copies of museum mittens that reflect the sensory experiences of knitters both in the past and in the present. As a sideline of research the research process raised autoethnographical observations of how today’s knitter experiences the creative aspects of knitting.