“The Art of the Maker” summarised
How the craft earned in self-build architecture and products within the Albion hill CLT will be regarded as objects of “Art” and how it can be advantageous to the locale
What is Craft Knowledge?
Craft knowledge is the knowledge to make something work, this is not theoretical but practical. Theory and data can only take an idea so far before an object or program can be achieved. Peter dormer summarizes craft knowledge as:
• Cannot be described, writing, discussing or reflecting an action is not an action in itself. It is the action which provides an insight
• Difficult or impossible to translate to theory or encode into a logical format (for computing)
• Craft is not thought of by an expert, its second nature however it is expanded upon
• Harder to acquire through books and lessons than physically with a skilled practitioner/ teacher
Local vs Tacit Knowledge?
Craft knowledge can sometimes be described as local knowledge. It is something gained through experience and action, Dormer provides the example of a laser being developed in the 80s. a team of scientists had the theory and data to reproduce a counterpart they visited, they did so but could not have it working for months, it was only when one of them removed a certain wire it finally worked. They replicated this machine in two days due to a newfound expertise, at the same time if the other scientist did not refrain knowledge this problem would not have occurred as the local knowledge would have been passed on.
When this local knowledge is taken further into an individualistic route it becomes tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is much more difficult to articulate compared to craft. Tacit knowledge is what is gained through the experience of our senses and doing various work. When a certain craft is demonstrated to an instinctual and intuitive level it becomes tacit. A simple explanation is riding a bike. A person follows the rules, learns to ride, proceeds to become competent, forgets the rules, cycling is now second nature. From this point on a cyclist can expand their skill in riding said bike. This idea can be replicated to most professions (see diagram).
Tacit knowledge is complicated and not straight forward depending on profession for example the role of an engineer and mechanic is based on what they are working on. With the former being more successful in a controlled environment like a racing competition while the latter being better at fixing the various cars affected by the various external factors. Similarly tacit knowledge isn’t always positive as per the example of the lawyer, the experience may make them subjective. Tacit knowledge is still very important as it’s a component of craft, it can only be achieved once craft is mastered and it pushes the practice of craft.
The craft within the workshops*
The practice of housing in modern times, especially social housing is a result of generalizable knowledge (numbers and statistics), the design is led by statistic on population and minimum space standards, the materials used have to be the most efficient and the production of space by usually a single contractor leads to homes being a single style while housing many individuals. Currently Albion Hill is a result of Generalizable knowledge of the 1960s, it’s a repetition of apartments with no craft being involved. What the community aims to do it take their own initiative in creating self builds to improve the housing conditions in the area. The action of self builds will become craft and the individual approach to this will define tacit (Intuitive, experience based) knowledge of the locals. The role of the workshop(s) within the housing estate will enable the craft to be practiced without standardization or restrictions beyond safety and durability.
Generalizable knowledge Craft
knowledge
Amateur pianist pressing keys to make musical notes
Person following recipe
Tacit
knowledge
Pianist intuitively playing keys A professional pianist using touching the keys in a certain way to create specific notes
Experienced cook using ingredients
Chef creating recipes through experience
Engineer using data to resolve issue in a vehicle
Learning to paint through a guide
Mastering already established Painting techniques
Mechanic listening to noise to find problem
Creating personal style of painting
Craft Knowledge and the Plastic Arts
Reducing craft
Craft Knowledge is difficult and not individualistic, you learn from someone, it’s a shared knowledge and skill. The emphasis of art, especially modern art where individualism creates its own set of rules reduces the need for craft knowledge and need of it.
Craft has to be learned which brings the belief that you can’t be individualistic but as mentioned before this is wrong as tacit knowledge within craft creates individualism.
“Art is whatever you say it is”. Only if the artists agree to recognize you and art as such. Artists can call anything art but it only becomes it when the profession accepts it. Because of this craftspeople struggle to gain recognition to their work as art. Mediums such as clay, glass or textiles are rarely accepted and the focus is not on craft but rather subverting it.
Beyond this, theorists and curators have influenced craft negatively, in the 60s there was a rise in minimalism and conceptualism. The former reducing the object but still being dependent on it while the latter was the dematerialization of the art object. It’s the theory or idea of said art which frees it form traditional museums, galleries and commerce. Meaning that even if a craft is known and understood by artists its much less practiced which reduces craft.
Industrialization
Industry is the primary scapegoat for blaming loss of craft. It has had an effect to an extent however industrialization has resulted in the redistribution of craft through atomization (Break up into small units)
For example the production of a car requires a large team of people in specific roles where craft occurs but a smaller, optimized and repetitive style, directly opposing the plastic arts. There is no individualism, the whole process itself sits in a production line. The art object (the car) starts with the researchers and designers and movers from one line to another. This contradicts traditional craft which lets the craftsman explore and be more flexible, the designer loses its vision as it moves forward, this segmentation hinders craft. Similarly in the past laboratories required students to learn how to use a pipette accurately, this was a skill that was difficult to learn, through industrialization this is atomized and automated so students can focus on more serious matters. The craft of pipetting may be obsolete through machines however learning the skill brings forth skills for practical experimentation, intuitiveness for lab designs, judgment and dexterity. All these are transferrable skills which are lost.
The importance of learning a broad range of skills is key for the plastic art, it’s the tacit knowledge of craft that makes a competent artist. This can be exemplified by Henri Matisse’s work. He’s work may seem simplistic modern art but his study and experience was broad. He studied techniques such as pointillism, etching, dry point and illustration, all these skills can be seen as craft which was mastered tacitly before pushing his work into what would be classified as plastic art. This would make him a craftsman primarily. Contrasting this is the modern artist which goes from one medium to the next, never actually gaining enough craft knowledge.
Theres a misconception of craft being irrelevant due to industrialization as perfect objects can be made with machines and atomization so those within the plastic art disregard craft while craftspeople look to implement a theoretical approach to add (plastic) meaning and value to their object, for example a ceramicists creating almost unusable domestic object.
Against the Industrial City*
The term Architect derives form Greek word: Architekton
Archi – Chief
Tekton – Builder
Throughout most of history there was no distinction between arts and crafts. Stonemasons, fresco painters, goldsmith, hatmaker etc. were simply makers in a guild system which would have them work their way up the ranks from apprentices, journeymen and eventually masters. At this point the craft would be passed on to the next generation.
A distinction started in the 1400s when renaissance modernism led to painters pushing the idea to pay based on skill rather than size (which was the tradition) this was fair but it elevated fields we recognize as fine arts over applied arts. Architects, painters, sculptors would be the face of art while others in the more practical fields would be artisans.
This divide has grown over the centuries and more so in western culture, industrialization has brought a similar divide in many working class fields, eventually entire cities are divided based on production and commerce. Areas can be split into housing, workplaces and recreational places. The goal for Albion hill is to become a “place for everything and everything in its place”. Creating a unified locale where the traditional craft and varied techniques will be used to expand the current living standard of the housing estate. Manufacturing will be carried on site and the large area would provide a multitude of craft techniques to be learnt and practiced. The end goal is to create a small circular economy through the craftsmanship of self-build capsules, homes, furniture, accessories and more. The architect to an extent is the community and through their tacit knowledge individuals will play the role of the master builder.
Learning a Craft
Benefit of Crafts as a skill in life and the community?
Theres an assumption that learning a craft is mechanical, unthinking and uncreative. This prejudice links to the western cultures approach in learning skills when needed within the plastic arts. Learning a skill is difficult and creating something badly when wanting to create something excellent can be demoralizing.
“Learning is not and cannot always be fun”.
There is another assumption of skilled craft being mechanical. this can be true in a strict environment like in a production line. “The worker has to annihilate his soul, his thought, his feelings, and everything, for eight hours a day. If he is irritated, or sad, or disgusted, he must swallow and completely suppress his irritation, sadness or disgust; they could slow down his output”.
Contrast this to an old-fashioned unautomated workshop, they may seem fluent and accurate but the workers were fighting themselves, swearing and cursing. This emotion highlights the difference. There is a required discipline rather than forced suppression.
Many people may like to acquire craft skills, but the continuous and long process of practice and apprenticeship are a deterrent. Self-control. Physical and intellectual subjection are needed.
Hedgehog community co-op in Brighton. Using Walter Segal method to create affordable social housing through sweat equity.So, when entering craft by free choice you embrace these obstacles as necessities. Learning a craft requires constructive rules but most artist and students always prefer to break them. Questioning the orthodoxy. Constructive rules of craft is the activity itself. Craft cannot be understood it must be done.
Dormer analyses the act of learning a craft by doing it himself. He takes two, different perceived mediums; calligraphy seen as craft and portrait sculpture seen as plastic. Yet both categories intertwine. The purpose of this exercise was to highlight the importance of a teacher. Learning from doing and demonstration however the true outcome of this is the process of judgement and discrimination. This is the practical ability to hone in craft and it was present in both mediums. To make progress one has to go through each project to the end even if the flaws are a reminder of one’s incompetence.
A good student will adopt the master’s mannerism but a great student must observe and select what is relevant, this judgement on what is relevant will help to outgrow their teacher. There will be a stage when the student needs to grasp a wider knowledge to further their skills. E.g. artists learning anatomy, architects learning structures, to push themselves in a single discipline. This works similarly to using structured methods such as guides, recipes, jigs etc. to an extent but if the student doesn’t take advantage of the vagueness to experiment it will be a handicap to the progress.
In summary it is one’s ability to discriminate against one’s own work (and at times others) is part of the practical learning of a craft. This spurs conceptual reflection to change, add or takeaway from the standards but this is “only earned through intelligent stewardship”.
Artisans hill*
Learning a craft can be difficult and the regeneration of Albion hill and the CLT will require skill involved, what this brings out is a comfortable environment for the students. Like many other self-build projects this one will be carried out by the locals using sweat equity and their own time. This can be extremely difficult for certain individuals such as parents. Theres two goals for the workshop, firstly it needs to be welcoming and friendly, this is a place of leisure which will act as a workplace to improve the locality. Secondly it needs to avoid the autonomous and production line features taking the soul out of craftsmen. The work within this place and Albion hill needs to be enjoyable and diverse. A person should be free to work on the housing scheme but also feel free to create something for themselves or for fun. This flexibility will also enable experimentation to take their craft skills further.
Do Experts Follow Rules?
“Having talent in any medium is great for learning but without the relevant bodies of knowledge it will not make it any easier.
Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) was an extremely brilliant mathematician who discovered a startling amount on the subject by himself. However when discovered by G.H. Hardy it was found that Ramanujan had gaps in his knowledge due to defects in his education.
Having talent makes a crucial difference to the quality of your work, and not having talent, or rather possessing some talent but not enough to make the first division, can be catastrophic: you give up. But giving up then denies you participation in something that gives your life meaning.
The individual has then to weigh the advantages of the disappointment of never becoming a star.
This disappointment is mitigated for most of us because even though we are not excellent, the presence of excellence in our chosen field gives it and us an enhanced value.”
Thomas G west discusses in his book “the winds eye” how visual thinkers and gifted people who have great talents but also mere learning difficulties such as dyslexia or a poor memory; west continues that visual and spatial talents is indispensable beyond the plastic arts but also in science, engineering, medicine, and mathematics.
He creates a distinction between visual thinkers and wordsmiths, he argues that to encourage talent and creativity we should be concerned with results rather than trying to get everyone to learn things in the same way, especially if we are more interested in creating new knowledge than merely absorbing and passing on old knowledge.
Although wests arguments may seem to contradict point mentioned in the previous chapter, it expands on how bodies of knowledge which are communal, if learned individually in the manner of his statement is beneficial. Learning with skilled practitioners and teachers who take interest in the student, encourages judgment.
Being an expert is having the creative power in the discovery of new goals and their attainment.
Constitutive rules, mentioned in the previous chapter are component of the activity not in the way of obeying someone’s orders, rather in the way of obeying the internal logic in oneself. At the same time knowledge gives you freedom of choice but sometimes the acquisition of rules can be a drawback on creativity. One consequence of craft knowledge is the personal method of learning craft. Certain habits can be picked up, whether good or bad it can be difficult to let go and find or develop one’s personal style. Rules of craft are neither easily won nor discarded.
“To understand a sentence means to understand a language, to understand a language means to be a master of technique”.
-Philosophical investigation by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Like learning a language, one does not consciously follow rules. A child will learn to speak by picking up rules of speech likewise rules are embedded and inferred from practices, events, experiences and from living rather rules dictating the aforementioned.
Most people are masters of language without understanding it. They can make jokes, be articulate, be fluent in puns, use complex sentences without knowing explicit grammatical rules. This applies to craft-based activities. The theory (rules) of an activity does not describe the essence of practicing that activity.
This can be exemplified through academic Hubert L Dreyfus’ argument against Socrates’ view that an expert can state rules in their field. He brings up the point that rules are for beginners, he clarifies this using chess as an example:
Novice Struggles to remember (constitutive) rules to move pieces in the correct place
Advanced beginner Understands moves and can recognize some dangers on the board
Competent Can cope with a lot of information, can get things right yet still make serious mistakes
Proficient Competent in chess analysis but no thorough control. Nervousness can subvert competence
Expert Expected to know what they are doing. Experts can play at a rate of 5-10 seconds per move. at this pace it’s a dependency on intuition and hardly any analysis
The last stage shows that asking an expert to describe the strict rules and facts in their fields cannot help to capture knowledge stored form their experience.
“Anyone who thinks they can carefully explain their skill, does not have expert understanding” rather it’s important to demonstrate knowledge through activities. Each action will show how much someone cares and what they care about.
Action over interpretation
The favoured and contemporary view of art and craft as spontaneous is what Dreyfuss would describe as expertise, someone with expertise has the right to bend or break the rules, this level of expertise is difficult to earn and the difficulty to reach that stage by some intellectuals make them want to downplay the rules, break craft tradition, and call it art.
As previously mentioned craft knowledge is embedded in art and often the critics of craft want to create art without learning the craft. They flee from the enduring disappointment that amateurs and beginners would deal for years. Dormer provides the following example criticizing those who criticize craft without earning the right to:
1) Learn craft seriously.
2) Realise craft is going to take too much time to learn.
3) Lack of effort to learn craft leads to individual dismissing craft as sterile/boring, they subvert craft into so called “art”.
4) Publish book to add meaning to their art and produce theory for dismissing craft.
Craft knowledge is genuine knowledge and dormer provides a great example of this: Dentists cannot help but notice the shape of people’s mouths and cheeks, it’s a craft they are experts in; now if that dentist a fan of Rembrandts paintings then the dentist can bring its own conclusion as to why some 17th century people had certain facial expressions, maybe they had a toothache. The problems experts face therefore are communicating their knowledge to someone who knows nothing or is uninterested. Often times people within craft as well as many other fields will have difficulties communicating their thoughts and opinions to clients or stakeholders and with craft constantly being downplayed it’s difficult for experts to be appreciated.
A collective of experts*
When it comes to craftsmanship there are constitutive rules that must be followed. These are important rules that cannot be broken, however when a someone in any field gains enough expertise and tacit knowledge to regarded as an “expert”, it brings forth an intuitive judgment.
With this in mind it’s important to understand that anyone can become an expert, especially so under handicraft activities. Talent is not a requirement. If certain individuals take advantage of the facilities provided in artisans hill and work on constantly working on their craft they can become experts. At this point they can have stronger knowledge on how to improve the structure and the wider CLT landscape. The structure was designed to be easily taken apart and maintained but with a collective expertise it’s easier to understand methods of improvement, communicating these ideas across will be easier and even better so it can be done by the collective that gathers around said structure.
Form and Content
Practical knowledge is open ended, this contrasts the concept of skill acquisition as a skill loop. This is when a skill is gained just to achieve a goal and no more. examples of this would include art produced for Christmas cards. Its formulaic and its goal is to just produce and sell high quantities. Such formula art doesn’t go through further development unless its required by a market.
Craft should not be reduced to formulas and so this following chapter is a discussion on reciprocity between craft skill and its subject matter; the latter is often the problem of contemporary plastic artists. Yet many people are drawn to making art who like the idea of being an artist but lack a subject which leads to the greater concern of “why” over “how”.
This struggle ascends from the move away from religion as a purpose of art. This had been the case for the last 500 years in western art, this search for justification led to making art more ephemeral which in turn led to the variety of “isms” in art since 1945. Products of fashion or desperation, many of these movements do not have any coherent structure or principal values.
Crafts in the twentieth century parallels this. Craft has a strong tradition of usefulness and utilitarian demand for handicraft wares. The usefulness takes forms in a multitude of objects ranging from workplace equipment, commercial, domestic and institutional decorations, textiles, wallpapers, plaster, building and construction and so much more.
Craft of so many objects has been reduced to automation but there still remains traditional craft objects still manufactured throughout the world. Unfortunately in the early twentieth century middle class people took interest in the handicraft of trade activities such as pottery, dyeing, weaving etc. they did so to build a life around the routines of practical work as well as to make beautiful objects, but unlike real craftspeople they did not want it to be too punishing. The pain of commercial craft was transformed by turning trade craft into art craft. Here the object was the function and the purpose was art. An example of this might be an impractical concrete chair or a ridiculously shaped vase, both are clearly objects yet the function is artistic.
Dormer provides his own example with lettering in which the studio craft of replacing convention has been used up and letterers will sometimes turn to intolerable aphorism. Aphorisms can be justified in certain context for example churches, universities or institutions but when cheesy lines such as “pride, the never failing vice of fools” or contemporary “live, love, laugh” are the focus over the craftsmanship of lettering itself, it becomes meaningless self-expressionism.
“in any event uniqueness ceases to be an interesting quality”
The increase in self-expression has made it difficult to differentiate art and art therapy. Art therapy is self-obsessed and made without reference, its personal and does not need an audience. In the book awakening the artist within by Peter London, an art history professor and art therapist, he delves into the idea of non-competitive knowing, in which the fear of inadequacy is removed as the notion of not being as good or talented as someone else is removed when oneself is the focus of work. Theres no need to be as competent as other students, colleagues or artists. This might be great for beginners but this self-expressionism will lead to constraints where an individual is confined into producing and assessing its own work.
To further understand this point, Dormer speaks on the work of Alfred Wallis. Alfred Wallis (18551942) was a seaman who took up painting in his seventies following being widowed, some would call him mad. He was idiosyncratic and isolated himself from the other artists in Cornwall. When you look at Wallis’ work its primitive and childlike, he wasn’t trained as an artist and may seem that painting was a form of art therapy to him. He couldn’t construct perspective nor had knowledge of colour theory, its argued that Wallis was a realist and was trying his best to convey drawings of the sea and ships in the way he saw them, you could see this in the accuracy of the ships masts and cer-
tain proportions. But it also shows how he was struggling to make his work “right”. Ironically Wallis’ art was discover in 1928 by professional artist ben Nicholson and Christopher wood, and although Wallis has many fans around the world who appreciate his work was he himself happy with it and would it actually be appreciated if it was just found in some second-hand charity shop without the exposition of the art world.
The work of Alfred Wallis
Now how does this relate to craft. Although you may see Wallis’ work negatively based on the aforementioned points it could be argued that Wallis’ dedicated effort to his paintings and his acquired craft knowledge as a seaman would make him a great craftsperson.
Dormer argues that Wallis was a seaman, he would have started as an apprentice and trained, increasing his craft and knowledge in his field for many years, and this would make him an artisan. His experience as a seaman affected the features of related objects in his painting such as masts, hulls, rope ladders sails, fishing nets and more. this proves a strong relation between the process of craft to Wallis’ work and the intention, possibly making him an admirable craftsman.
This leads to the reason as to why we appreciate one off objects more than repetitive or mass produced ones, it’s the story behind the process. Oftentimes the original intention will change and develop according to the creator. Therefore industrial design which is historically related to craft has a misconception of being static. This is not true as industrial design goes through ,many processes, steps and involves a variety of people each with their intentions and changes to create the “perfect” object before construction.
Contrasting this is the handicraft industrial design. Here we have the competent or expert craftsman with such high practical knowledge that they can replicate their work similar to a production line however there are still inevitable vagaries of handicraft working against the static intention of the craftsperson. These variations could be the slightest brush stroke when painting an object or the way a piece of timber is planed for a table top. These varieties are minuscule and regarded highly by everyone and when the craftsman can intentionally deviate into their own work “variety” is held up even higher since at this point it was made by an expert.
This relationship is proof of the audience finding something in the artist’s work. Alfred Wallis did not influence Ben Nicholson, Nicholson rather saw something in Wallis’ work that made sense in his own mind. This dialogue of artist and audience is what develops, evolves, and changes art.
Intention and process is interdependent, artists usually have an idea of what they are going to do but it will deviate overtime, sometimes dramatically as process develops. Serious artists and craftspeople do not see their life’s work in one artefact, rather they keep working, try new subjects and improve their practical knowledge. It’s the valuable resource of experience and memories that contribute to the artist within.
Description of a Craftsperson according to Edward Johnston:
A ) Craftsman is one who works in substances, making things of them, with special tools and by special methods
B ) Also thinks in substances and in things and in methods – Plans or design – which direct the tool and form the thing out of substance.
C ) He thinks of substances, things and designs ( methods, plans, etc.) as radically inseparable factors in his work
“Human knowledge is created communally. If you decide not to compare your work or your ideas with those of other people then you withdraw from the culture of discoveries, inventions, innovations, techniques and insights. You give yourself the awesome task of having to discover everything on your own”
-Peter Dormer
