CCI-newsletter-1978-17-November-December

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1978

NEWSLETTER

LTD. Thomas Prior House, Merrion Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 Telephone 01 680764

Minister opens Crafts Council Conference Ms. Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, Minister of State, Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy, opened the Crafts Council Conference, The Future of Crafts — Ireland at a pre-conference dinner in White's Hotel, Wexford on November 10th. Speaking to the assembled delegates the Minister said: "I would like on my own behalf and on behalf of the Government to commend the Crafts Council of Ireland in holding the present Conference. I am sure that it will generate a useful debate on an increasingly important subject.

Craft industries have an important element of flexibility which is not always associated with larger industries, and while their ootential for iob creation in smaller crafts projects can often be located in outlying areas which helps achieve a measure of balance in industrial development. We must, however, dispel the idea that the craftsman or woman can be isolated from the often harsh realities of commercial life. If there is a growing market for craft produce it is a market which is also increasingly discriminating and informed. Good design and care in production and presentation cannot be ignored.

More than any other organisation the Crafts Council has worked to raise standards in the Crafts industry and to higher appreciation of the need for a quality product. Between' their efforts and those of the IDA I am confident that there will continue a powerful impetus to the future growth of the Crafts industry in this country".

Left to right: Mr E. F. Sutton, Executive Officer, Crafts Council; The Minister of State, Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy, Mrs Marie Geoghegan-Quinn; Mr James Warwick, Vice Chairman, Crafts Council.

While it is true that many of the country's great craft traditions have suffered in the past, the recent resurgence of interest in contemporary crafts is to be warmly welcomed. I would like to assure you that the Government regards the development and expansion of the native craft industry as an important aspect of its job creation programme.

Timely Conference

Mr T. Maher of the IDA suggested that the Conference was being heid at a good time, with a growing move towards flexibility on the part of his agency as far as the legal restrictions imposed on it can permit. "If the craftsman is good", he stated, "we will give him the works, and as the Crafts Council gains strength the IDA will be a more than willing partner".

Banish the "It Will Do" A comprehensive survey of crafts and craftsmen in Ireland today was seen as an essential action by Mr Paul Hogan speaking at the Wexford Conference.

"The measurement of progress or regression is only possible by reference to some kind of quantifiable data, and this we do not have. In the only survey done in recent years, the findings are now out of date and the terms of reference were, in any case, too narrow for it to be of other than limited value.

In assessing the position of the craft industry one has to rely on opinion or judgement rather than data which is unsatisfactory".

Speaking of the future Mr Hogan said: "I would like to see many young Irish people seeking a livelihood in handcrafts.

The status of the craftsman and society's perception of him is a wide question and not one amenable to a tidy programme. Here, I think the Crafts Council has an important role in publicising achievements and indeed, material success. Who would dare speak derisively of playing the flute after James Galway. But training is amenable to programmes and indeed, is the very stuff of syllabi. Here, I see a major role for the art and design departments of the Regional Technical Colleges. They should be the source of highly trained, self starting, craftsmen. We also need to tailor apprenticeship schemes to the special circumstances of small craftsmen.

I believe some form of scheme where the master craftsman is paid a fee for each apprentice may be necessary.

Given adequate training, the removal or at least the alleviation of social disabilities

by Council propaganda, and the provision of support services by the IDA, there is no reason why a good proportion of the craft enterprises of the future should not be Irish managed.

The Council has a special task in relation to the traditional crafts — to mobilise all interested parties in a programme of conservation and renewal, embracing all crafts, setting standards, and rewarding achievements. As many of you know, in Japan, a master traditional craftsman is conferred with the title "Living Treasure" and, with State assistance, enabled to pursue his craft. Our traditions are pretty tenuous but they are still there and with skill, sensitivity and money, can be rpsnifid and dpvplnnfid

Craft Education at Primary Level The general lack of appreciation of hand­ work and the use of national materials was deplored by Mrs Duignan, who felt it essential to the future of handcrafts, and especially the traditional crafts, that the familiarity with materials and their use should begin at Primary School level and that this aspect of fundamental education had been largely ignored. In relation to the traditional crafts Mrs Duignan recomi nended that before it is too late the skills of the traditional craftsmen and women, many of whom are now old, should be enabled to be passed on to the present generation through subsidy. "Without a big injection of finance, it should be possible to bring them to such an adult education establishment as An Grianan, to give of their skills". Her further suggestion was that despite the fact that they had no qualifications on paper, this should be disregarded in the essential task of ensuring that their skills be passed on, and not in a short course atmosphere but in that of a resident lecturer, perhaps, so that time could be given to the process of learning from them. She made the point that rural crafts cannot be adequately learned in a one or two week course and that longer courses be instituted.

The obstacles to development which, by the century's end, could give us a strong craft industry are the old enemies of any Irish enterprise — jealousy, inefficiency and mediocrity. Jealousy leading to splits and lack of cooperation, an exaggerated nonconformism, which usually is a mark of insecurity. A refusal to pull together for the greater good. One might ask if all the crafts people who could contribute to this conference are here or have some selfishly stayed away on the 'I'm all right Jack' principle.

We need more professionalism and less well meaning amateurism.

Training in management and accountancy practice is as important for the craftsman as training in techniques and materials.

The dilletante "it will do" image needs to be banished for ever from the Irish crafts scene."

No Short Cuts "Self discipline is necessary from the concept to the completion of a piece of craftwork" said Sallie O'Sullivan addressing delegates at the recent Conference in Wexford. "There is a real danger in the contemporary world of looking for instant results — and the false idea that a one or two wetlfc workshop can produce a Master Craftsman. It takes a few years even to master the basic technical skills — and a lifetime of dedication to become a genuine master craftsman. In 1970 — two potters who were both over 80 — Hamada and Bernard Leach — were honoured by the World Crafts Council at the Conference in Dublin. Hamada's remark at the presentation was — "It is too soon". It was right for craftsmen to honour their ability and to give some recognition to their mastery — but what was so moving was the humble attitude of the real master craftsman who, at over 80 was still searching for perfection of his work and was open to further growth.

It is clearly obvious that not everyone who enjoys making things should be encouraged to take up a career in crafts.

One must have the basic attitude, attributes and talents necessary. The joy of creative activity does not in itself make a master craftsman. Neither does spending a lot of time on crafts. Neither does much theory and learning, or even much technical skill. As can be seen from the previous list of attributes, these are all required and so is something else — a creative gift pruned and refined by real education and constantly nourished and growing.

Improved education and discernment of the public, and a wider and more competitive market place, call for higher standards of craftsmanship and design in order to meet the challenge of the growing improvement of standards of work produced by craftworkers in other countries.

Finally, should one take short cuts to meet the markets? Definitely not. The craftsman who will succeed will be a person of high integrity whose work will be recognised by the discerning public as the product of an original, personally talented, technically and aesthetically equipped, and dedicated practitioner creating work which is relevant to the present time".

Quality Not Easily Defined Kerstin Wickman, editor of the Swedish design magazine FORM, in her speech to the Conference said that quality is not easily defined, meaning different things for different cultures, and for different times. She posed the question "Who can decide what quality really is?

Is a durable object in a good material without an interesting form quality?

If so, so are a great deal of Scandinavian handcrafts. Is an object of exciting expressiveness, made with cheeky disregard of technical rules and without respect for the material, quality? Then much American handcrafts are. Isn't folk art, made with a fine technique and strong expressiveness, but with nonchalance for perfectionism and finish, quality? For me, the word 'quality' involves a curious, loving and in'imate relation to the material, and in addition an intimate and involved relation to the technique being used.

One characteristic of our western culture has been an attempt to outwit time. We have industrialized and rationalized. To be sure, one purpose was to simplify work. But this has been more to save time than to make the work comfortable and stimulating. We have constructed faster and faster machines to make things faster and faster and to make more. We have made up rational argument for this. It's cheaper that way. It is economically defensible. To many other cultures, this is quite incomprehensible. To them, work is a part of life, to be done in the same rhythm as life. You work to fulfill concrete needs, not blindly as we do.

The finished object shows if you have worked nonchalantly, without concen­ tration or without involvement. Thus involvement is quality. A Swedish art critic formulated in this way: 'Quality is not just a characteristic of the object. It is also the story of work, of the will to make good things'. To this idea of quality I would also add the ability to age with beauty.

Strength of Experience The motivation of the craftsman, according to Liam Miller, the internation­ ally accepted typographer, is that crafts­ manship is the eternal process of learning: one has never produced one's best work.

He felt that Ireland suffers from insularity; that we need to have courage in our ability. "Education" prevents the vulgarisation of our basic crafts".

Is it progress that is steering us rather than our rhythm steering work and progress? The craftsman can never force his work beyond the limits allowed by his skill and knowledge, for then his products would lose quality and content.

The Lapps in northern Sweden, for example, are alarmed by the way in which their particular patterns and techniques are being taken from them.

Courses in Lapp handcrafts are being started all over Sweden by non-Lapps.

Patterns and processes are being modified. But the difference is difficult to detect unless you have learned to appreciate the genuine, original article.

A Maker, an Artificer, or a Craftsman?

Mr Victor Margrie, the Chief Executive of the U.K. Crafts Advisory Committee, in a thought provoking address at the Conference backed by slide illustrations, wondered whether craftsmanship was not a much abused word and that the word maker might not be more accurate, artificer being suggested by another speaker — a maker of-artefacts.

Mr Margrie quoted craftsman David Pye on the subject of defining craftsmanship

We have also taken over their symbols which originally were designed to control fear, express joy and a view of life. We have made the symbols into decorations.

who suggested that a definition "does not assist useful thought as it means something different in each kind of work", and also in using the term The Workmanship of Risk, David Pye proposed that "the quality of the result is continually at risk during the making" (of a craft artefact).

But our era also needs symbols for the fear, joy, work and life of our time.

The job of art is to clarify the hidden.

We don't do that by borrowing the expressions of other eras and other cultures.

Mr Margrie said that nostalgia has resulted in the production and consumption of bad handcraft work to "save tradition", the danger being not that craftsmanship will die but that an inferior form will be taken for granted and accepted.

Isn't it time that we rediscovered the collective memory and consciousness of our own culture? That we looked the present right in the eye?"

On the aspect of crafts being about job creation he had this to say "If crafts­ manship is about job creation it is doomed — it is about craftsmanship".

Learn from a Master In an opening address to the Conference which had delegates rapidly adjusting their minds to cope with references both contemporary and ancient, historical and philosophical, Mr Niall Montgomery, the well known architect, covered crafts­ manship under seven headings: The craftsman (man as a thinker and maker); education; standards; materials; product; presentation and the market.

As with many of the speakers and delegates, education was a priority subject. Mr Montgomery saw that if there is a conflict today, it is between the need for apprenticeship and the schools and he made a case for learning from a Master craftsman.

The essence of what a craftsman does, from enhancing the materials he works with, which should be good materials, is quality and he stressed that this quality or standard should be such that the public is protected by the craftsman's dedication to it and by the production of sensible products.

Scottish Experience Quoted Mrs Sally Smith, Crafts Manager of the Scottish Development Agency, gave instances of successes and failures among craftsmen aided by her agency in speaking at the Conference in Wexford on the disciplines required by craftsmen which apply equally well in Ireland as in Scotland. She made the point that given that a person has acquired both essential technical and design skills in a particular craft, one of the needs of a successful craftsman is dedication.

There are, however, other important requirements such as self discipline, motivation, and production and marketing ability. Any individual will have a mixture of these assets with strengths and weaknesses. Somehow each must find a balance between commercial success and satisfaction with his own standards of craftsmanship.

Dedication a Prerequisite Dedication to one's ideas and concepts, to the quality of workmanship and to one's responsibility to society are pre requisites seen by Rudolf Heltzel as necessary to making a living, getting safisfaction from one's work and achieving the goals set by craftsmen for themselves.

Elaborating on this he went on to point out that, ideally, one should know exactly what one wants to do at a given time and then just do it and persevere doing it.

"To have a strong dedication to ideas the ideas have to be there in the first place.

To have them there requires in most cases a lot of thinking and searching over a number of years. Concepts have to be shaped by ones perception of beauty, aesthetic feelings, as well as ones limitations. For a craftsman to get a clearer picture of ones ideas it seems to be beneficial to attend a good art school.

Their ideas can be explored and developed under some guidance, there is cross fertilisation from other students and it is all rather playful, which means that grave mistakes, plagiarism, imitation will not have any consequences. Lots of directions can be explored without commitment to anyone. After art school a more rigid self discipline has to start.

Many a promising craftsman, to escape economic hardship, has given up his ideas and succumbed during these difficult years to one of the two most common distractions: he goes 'commercial', that is he waters down his ideas until they are not his own ideas any more but reflect what a broad market sector without artistic or quality aspirations desires to buy; or be becomes an educator, a teacher in fields related to his original ideas. Both these alternatives will leave him little room to further develop his own ideas. In the first case he will find that 'production', the turning out of ever increasing quantities of items requires all his attention and concentration. In the second case he will find that evaluating and helping along others ideas will drain his own creativity.

To circumnavigate these temptations and to persevere until one reaches a certain amount of success ones ideas of what one wants to do and achieve have to be very strong indeed.

Patronage There is no way of becoming a good craftsman overnight or after attending a few evening classes at an art school.

Ideas in themselves, no matter how exciting and valuable, are no good if they cannot be put into practice in a satisfact­ ory way. If a craftsman executes his ideas in a shoddy, nonchalant or amateurish wasy he simply is no craftsman. Dedication to quality, anachronistic and old-fashioned as it sometimes may seem, is an essential quality of a craftsman. I often hear it expressed and find it true to some extent that quality of workmanship is not appreciated. A craftsman losing his dedication to quality is really not a craftsman any more, he is a businessman who is market orientated and soon his ideas will become market orientated as well. I think a number of crafts people are quite mixed up about what they want to be: craftsmen who wish to realise their strong ideas, or businessmen, who primarily want to make money and tailor their activities to,reach that goal.

A'businessman can be flexible on quality and ideas, not so a craftsman.

A craftsman's responsibility to society, to his customers, is the most difficult to define. A craftsman, in whatever he does, has to consider the user of his product. He must not be subject to public taste or accepted norms, but his things have to be useable, they have to fulfill their functions satisfactorily. This area probably requires the greatest amount of self discipline and it is here that the dedication to quality allows a craftsman to change hitherto accepted criteria.

To be a good craftsman these three basics are essential: an idea or vision of what one wishes to do, an uncomprom­ ising attitude towards the quality of things produced and a realistic approach to consumer acceptance".

AnCO SURVEY In relation to the survey of the ceramics sector being undertaken by AnCO. Mr Martin Dodd of that agency would like to hear from any craftsmen who have not yet completed the questionnaire so that at least some basic, if not the full, information required can be recorded.

This in itself would help the survey.

Mr Aneurin Thomas, Director of the Welsh Arts Council, which also has a responsibility for artist craftsmen, reminded delegates of the spirit of craftsmanship in early Wales and the chair in the Prince's Court reserved for the smith as the chief respresentative of the material; as distinct from the spiritual, culture of the people.

State patronage, he stated, has again become a requirement of the arts — and the crafts.

"There is and there should be nothing personal in state patronage — but, equally, there should not be any kind or degree of tyranny exercised by the patronage office on the creative artist or towards his work . . . state patronage, in one form or another, has become a necessity . . . It is not the need for patronage which should concern us any longer but the kind of patronage offered.

It should be inconspicuous and geared to assist the development and production of those gifted in creative work, but has an equal responsibility to the public, making product accessible and protecting the public from the spurious, the shoddy and the pretentious".

He argued for joint, equal treatment for the crafts and arts and for patronage to be applied to the lower as well as the higher levels in both.

On education, Mr Thomas insisted that the full range of the education system has to be engaged so that everyone emerging from it, at all levels, will have had experience of crafts and craftsman­ ship and learned the satisfaction found in commitment to craftsmanship.

Teaching is required which is more enterprising that the conventional craft classes. There are crafts which make demands on creative imagination precise execution, chemical formulae and strict procedures. They must not be isolated from the teaching.

"The role of the patronage service" he stated "should be two fold - to encourage the crafts and to enable the public to enjoy the craftsman's art".

rlljniLID) Ml RDS £500 AWARD FOR LEATHERWORK Brendan Brennan from Waterford who won first prize in the leatherwork section of the Royal Dublin Society's 1978 National Crafts Competition has also won the Society's $500 Scholarship or Development Grant.

He is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design.

He will use his grant to travel abroad where he plans to meet master leatherworkers and visit workshops and exhibitions.

MAYO CRAFTWORKERS ASSOCIATION At the Annual General Meeting of Mayo Craftworkers Association the following were elected officers for the year 1978/79: Chairman: Wayne Harlow, James's St., Westport Secretary: Cecily Breen, Ardagh Crafts, Carrowbeg, Newport.

Treasurer: Carmel Campbell, Swinford.

PRO: Matt Moran, c/o Westport P.O. The Committee consists of 16 active members out of a total membership of over 70.

NORTH COUNTY DUBLIN CRAFTWORKERS A draft constitution was passed in October and this new group of craftworkers from North County Dublin looks like coming into being before the end of the year.

Although small at present, the number will, no doubt, grow as has been the case in nearly every craftworkers association which has been formed.

Tomas O Baoil of 23 Grange Park, Baldoyie, Co. Dublin, should be contacted by anyone interested.

KERRY CRAFTWORKERS ASSOCIATION The Conference in Wexford has meant that this Newsletter is being published some weeks behind schedule and hence has not been able to give advance notice of the exhibition and demonstration of crafts at the new Siamsa Tire building in Tralee on December 2nd.

The purpose of the Exhibition has been to raise the standard of work of applicants to membership of the Association; to awaken the interest of the general public and most importantly to interest local youth in craftwork as a career.

The Exhibition will be from 2nd to 9th December.

MORE CRAFT FILMS FOR RTE Readers will remember HANDS, the series of six films produced for RTE by David Shaw Smith and shown last winter.

They will be interested to know that a further six films have been made by David Shaw Smith and will be shown on RTE at a future date. The subjects include basketmaking, carpets, whetstone production, traditional shoemaking, tailoring and one covering the famous Blackwater Mill.

The series will continue as we understand that n+hor filmc aro nlannorl

LIBRARY ACQUISITION Ceramic Review Book of Glaze Recipes — 2nd Edition.

A new, completely revised and enlarged edition has now been prepared, and it includes over 200 receipes, more than twice as many as before. Some potters have amended their original recipes but many have sent completely new recipes.

Over 70 potters have generously contributed of their knowledge and experience to make this a unique publication.

This concise handbook provides recipes for oxidised and reduced stoneware, earthenware, porcelain, raku, saltglaze as well as for more exotic experiments with Egyptian paste and lustre glazes.

Copies are available by post from Ceramic Review Books, 17a Newburgh Street, London W1 at £1.75.

Young Swiss woman wishes to pursue training in wool crafts: weaving, dyeing, traditional knitwork, etc. Would like to work with a craftsman or workshop for several months in 1979. Persons interested should write to Heloise Barbey, 1141 Vufflens-le-Chateau, Switzerland, specifying working and financial conditions. Box ND781.

150 Delegates Attend Conference The success of the Conference "The Future of Crafts — Ireland" may be judged not only by the numbers attending but by the interest shown in the points made by the various speakers which were debated by the discussion groups, as well as an evident concern for the future by delegates.

Apart from the very high quality of the papers given by speakers of international repute, and the food for thought engendered, one of the most valuable things about the Conference was the fact that it enabled craftsmen to meet with each other in an atmosphere of serious intention and to exchange ideas, vent problems and get to know better those in like disciplines whom they would not normally meet.

The speakers were also informally helpful by joining the discussion groups and being freely available to talk with, listen to and advise craftsmen. The general opinion of craftsmen at the end of a hardworking weekend was that of the enthusiasm, optimism and stimulation created by the Conference and that the time spent was of value to them.

Local Resources Centres Mr Guy Stephenson, speaking particularly in relation to the more isolated counties suggested the setting up of resources centres to develop potential markets locally in new ways.

"There is", he said, "a great if often un­ recognised local need for craftwork and good design quite apart from the traditional gift/souvenir trade. Architects, industrialists, local authorities, semi-state bodies, shopkeepers, hoteliers and others all from time to time spend money in building or renovating premises. In finishing and equipping premises they all too frequently fail to realise that it might be possible to obtain locally, off the shelf or to special order, products ranging from litterbins and ashtrays to murals and stained glass windows.

Summary

Conference Recommendations

Dr Brendan O'Regan, in his summing up of the Conference after the discussion syndicate chairmen had made their reports and passed on the comments and recommendations of the delegates, said the state sponsored agencies were, perhaps, the greatest achievement of the politicians since the beginning of the State. The spark of creativity he felt to be a very special thing, but that privilege demands responsibility. As we move towards greater leisure what the crafts­ man has is becoming more important.

Craft education rated high on the priorities of subjects discussed by delegates at the Crafts Conference in Wexford, particularly the neglect at primary school levei, but all levels being regarded as suffering from neglect.

This country, Dr O'Regan stated, is at a crossroads. "We are now at a stage when we have achieved comparative wealth.

There is a need to restore national pride and the willpower to use our prosperity to enhance the quality of life and to have something to give to the rest of the world".

They often go outside the region for these goods with the result that their purchases do little for the local economy and may even be irrelevant in material and design. Even worse, it is often left to people with no design training to make decisions, or to perform tasks, which call for the designer's or the craftsman's skills.

If there was a locally based agency able to liaise between local designers and craftsmen and potential clients of the kinds I have mentioned, then the work of the potters, weavers, jewellers, silver­ smiths, blacksmiths and others would reach a much wider public than it does at present. A greater awareness of local skills would be generated and much would be done to improve the visual environment".

THE EDITOR

Education was seen as an essential pre requisite to the secure future of the crafts in Ireland. Formal education was not the only aspect covered as education of both the public and the retail buyer was also felt to be necessary and a task to be undertaken by the Crafts Council.

Quality standards was another topic which was debated, with a call being made for some symbol of quality once a standard could be agreed, the major problem being this agreement, the answer to which essentially lay in dedication to good craftsmanship. More information for craftsmen on such basic matters as taxation, raw materials, training schemes and help with business methods were all seen as important and should rate priority treatment by the Council.

The various recommendations will, of course, be studied by the Council and acted upon in relation to its over all plan of operation for 1979.

Glazes Readers may have seen the newspaper correspondence on the subject of dangers arising from lead and cadmium glazes. What was said, in relation to protection by the existence of British and Irish Standards was factually correct, yet the possible danger remains. The British Standard covering the subject is enforced by the factory inspectorate but is essentially for the protection of workers in the glaze producers industry and may not necessarily protect users of the finished product. The Irish Standard, which is more stringent, is not enforceable.

Most potters will be aware of the inherent dangeers which mainly apply to low fired ware, but the whole subject of inwork dangers to craftsmen is one which requires airing and which the different disciplines might well take up.

WISHES A L L CRAFTWORKERS A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND ANOTHER PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

I.I.R.S., incidentally, is the body which recommends standards, and hence is aware of the potential dangers of usage of many materials.