MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS

Art & Design Handbook 1996

Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996

CFT3462

History and theory of the crafts

Objectives To assist students - through concepts and through practice - to orient themselves into social life and its three main functions as a context for their craft.

Synopsis In this unit we concentrate on the cultural domain: the nature and historical evolution of the different arts and their role in present day culture, in Australia and overseas. Attempts to formulate a theory for the crafts as an artform distinct from the visual arts. Cultural diversity and democracy. Issues of ethnicity, gender, spirituality and education. Art writing and criticism: study and practice. Notions of modernism, structuralism, deconstruction and postmodernism.

Assessment Subject record: 50% + 2000-word essay or equivalent presentation : 50%

Recommended texts

• Houston J (ed.) Craft classics since the 1990s: An anthology of belief and comment Crafts Council, London, 1988
• Thompson R Forceps of language: An anthology of critical writing about objects, makers, users and society Crafts Council of Australia, 1992