History and theory of the crafts
2 points * One 1-hour lecture and one 1-hour tutorial per week * Second semester * Peninsula
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
Art Monthly Australia GPO Box 4, Canberra, ACT 2601
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