CER2721

Craftspeople and their world

2 points
* One 1-hour lecture and one 1-hour tutorial per week
* First semester
* Caulfield
* Prerequisites: CER1722, CFT1462 or equivalent

Objectives On successful completion of this subject students should be able to make sense of the aesthetic, functional and formal aspects of craft and design in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries through knowledge and appreciation, communication and research.

Synopsis We look at ways in which the crafts participate in recent culture and how they reflect philosophical, scientific, technological, psychological, anthropological and social issues of the time. We focus on the various ways in which the world is a source of inspiration for the artist craftsperson: as concrete rocks, plants, landscapes, animals, humans - cultural objects and environments. All this is embodied in current craftwork the world over, and in the crafts of different times and different places in the past.

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

Recommended texts

Bachelard G The poetics of space Beacon, 1969
Margetts M (ed.) International crafts Thames and Hudson, 1981
Rawson P Creative design: A new look at design principles Macdonald Orbis, 1987
Lucie-Smith E The story of craft: The craftsman's role in society Phaidon, 1981