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Space For Rant The Aesthetics of Craft in the Face of a $2,000 Credit Limit by Sarah Chilvers lliam M o r r i s was onto something. A t the end of the 20th century we would do well to turn our heads in his direction again rather than to our minimum Visa payments. A s one of the co-founders o f Britain's Arts and Crafts movement in the last century, Morris revered the hand-crafted object. Reacting against the Industrial Revolution, and perhaps with a heightened awareness that mass production was a harbinger of things to come, M o r r i s ' teachings touted the merits of things that were handcrafted with attention to design, workmanship, materials and intent. There was a sense o f deliberate purpose in what he advocated--a sense of integrity. A series of diametrically opposed examples cause us to think about W i l l i a m M o r r i s and his sense of being in tune with his current political climate. Y o u be the judge as to which you would rather live with, wake up with and breathe in as a part of your moral fibre. Imagine a row of "Vancouver Specials," lined up along any residential street in the suburbs. Each house looks like that next to it--the construction looks as though it was completed in less than 37 days, from ground to occupation, and apart from whether the door is blue or beige, everything else is the same. Now imagine the work of Greene & Greene, two American architects Illustration by Julie Brown Fox working in the United States, building houses that had character and personality. Their style was distinctive and the materials were joined in a way that pushed them and took them to a place where they didn't usually go. Attention was paid to how the light would filter through the w i n dow in the full sunlight and also as the sun was going down at the end o f Imagine the visual lyricism of a truly beautiful pottery teapot. One that makes you think about the act of making tea every time you use it because o f its simple balance and ability to pour seamlessly. Perhaps it is one colour, perhaps many, but its shape is distinctive and unusual. It is a part o f the ritual of waking up and getting set for the day. It is something that one never tires of looking at, day in and day out. N o w imagine plunking the tea bag in the cup and dousing it with W i l l i a m Morris was successful in rekindling an appreciation for craft and craftsmanship with all its permutations. Over the last century the appreciation of craft has ebbed and flowed like the tide, according to the political climate of our time. Perhaps as a society, when we begin to reassess what is important and what nourishes our collective souls, the resurgence in craft w i l l become more amplified. Sorofi Chilvers is the Administrator of the Crafts Association of BC. For information about the Association, membership or the newsletter, coll 687-6511. the day. The joinery was meant to last, the materials were tried and true, and capable o f doing the required job for an indefinite period of time. Imagine the work of Hornby Island basketmaker, Alister Hesseltine shown recently at the Crafthouse Gallery and the Canadian Craft Museum. Imagine a studio with sheaths o f different types of w i l l o w lashed together, resting and curing until the time comes for them to be fashioned by hand into strong beautiful baskets, put into service containing whatever needs to be stored. N o w imagine the Tupperware container you stow your cheese in before you stash it away in the fridge. hot water from the kettle, slurping the hot liquid down between ironing a shirt and brushing your teeth. A s M o r r i s ' writing and examples indicated, until recently the creative process associated with making things by hand was intertwined with everyday living. The contemporary, and very heated, debate of art versus craft pales next to the expression o f creativity. The appreciation o f objects for their aesthetic quality, whether or not they are on a pedestal in an art gallery where someone assures us that they have value to our society, is paramount as the 20th century begins to draw to a close in the midst of a market driven, commercial economy. Have we become driven by commercialism and materialism? Has the commodiftcation of culture and the institutionalization of art pushed the aesthetics of craft to the background? Have we ceased to value the object itself and become too focussed on its monetary value? If we continue along this road, eventually artists w i l l be unable to be creative because their focus w i l l have shifted to making a living, to the exclusion of all other factors. In plunging ourselves headlong into cyberspace, motivated by the bottom line or the intellectual making of an object, w i l l we forget to stop and look and absorb? u ~3 j2 <_ 23