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Visual craft practitioner

The background research to this chapter was conducted under the AHRC Past, Present, Future, Craft Practice (PPFCP, Follett 2005-2010). The project aims were to examine past and contemporary practices to understand how craft absorbs changes in technologies, materials and economic circumstances. This contextual information enabled the author to answer the question: “was there a future for craft” by identifying trends to predict the direction of travel for the discipline. Given the diversity of craft practices, the research focused on the journeys of individuals who practiced craft at the highest level.

Follett asserts that the voice of practitioners is the missing element in writing about craft. Drawing on the research and the PPFCP conference ”New Craft Future Voices” Follett identified within the research papers three reference sources, Dormer was universally cited as the voice of practice. Her chapter was developed to present another voice, one that articulates craft as a methodology; in a discourse that distills the intellectual journey of craft practice; it exemplifies individual practice as knowledge driven; and presents craft as a process that unfolds over a lifetime of practice – a perspective, which has been avoided by secondary sources in much craft writings. Unlike most other craft writing the chapter positions individual visual language at the centre of craft, a dialogue between intention and limitations inherent in materials and hand processes; thinking through visual information and questioning visual language, (past and present) are offered as a vehicle for sharing (very often private) intent. In doing so, the writings offer a rare opportunity to understand the whole decision-making process, a way of working that is not supplanted by the technical skill or material knowledge but one that harnesses a broad range of aesthetic sensibilities when making an intangible idea tangible.

Published by NMS Enterprises Ltd- National Museums of Scotland.