PRACTICE POROSITY

Quoting Bernad Smith: "Historically, the five main fine arts were painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and poetry, alongside the performing arts including theatre and dance. In my own mind, my preferences start with architecture, the fusion of the visual with the useful, followed by painting, with a penchant for paintings with historical significance over the motionless of still life. I well understand that Wikipedia has now placed film, photography, graphics, video production/editing, design, conceptional art, video art, performance art, television, and the whole world of new media art (virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, internet art, video games, robotics, 3D printing, and even cyborg art) in the same category of fine arts. I don't doubt that these many new forms of art can produce the occasional masterpiece, but in my mind, they still pale when compared to the Burj Khalifa, Cellini's Perseus, or even a series 1 Jaguar E-Type" .... To read more with references click here January 2022… 'a people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.'

Notably, in this characterisation of THEarts Bernard Smith makes no reference to the 'crafts sector' but he did elsewhere and somewhat contentiously. Paraphrased, he put up the proposition that the output of designer craftsmen was more 'durable' essentially because it was cared for. Put another way, there was no inbuilt obsolescence.

However, Bernard Smith remained stedfast in his vision of HIGHculture that encompasses any cultural object that is considered of aesthetic value, i.e. which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art. And this includes intellectual works of philosophy, history, art and literature, etc., that is anything that a society consider representative of their culture.

Nevertheless, he did explain his position in regard to 'Science of Crafts' ... "Why have I also included the science of crafts? Simply because I feel that there was potentially little differences between the early artist and the early craftsman (who was different from a simple manual worker). Both the artist and the craftsman had to be familiar with the materials of their craft, particularly in terms of suitability and workability. They had to master the techniques and become skilled in the use of tools in working, jointing, fixing and finishing materials. They worked to become knowledgeable in practical processes relating to the materials of choice (e.g. mining, refining, working, etc.), and as necessary knew the science of calculations and geometry. It was important that they were familiar with related crafts, and could learn how to transfer that knowledge to new practices. They did not ignore what others wanted from them, and they must have been resourceful, determined, and able to respond intelligently to constantly changing circumstances in the work as it proceeded." ... This class of thinking enflamed the 'ART v's CRAFT Debate' albeit that in a way he acknowledged the 'porosity of cultural practice' here and elsewhere in his critics.

It is more than interesting that Bernard Smith somewhat euphemistically poked his finger into the pie when 'The Tin Sheds' were founded at Sydney University in 1969. He wanted them to be called Fine Arts University Workshop. Nevertheless, the 'The Tin Sheds' name lives on at the University of Sydney under the aegis of the School of Architecture, Design and Planning. There is some poignance here in so much as architectural practices are by design 'porous' and strategically deeply bound up in collaborative and cooperative methodologies.

The proposition that the 'Crafts Sector' has an ecology and is porous misses the point somewhat but at the same time it makes a very good point. In a 21st C imagining that there is binary at work in Western CULTURALlandscapes is/was an invention of those promoting the 'International Crafts Movement'. Basically, its adherents wanted 'DESIGNERmakers (AKA Craftsmen collective plural Proper noun) to have the same HEROstatus as painters, sculptors et al (AKA FINEartists) that by-and-large was to do with FAME, money and wealth. and not much else.

Bernard Smith's appreciation of Cellini and the eTYPE Jaguar in almost the same breath is more than interesting given that he was subliminally omnipresent in the ART v's CRAFT debate [LINK], somewhat vacuous as it was/is.

From an Australian perspective the goings on in the UK's Guilds was more than obscure but via  Graham Hughes the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths (WCG) appeared on the scene breaking rules and conventions. In the 1960s under his direction the WCG

Graham Hughes was a modernist, rule breaker and trail blazer. He used his position as art director, of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, in London, from 1951 until 1981 to publish and build a collection that laid down a foundation for important innovations in the practice of gold and silversmithing that predated the International Crafts Movement. Importantly he advocated the porousity between practitioners in the European CULTURALlandscape .... [ 1 ] - [ 2 ] - [ 3 ] ... There is a rich row to hoe in the interrogation cultural producers' practice porosity. It not within the scope of this conversation to do any more than note it. \Nevertheless it is an idea that might well launch a PhD thesis sometime in the future.

When materiality, that is MATTERrealities, or the realities that matter, to notion of porousness opens up a whole new set of cultural sensibilities and sensitivities and that come in play. Then add a maker's material/s and by narrowing the focus the consideration expand exponentially often times in ways that send people back to their 'status quo' for comfort.

However it need not and should not be so. There is always that adage about first steps. If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all. BUT, as the '3 Stooges' often said "now look at the mess we are in"! Nonetheless, if we take a makers' 'material' . say textile/fibre and muse upon the as yet unrealised opportunities and ......Given that MODERNlife has arguably paid insufficient attention  to the acquisition of fundamental skills and information it is not quite the case. In fact SOCIALmedia, FACEbook, Instagram, Pintrest et al are filling gaps that once existed and were hardly known of. For example, if in your community there are say no basket makers it is now possible to acquire significant amounts of information CLICK HERE and for the attentive rhizomatic networks open.

In any event, and as always, tackling big issues is like eating an elephant or an apple even, one chunk at a time ... as Desmond Tutu told the world.

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