Altruism, Activism and the Moral Imperative in Craft

By Gabriel Craig

Presented at the Society of North American Goldsmiths Conference

March 11, 2010

Houston, TX

Introduction

Morality is subjective. Being in the right – so to speak – is culturally relative. To

assume that one is right by applying western judio-christian values can be the first step

down the road toward imperialism. However, supposing that this lecture is particularly

meant to apply to western practitioners, and that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

are universal values, then we have arrived at the timely place where this lecture finds

itself, on the precipice of craft’s institutional reform.

Disclaimer complete, my goal today is to fundamentally change the way you

think about craft. At the end of my talk I hope that you will believe, as I do, that craft is

most relevant to society when it is a social reform movement. I will present my case in

three parts. The history of craft is filled with objects whose existence springs from a

culturally relevant moral impetus. The first part of my talk will briefly illustrate this

history and touch on key periods and objects that fundamentally changed our relationship

with crafted objects. The second part of this talk will show that the marketplace and

institutions of craft can be restructured to emphasize moral production. Finally, in part

three, I will examine the emergence of altruistic, activist, and social projects rooted in

craft skills and ethos. (change, wait change again)

Part 1 - Altruism, Activism and the Moral Imperative in (Western) History

Before delving into the subject of the moral imperative it is necessary to qualify the term

in the context of this talk. (click) A moral imperative is an idea or attribute embedded in

an object, the goal of which is to improve the object’s value through an appeal to a

viewer or user’s sense of justness and rightness. Sometimes this idea is the impetus for

the creation of the object. Often the idea has a direct correlation with monetary value, but

not always. (change)

The moral imperative in the western tradition begins with small statuary around

22,000 BCE.1 The Venus of Willendorf is the earliest example. The prevailing

scholarship of the Venus contends that it is a fertility talisman, reflecting the cultural

value of fecundity and childbirth. (change)

Several thousand years later, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans also produced

objects that reflected their cultural beliefs. The prophylactic rings of these Mediterranean

cultures invest psychological power in a craft object by using symbols of deities that were

believed to protect the wearer. “Snakes were the symbol of a number of deities associated

with healing. Worn as an amulet, the snake protected its wearer.”2 In these objects we

begin to see the abstraction of embedded symbols. Unlike the Venus, whose overt

physical characteristics represent fertility, one wouldn’t see a gold snake and think of

protection unless they belonged to that culture. Further, the protective value of the object

supersedes any monetary value it may possess. Additionally, these objects allowed the

wearer to connect with important culturally-specific, faith-based icons. I think it safe to

1 Witcombe, Venus of Willendorf. 2003. 2 http://collections.vam.ac.uk/objectid/O122227, April 14, 2009.

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assume that protection was valued in ancient Mediterranean cultures. (click) If you were

going up against Gerard Butler wouldn’t you want a golden prophylactic? (change)

Moving forward again to the rise of Christianity in Medieval Europe we find the

next shift in the moral imperative. The stained glass windows of the Cathédrale Notre

Dame, in Chartres, France provide a vivid example of how the crafted object evolved

beyond a totem or symbol into a tool for moral instruction. (change) In addition to its

imposing beauty and intricate geometry the west rose window of Chartres tells the story

of the [Christian] last judgment. The allegorical illustrations of stained glass cathedral

windows from this period – throughout Europe – feature the moralizing narratives of

biblical stories. The windows were used by church clergy as an educational tool for the

often illiterate churchgoers. Thus the importance of the object changes again from simply

reflecting a cultural value, as in the prophylactic ring, to perpetuating the culture’s value

system. (change) Often professional craft guilds would sponsor these windows, linking

skilled labor with moral conduct. Perhaps you will recognize the activity in the Saint

John window on the south nave aisle at Chartres, which was sponsored by the medieval

French armorer’s guild. (change)

One last example on the cusp of the industrial revolution lies in Memento Mori

jewelry. Popular during the 17th and 18th century in western Europe, Memento Mori used

obvious, but sometimes coded symbols of death to remind the wearer of the final

judgment to come. The word memento was used in late Middle English – circa 1470 – to

mean a prayer of commemoration, while mori is taken from the Latin word moribundus,

which means at the point of death. Perhaps there can be no more straightforward bid for

moral behavior than the memento mori, which enjoyed extreme popularity judging by the

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volume of artifacts that have survived into the present day. This too, was a new

permutation of the moral imperative in the crafted object. After first being an active

reflection of cultural values, the moral imperative became an abstract representation in

ancient Mediterranean cultures. Later it became a persuasive educational tool, before

finally becoming an object coded to reinforce moral behavioral teachings. By the 18th

century the crafted object was no longer just an active totem, but a means for passive

reflection on personal behavior. Memento Mori were the life coaches of the 18th century.

(change)

The one overarching theme thus far in the moral object has been its significance

to the individual and its role in reinforcing cultural values. But as we move towards the

mid-18th century and the industrial revolution, the crafted object takes on a broader, and

more complex, societal significance. (change) For all intents and purposes, the Arts and

Crafts movement began the tradition of introducing modern social imperatives – like

ethical labor and social stewardship – into craft. But before we jump to the Arts and

Crafts Movement, it is essential to understand the religious and moral underpinnings of

the Gothic revival, a romantic reform movement which directly preceded the Arts and

Crafts. (change)

The early 19th century was dominated by the neo-classical style, which was a

revival of classical Greek and Roman architecture, painting, sculpture and decorative arts.

(change) In the early 1840s, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, a self-styled reformer,

emerged as a prominent figure in English architecture and decorative arts. (change) A

devout catholic, Pugin deemed the prevailing neo-classical taste of the period to be pagan

and argued for a revival of the medieval gothic style in his 1841 work, The True

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Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture. (change) Three years later, Pugin had an

opportunity to prominently display his principals when he helped architect Sir Charles

Barry design and implement a British and Christian design program for the palace of

Westminster in London [including the House of Lords and the clock tower known as Big

Ben]. Pugin designed all of the furnishings in the gothic revival style, down to the

furniture, rugs and wallpaper. (change) In 1851, The Great Exhibition of the Works of

Industry of all Nations – known simply as the Great Exhibition – was held in London.

Pugin’s Medieval Court figured prominently, raising the gothic revival to international

prominence and changing the paradigm for British architecture.34

Britain’s imperialism had led to a thirst for the exotic, and Pugin’s gothic revival

helped to satiate that desire in a uniquely British way, making a nation’s forgotten past

desirable again. But why is Pugin important to the story of the moral imperative?

(change) The gothic revival was the first time that an entire class of everyday objects and

decorations conveyed morality simply through style. In other words, an object in the

gothic revival style came to represent all of the moral imperatives embedded in

Christianity, such as charity and social welfare, or in the case of this plate, economy.

While Pugin’s thirst for the Medieval coincided with Christian values, his view of

machine production differed from his Arts and Crafts successors. Pugin – like John

Ruskin – championed truth to materials, but the means of production and the plight of the

worker did not figure into his ideology.5 Later figures such as William Morris, C.R.

Ashbee, Walter Crane, and W.R. Lethaby in the Britian, and Gustav Stickley and Elbert

Hubbard in the United States, would change that. Both the Gothic Revival and the Arts 3 Atterbury et al, Master of Gothic. 1995, p. 352. 4 Hill, God’s Architect. 2009, p. I. 5 Wainwright, Master of Gothic. Atterbury et al. 1995, p. 163.

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and Crafts Movement were romantic reform movements, but where the gothic revival

favored religion, the Arts and Crafts embraced labor and social reform. From the later

reformers’ conflation of object production and social reform came objects whose very

creation was a social critique. (change)

On the tail of A.W.N. Pugin, John Ruskin emerged as a prominent voice in art

criticism. His 1849 work, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, contains the first modern

appeal for ethical object production: “…it [is] possible for men to turn themselves into

machines and to reduce their labour to the machine level, but so long as men work as men

putting their heart into what they do […] it will be plainly seen...” 6 This would later be

expanded in Ruskin’s 1853 The Nature of Gothic. In the first chapter on Savageness

Ruskin outlines the importance of imperfection and the autonomy of the worker in order

for the worker to be free, contrasting them with the monotonous perfection of machine

production in modern Britain.

(change) But truly the most credit in establishing the modern social dissent

imperative in craft objects must be given to William Morris, who fused Pugin’s

moralizing reform, Ruskin’s meandering anecdotes on labor and imperfection, and solid

Marxist rhetoric. Upon Karl Marx’s death in 1883, Morris began working toward a

broader program of labor reform advocacy, in his own words, “through the eyes of an

artist.”7 (change) Morris was an outspoken socialist and labor activist who had direct

correspondence with Friedrich Engels and helped found Britain’s Socialist League in

1884. Morris witnessed class inequality both at home, through his decorative arts firm,

6 Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture. 1849, p. 309. 7 Morris, Morris by Himself. Naylor. 1988, p. 17.

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Morris and Company, and abroad, in his visits to Iceland. These experiences led to his

outspoken promotion of socialism in lectures from 1878 until his death in 1896. (change)

In factories of the period, the division of labor placed designers and managers

above laborers, who toiled — overworked and underpaid— in substandard conditions.

Morris instead advocated the craftsman ideal – in which the maker and designer were a

single entity, both master and servant, thus restoring dignity to the worker. (change)

Morris and Company‘s wares were handmade at a time when making things by hand was

no longer necessary. Each object the firm produced was a critique of factory labor. Its

vases, chairs and tapestries – functional and beautiful – came to be imbued with the

moral imperative for the ethical use of human labor in the production of objects. This

imperative existed in every object produced by hand from the triumph of machine

production in the 19th century. (change)

In a letter to his friend Andreas Scheu (Shoy), in 1883, Morris confessed, “Both

my historical studies and my practical conflict with the philistinism of modern society

have forced on me the conviction that art cannot have a real life and growth under the

present system of commercialism and profit mongering.”8 This private admission, of his

inability to reconcile the gulf between his lofty socialist beliefs and his profession as a

craftsman, is perhaps the reason that I identify so profoundly with Morris as a thinker and

a maker. That is not to say that I am a socialist zealot, but rather that I find it difficult to

be content making objects that do not serve a greater purpose in society than to adorn or

be consumed by those who can afford them. For Morris, his solution was to become

involved in politics, but today, in a post-modern art-making era, we increasingly see

artists involved in social and political activist art projects. (change) 8 Morris, Morris by Himself. Naylor. 1988, p. 17.

9

In the migration of the Arts and Crafts Movement to America, hand-production as

a rebuke of industrial manufacturing as well as the craftsman ideal remained consistent.

America in the late 19th century was a hotbed of social and political reform movements,

such as women’s suffrage, organized labor, and temperance. The widespread acceptance

of humanistic and romantic philosophies of self-sufficiency through handwork, and the

autonomy it awarded to women, came to fulfill some of the Morrisian goals of the Arts

and Crafts Movement in America. Since we have established an embedded social dissent

imperative in the craft object at this time, I would like to now focus on how craft was

used as a strategy for activism and social welfare in the late 19th and early 20th century.

(change)

Perhaps the best-known example of the period is Jane Addams and Ellen Gates

Starr’s Hull House in Chicago. Established in 1889, the Hull House was founded on

radical philanthropic principals that included living in the community to be served,

believing in the dignity of all people, and battling poverty. 9 Sometimes these themes co-

mingled, as in the many craft-based educational programs designed to help people better

their lives and community through artistic and economic freedom. For her life’s work

Jane Addams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. At no time in history, before or

since, has a craft proponent received such a prestigious honor. I would also add that the

Hull House still exists today as a philanthropic organization, but in their mission to help

constituents become self-sufficient, they now offer classes in business rather than

handcrafts. (change)

The Hull House model was by no means unique. In rural America, similar

programs were established connecting craft practices and social welfare. The model of 9 http://www.hullhouse.org/aboutus/history.html, April 2, 2009.

10

teaching craft skills to depressed demographics, and also providing a mechanism for the

dissemination and sale of the goods, was used by Helen R. Albee to establish the

Abnákee Rug Industry in rural New Hampshire at the turn of the 20th century.10 (change)

And at nearly the same time in Cincinnati, Ohio, Maria Longworth Nichols Storer’s

Rookwood Pottery, was producing the some of the nation’s best pottery while employing

a socially imbued business model.11 (change) While Rookwood was a legitimate business

venture, it was heavily subsidized by Longworth Nichols Storer’s own personal wealth.

This financial flexibility produced innovative work and emphasized the employment of

women, putting into practice objectives of the women’s movement. Eventually,

Longworth Nichols Storer gave the pottery to longtime manager William Watts Taylor in

order to pursue the advancement of women’s suffrage. (click)

These are just a few of the many examples of the intimate relationship between

social reform and hand production that ran concurrently with the American Arts and

Crafts Movement. But despite these examples, craft’s romantic and humanist

philosophies did not endure. As with the slow decline of socialism and anarchism in the

United States following WWI, the Arts and Crafts Movement also declined, bringing an

effective end to the systemic conflation of hand production with the imperatives of

ethical labor, self-sufficiency, personal and artistic freedom, and the romantic and

humanist philosophies. (change)

The rise of Modernist philosophy in art and culture helped to displace craft

production as an accepted means to societal improvement. As the Bauhaus proved in the

1920’s and 30’s, (click) good design coupled with efficient industrial manufacturing

10 Boris, Art and Labor. 1986. 11 Rookwood won international awards for their ceramics at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in Paris,

The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, and the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris.

11

could produce more egalitarian – and affordable – objects that would improve the quality

of life for the middle-class, a segment of the population exploding in the United States

during the post-WWII economic boom. (change) In his seminal essay of 1939, Avant-

Garde and Kitsch, Clement Greenberg argues that certain forms of artistic production

become less and less justifiable by any other means than wanton tradition, and the

regurgitation of these themes results in stagnation. He cites “virtuosity in the small details

of forms,” as one of the practices leading to the decay of culture and the erosion of

originality. Thus commenced the degradation of fine handwork for the ensuing decades.

Formalism, abstraction, originality, individual genius, self-referentiality, and non-

functionalism all became tenets of modern art.12 As art departments in American

universities exploded after World War II, these modernist principals were proliferated

through burgeoning studio craft programs. It was ultimately these modernist principals –

particularly the desire to create purely formal and self-referential forms, that led to the

extinction of any kind of moral imperative in the crafted object, fundamentally shifting its

role in society. How can an object reflect any cultural or moral content if the craftsperson

willfully evaluates it through a Modernist lens? No longer a vehicle for dissent, the craft

object became a commodity, an indulgent functional object.

And while many independent studio craftsmen of the post WWII era were heir to

progressive ideas pioneered in the Arts and Crafts Movement, they treated their limited

production practice as a small business rather than a social movement. Though many

mid-century craftspeople were associated with the counter culture of the time, jewelry

historian Toni Greenbaum suggests that, “Studio jewelry [and by extension craft] was

12 Barret, Criticizing Photographs, 2006, p. 183.

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made for the liberal, intellectual fringe of the American middle class.”13 As craft

increasingly became a luxury, its social context was eroded and with it, craft’s relevance

to society at large. (change and pause)

13 Greenbaum, Messengers of Modernism. 1996, p. 20.

Part 2 - Altruism, Activism and the Moral Imperative in the 21st Century

Market Place

In the previous section I demonstrated that there is a historical precedent for

moral and socially conscious craft object production, and by the mid-20th century that

context had eroded. When I was developing this talk originally, there was a lengthy

section making the argument that the current studio craft economy and dissemination

structure is dysfunctional. (change) Fortunately for me, this argument has been made

twice by Garth Clark, and probably more articulately and with more authority than I

could hope for. With that in mind, I will now build on Clark’s arguments, accepting the

dysfunction of current studio craft economies, and further proposing the moral imperative

as a strategy for reform. By indentifying dynamic strategies for change rooted in the

humanistic imperatives identified in the first part of the talk, I will propose a romantic

vision for the expansion of craft’s role in society.

Galleries and craft fairs developed over the course of the 20th century as

institutions that provide a marketplace for Greenbaum’s middle-class “fringe.” (change)

It should come as no surprise that the American middle class along with its liberal

intellectual fringe is shrinking. As manufacturing jobs have been outsourced, salary

growth has failed to keep pace with inflation.1415 The domestic manufacturing economy

of the 20th century has been replaced by a global communications-technology economy.

Despite this rather recent change to the nature of our economy, the infrastructure of our

craft economy has plugged along using the same dissemination and marketing models

that it did 25, 35, even 50 years ago. This much is painfully obvious. In the 21st century,

14 http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/AWI.html, February 22, 2010. 15 http://www.inflationdata.com, February 22, 2010.

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new dissemination models for craft will not be enough. The fundamental nature and

appeal of the objects we make must change as well. It is my contention that by

deliberately reintroducing moral and social imperatives into studio craft practice, craft

production can create effective marketing and dissemination models in the coming

decades. (change)

In his best-selling book, Buying In (2008), cultural critic Rob Walker argues that

today’s successful consumer products appeal to two basic impulses: the desire to feel like

an individual and the desire to feel connected to a larger community. Craft’s insistence on

an individualistic impulse, and the absence of a community impulse has helped to

ostracize craft in a culture rapidly shifting toward products that embody both qualities.16

Through the course of interviews I conducted in 2009 for the short documentary film,

The Moral Imperative in the Craft Market Place, it became clear that what most craft

consumers over the age of fifty valued about the handmade was its individuality. These

consumers saw the craft object as a reflection of their unique identities, a phenomenon

frequently explained using semiotic theory. Walker rejects this consumption-as-identity

in favor of a more nuanced 21st century model in which consumers are empowered to

construct brand identity themselves through the products and companies they choose to

endorse.

Given Walker’s criteria of dual product identity – of individual and community –

it comes as no surprise that over the past decade sales at craft shows have steadily

declined, causing concern to craft show exhibitors and major craft show organizers –

such as the American Craft Council, The Rosen Group, and DMG World Media. The

fatal flaw of the current craft economy is that the mid-20th century craft dissemination 16 Walker, Buying In. 2008.

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model does not appeal to younger demographics. Let me be clear in saying that craft as a

mode of production does bridges age boundaries, but the current dissemination scheme

does not. (change)

While the 20th century model of studio craft production is a vivid illustration of

individualization, the Indie Craft Movement demonstrates how consumers can form

communities through handmade objects. From my own perspective, Indie Craft is a

movement of individuals – sometimes with formal craft training, sometimes without –

that has invested in the handmade as a reaction to the separation of people from the

means of production of the goods they consume. Frequently, consumerism and globalized

industrial manufacturing are cited as catalysts for the movement, which exploded in

popularity around the turn of the 21st century. It is marked by energetic and inclusive

communities – both online and off – and participants that regard themselves as part of a

counter-culture movement. Indie Craft represents a major exception to the deterioration

of long standing craft institutions, since historically it has not been affiliated with those

institutions. Instead, the movement has created new infrastructure as it has grown.17 Indie

Craft is extremely adept at marketing its goods as an alternative to mass production, mass

consumption, and mass destruction. The Indie Craft circuit is green, slow-moving and

anti-corporate, which has made it appealing to many ethical consumers of generation Y,

something that traditional studio craft production has yet to do successfully on a large

scale. Indie Craft’s popularity has proven that the moral imperative that inspires people to

shop green and eat organic is the same moral imperative that inspires them to buy

handmade. (change)

17 Examples of indie craft infrastructure include Etsy (an online handmade market and community), the

Bazaar Bizarre (Boston), and the Renegade Craft Fair (Chicago).

16

In craft today, two distinct, yet sometimes overlapping, systems of dissemination

exist: the individualistic model of consumption-as-identity, and the community model of

the handmade as a social dissent movement. If we apply Rob Walker’s 21st century

branding model to craft, what would that look like? To create a commercially viable

brand for craft will require both artistic studio production and moral imperatives that

would recast craft as an alternative form of consumerism, rather than a luxury brand. It is

in the hope of creating a new economic craft paradigm that we find the most compelling

argument for contemporary craft practices based on altruism, activism and morality.

Now supposing that implementing moral imperatives in craft production is

integral to the resurgence of craft, what are the applicable 21st century moral imperatives?

I could just list these imperatives, but I think it more useful to put them in context – as

products of cultural reform movements over the past 25 years.

(change) According to lore, the Slow Movement officially began in 1986 when a

group led by Italian food critic Carlo Petrini, assembled at the foot of the Spanish Steps

in Rome, to protest the opening of a McDonalds in the Piazza di Spagna.18 (change) The

now 24-year-old Slow Food Movement aims to preserve regional cultural cuisine by

protecting diversity among edible plants, seeds, and domesticated animals. This romantic

reform sentiment, first articulated as food preservation and sustainability, was one of the

first internationally organized anti-globalist movements. Today the Slow Food Movement

has expanded dramatically. (change) You can earn even a bachelor or master’s degree

from the University of Gastronomic Science where you will study the craft of slow

cultivation, consumption, and distribution of agriculture.19 (change)

18 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Food 19 http://www.unisg.it/welcome_eng.lasso

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American reformers such as Michael Pollan and Alice Waters have helped to

bring the Slow Food Movement to the mainstream in the US, with contributions like the

best selling Omnivores Dilemma in 2006. (change) In 1986, well before Pollan’s

influence, increasingly marginalized independent and organic farmers began to partner

with collective groups of consumers in a scheme, commonly called community supported

agriculture, or CSAs, in order to fulfill the growing demand for environmentally and

socially conscious provincial food products.20 In the CSA model, people buy seasonal

shares in a farm’s output and receive a portion of the production. This way the farm can

be assured financial security. The growing success of CSA farms in the US indicates that

consumers want extremely fresh food that is free of chemicals, pesticides, hormones,

antibiotics, and in addition is locally produced. Organic food production also has

benefited from the growing consumer desire for preservation of traditional and

unadulterated consumable products. In the last decade there has been a steady increase in

organic food production and, in turn, organic food marketing. (change) In the past 30

years Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods, which specializes in natural and organic foods,

has gone from a local health food store to over 270 stores in 3 countries, garnering

roughly 5% of the total US grocery market.21 But, Slow Food was only the beginning of a

new paradigm in consumerism. (change) Slow food is now part of a broader movement

that advocates slowness across society. The Slow Movement contains a number of social

dissent imperatives that embrace progressive reform in pursuit of more humanist values.

These include anti-corporatism, provincialism, self-sufficiency through handmade

20 Indian Line Farm and Temple-Wilton Community Farm both began in 1986. http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/features/0104/csa-history/part1.shtml 21 Calculation is made based on earnings statements of corporate grocery retail chains using a comparative estimate method and articulated market share estimates.

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products and homegrown food, as well as cultural and historical preservation. (click) It is

hardly a stretch to recall the Arts and Crafts Movement and their humanist reform

sentiments. In fact if you simply replace anti-industrialism with anti-corporatism, the

tenets of the movements are nearly identical. (change)

The second contemporary moral imperative is ethical production. While

sprawling in its variations, ethical production is very simple to understand. Ethical

production is the creation of products that are made from materials that are obtained in an

ethical manner, and are also refined or manufactured in an ethical manner. The entire

green consumer movement would fall under this imperative, as would sustainable

consumer products, fair trade products, and labor unions. Built partially on the

momentum of the slow movement, the green movement has exploded only more recently

due to increasing media attention on global warming or to use the parlance, “climate

change.” In 2007 Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his persistent work in educating

the public about the impending global environmental crisis. While initially a plea for

industrial reform, concerns over climate change have fueled the explosion of eco-

commerce which has become a multi-billion dollar business spawning products with

innumerable imperative tags such as eco-smart, eco-friendly, fair-trade, heirloom, non-

conflict, organic, natural, all natural, free range, and just plain green. Certainly marketing

departments around the world have sat up and taken notice of this appeal to ethical

consumerism.

(change) One of the best success stories of ethical production is American

Apparel, a clothing company based in Los Angeles. American Apparel is one of very few

American based textile companies to manufacture all of its products in the US. Paying its

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factory textile laborers around $26,000 annually plus health benefits, and subsidies for

food and transportation, their employees are some the best compensated in the textile

manufacturing industry.22 (change) American Apparel also utilizes a vertically integrated

supply chain. Vertical-integration refers to the control over more than one aspect of

production, such as raw material sourcing, refining, product manufacture, transportation,

retail, etc. Dating back to the Robber Barons of the late 19th century, vertical-integration

has historically been used by companies to create monopoly-like control over their

industries. But, by manufacturing and retailing its own products exclusively, American

Apparel has used the practice of vertical-integration to create better oversight, ensuring

ethical production standards. Currently the company is working to transition to certified

organic fabrics, hoping to reach the 80% mark by next year. American Apparel is a

gleaming example of how the moral imperative of ethical production can be harnessed.

But is American Apparel’s ethical business model the real reason for their success?

(change)

One of the main criticisms of ethically produced products is that their potentially

higher cost may make them less appealing to consumers, especially during the recession.

This may be true with the traditional luxury goods market, but recent research seems to

suggest otherwise within ethical production paradigms. In 2009, at the height of the

recent economic recession, a market research survey found 35 percent of Americans had

a higher interest in the environment in 2009 than they did in 2008; 35 percent of

Americans had higher expectations for companies to make and sell environmentally

responsible products and services during the economic downturn; and 70 percent of

Americans indicated that they were paying attention to what companies were doing with 22 Strasburg, Made in the U.S.A. San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, July 4, 2004.

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regard to the environment today, even if they couldn’t buy until the future.23 In 2007, a

separate survey found 47% of generation Y respondents would pay more for green

brands.24 If hand production is conflated with sustainable and green practices, then it

follows that craft has the potential to appeal to between 35% and 47% of the American

consumer base on the basis of ethical production alone. There is definitely a strong case

to be made for the imperative of ethical production in craft. (change)

The third and final moral imperative is philanthropy. The philanthropic

imperative is a mechanism built into a product or brand that gives back. To what and to

whom depends largely on the image or mission of the brand. One manifestation of the

philanthropic imperative is cause marketing. Born in the 1980’s, cause marketing refers

to a cooperative effort between a for-profit business and a non-profit organization for

mutual benefit.25 (change) This scheme has been used by corporations since the

pioneering campaign by American Express to restore the Statue of Liberty in 1983.

American Express offered to donate 1 cent for every card transaction during the 4th

quarter of that year to refurbishing the statue. (click) In addition to raising $1.7 million

dollars for the restoration of Lady Liberty, the company’s card usage jumped by 28%.26

From its very inception cause marketing was a huge success.

The entire rationale for cause marketing is to create the perception of a

responsible and caring brand. Cause marketing now falls under umbrella of corporate

responsibility. Corporate responsibility statements are a recent business phenomenon that

grew in response to the increasingly inhuman and alienating image of large corporations.

23 http://www.coneinc.com/content2032, February 28, 2010. 24 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/09/14/47-of-gen-y-would-pay-more-for-green-brands/ 25 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cause_marketing, April 2, 2009. 26 http://www.prwatch.org/node/4965, April 2, 2009.

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(change) But, craft by its very nature is human and intimate. The strategy of aiding a

cause through craft sales would only reinforce the human values embedded in the ethos

of craft. There are plenty of worthy and relevant non-profits to support, both inside and

outside of the crafts community. (change) For instance, donating a portion of proceeds to

the Craft Emergency Relief Fund would help support craftspeople that are the victims of

fire, flood, or other career threatening circumstances. It would also be logical for a

craftsperson to support a cause related to their own work. For instance, a furniture maker

donating a percentage of sales to fighting deforestation in the Amazon, or the

development of sustainable hardwood forests. (change)

Since the 1980’s we have seen many examples of increasing interest in moral

consumerism and products that use an embedded moral imperative. If craft does not

begin to market itself to the growing hunger in the market place for morally superior

products, the door may close on craft’s opportunity to regain market share that has been

lost in recent years. The widespread reform sentiments already in practice in other social,

cultural, and economic spheres are an opportunity to generate another Craft movement.

There are plenty of industries capitalizing on the demand for moral production; craft

should be one of them. (change) In red are the imperatives inherent to studio craft

production. Coming back to Rob Walker’s branding model, if craftspeople and craft

organizations embrace imperatives like sustainability, ethical material sourcing, and

cause marketing, craft would then be a form of production that offers highly individual

character within a context of societal improvement. The question now is not what to do,

but how to make the change personally? (change)

Part 3 - Altruism, Activism and the Moral Imperative: A 21st Century Craftivist Practice

Given the historical evidence I have presented thus far, please join me in my

certainty that craft has the power to inspire social cohesion through production and use.

In a climate of post-modern studio production, craft can use post-modern conceptual

strategies to create meaning instead of commodity. In application these strategies do not

always resemble traditional handwork. Instead they transcend object making to become

activities that harness craft’s connection to community, self-sufficiency, and social

consciousness; all things that I believe to be at the heart of the reform movements I have

discussed. In this new type of practice – that centers on altruistic contributions to culture

– the modernist division of fine art and craft ceases, replaced instead with a practice of

engagement.

In the past Craftivism has been defined by the use of handwork as a type of dissent

to corporate capitalism; suggesting that the act of creating functional goods instead of

purchasing them is, in itself, an act of political dissent.27 While I agree that working by

hand is a form of dissent, Craftivism is simply a resurgence of the 19th century reform

sentiment that helped John Ruskin launch the Arts and Crafts Movement. With craft

history just now emerging as a viable component of formal craft education, it is no

wonder that young makers are proselytizing Craftivism as a new movement. With this

resurgent attitude earning a buzzword label, I can’t help but feel that the combined

practice of craft and activism has the potential to describe a much more robust and

diverse set of practices than handwork alone. This being the case I would like to formally

suggest a broadening of the definition of Craftivism to include the use of craft skills and

27 Greer. “Activism is not a Four-Letter Word.” 2008

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ethos to directly engage in social, political, environmental, and community projects. This

type of activity-based practice is rapidly gaining momentum, a trend that I will now

explore further. (change)

Within the wider art world this type of activity-based practice is well established.

While making no claims as to the origin of interactive works, Robert Smithson’s, 1967,

The Monuments of Passaic New Jersey, printed in Art Forum, (click) invited potential

viewers to visit Virginia Dwan Gallery, and join Smithson on a personal tour to see the,

“eternal monuments,” of the Passaic River. Since then interactive work has increasingly

become an accepted art-making strategy. (change) In 2008 the Whitney Museum of

American Art chose Neighborhood Public Radio for inclusion in its iconic Biennial.

Neighborhood Public Radio was an independent, artist-run radio project committed to

providing an alternative media platform for artists, activists, musicians, and community

members. The inclusion of an underground community-centric radio station in America’s

most prestigious art exhibition was a signal that the activist/interactive studio practice had

entered the mainstream. In the 41 years between The Monuments of Passaic and

Neighborhood Public Radio, project-based activist art has grown up. The activity has co-

opted the gallery, and has begun to focus on community engagement and social change,

blurring or even erasing the line between art and activism.

In this new activist genre it is quite difficult to evaluate the work because neither

artistic nor organizational assessment methods apply. The only way in which I have been

able to determine the success of activist projects is by considering how the variables –

actions, content, materials, location, products, and participants – work in concert to

reinforce each other and create a deeper meaning or experience in the work. As I show

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you just a few of my favorite Craftivist projects, I hope you will agree that their beauty

lies in their gestures rather than in their aesthetic outcomes.

(change) In 1997 Annette Rose-Shapiro of Urban Glass in Brooklyn, New York,

founded the Bead Project.28 The Bead Project is a program designed for economically

disadvantaged women interested in learning a new creative skill they can use to

supplement their incomes. By teaching women, mostly single mothers, glass bead and

silver jewelry making techniques they are able to work from home. The bead project also

offers business classes through another Brooklyn based non-profit. After the successful

completion of The Bead Project curriculum, students receive their own torch and tool kit

for use at home. (change) The Bead Project has helped nearly 200 women toward greater

financial stability.29 This project is an excellent example of how craft skills can be used

as a tool for empowerment and self-reliance. While The Bead Project is more of a social

action project than an art project, craft provides the foundation for its feasibility and

execution. It also highlights the historic connection between craft practices and social

welfare that I mentioned in the first part of the talk. (change)

Shifting from a social project to an environmental one, Radical Jewelry

Makeover, or RJM, is an activist jewelry-making project that focuses on ethical material

sourcing. Through a short workshop format, RJM attempts to cultivate a sustainable

working process in participants and communicate a rationale for the change. (click)

Instead of using standard mill products, RJM participants “mine” donations of unwanted

jewelry to create work from ethically sourced materials. (change) The work is then sold

with proceeds going to support Ethical Metalsmiths, Radical Jewelry Makeover’s parent

28 http://www.urbanglass.org/thebeadproject/glassmagazine.pdf. March 16, 2009. 29 http://www.thebeadproject.org/, March 16, 2009.

25

organization. (change) Of the approximately 75 pieces created at the most recent RJM,

the fourth in the series, almost all pieces were sold on the night of the opening. (change)

RJM also involves education sessions about metal mining, demonstrations on strategies

for using recycled materials, and tips on how to reform participants’ studio practice,

mostly with regard to material sourcing. The combination of practical and theoretical

knowledge allows participants to become aware of the environmental concerns of their

vocation, and to be equipped to address them. The ultimate goal of the project is to

catalyze change in the practices of a dirty field in desperate need of reform. RJM offers

jewelers a way to avoid sourcing their demand to industries that are not consistent with

eco-minded 21st century values by providing a practical model to become less dependent

on material whose production is socially and ecologically devastating. In RJM jewelry

and sustainability finally become uneasy bedfellows. (change)

Another robust example of a craftivist practice can be found in the work of

Brooklyn-based glass artist Keith Mendak. In his 2008 work, Project Hope, Mendak,

then living in Richmond, Virginia, created a mobile altar replete with votive candles and

glass silhouettes of then presidential candidate Barack Obama. The candles featured the

face of Barack Obama transposed over the original religious iconography. On Election

Day Mendak took the altar to a bustling downtown corridor, where he was likely to find

people with past felony convictions, and asked them to “cast a votive.” Currently

Virginia is one of only six states in which persons convicted of a felony do not have their

voting rights restored once their sentence is completed. This practice is one of the last

remnants of the Jim Crow South. Mendak, though himself Caucasian, was born and

raised on the predominantly African-American south side of Chicago from which Obama

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himself hails. Understanding the symbolic importance of Obama’s candidacy to African

Americans still affected by institutionalized racism in the south, Mendak’s gesture of

“casting a votive for hope” transcended the election to speak to the deeper issue of the

country finally achieving racial equality. (change) I have a short video clip. This

symbolic gesture of inclusion may have done little to actually redress Virginia voting

law, but it hints at the emotional and psychological impact that a Craftivist practice can

achieve. (change) On the heels of Project Hope: Casting Votives Mendak continued to

make altars and set them, graffiti like, at significant racially charged landmarks in the

former confederate capitol. Here Mendak has created an Obama altar for the 60-foot

statue of beloved confederate General Robert E. Lee. (change) But by far the most

moving and significant convergence in Mendak’s altar campaign, takes place at a non-

descript parking lot in the low lying section of downtown Richmond, known as Shockhoe

bottom. On the site of this altar in the early 19th century stood Lumpkin’s Jail, a notorious

holding facility and execution center at the heart of the Southern slave trade. After the

civil war, Lumpkin’s jail became a school for newly freed slaves, and in 1867 became the

first home of Virginia Union University, the first African American University in the

country. Now a parking lot, the altar on the site of Lumpkin’s Jail and Virginia Union

symbolizes a milestone in the cultural history of African Americans. In a booming

whisper Mendak’s altar proclaims, “Once we were slaves, then we became educated

citizens, now there is nothing we can’t do.” In Mendak’s Project Hope he uses personal

interaction, historical references, and regional politics in addition to craft skills to create

meaning more powerful than what could be achieved by object making alone. This feels

like craft fulfilling its cultural potential.

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(change) If latent racism is one problem that our society must confront, then

Houston artist Margarita Cabrera raises immigration, labor reform and globalism to our

attention as well. Cabrera has been internationally recognized for her sculptural works

that employ textile materials and techniques to create life size droopy satirizations of

Volkswagens, bicycles, and baby grand pianos. The plushies engage the viewer as playful

versions of the objects that surround us, but the deeper and more sobering subtext of

Cabrera's work is outsourcing, luxury, and worker exploitation in the maquiladoras - or

assembly plants - of the Mexican/US border region. (change) Cabrera's most recent

project, Space in Between, was a departure from her previous static sculptural work. At

Box 13 Artspace, an alternative project space in Houston's East End barrio, Cabrera re-

imagined the maquiladora, hiring unemployed immigrant workers to embroider their own

border crossing stories using the traditional Tenango de Doria regional embroidery style.

(change) Plushy native desert plants made from United States border patrol uniforms took

form in Box 13, which in a previous incarnation was a Singer sewing machine factory,

sewing school, and showroom. Cabrera's maquiladora was part collaborative art making

project and part social action project. Cabrera paid the workers, but further hopes to use

her star power to sell the Cacti and generate money and future opportunities for the

project’s workers. (change) Every element of Space in Between was choreographed for

maximum physical and conceptual meaning. The people, place, techniques, process and

materials all ring with relevance as the maquiladora quite aptly becomes the space in

between process and object, the space between citizen and immigrant, and the space

between producer and consumer. (click)

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In a cultural climate of increasingly altruistic consumerism, industrial production,

corporate responsibility, and ecological innovation, the practice of Craftivism seems to be

a logical outgrowth of studio craft practice. In the future we can certainly look forward to

the expansion of interactive projects as the lines of art, craft, activism, social action,

education, and philanthropy are blurred. (change)

Conclusion

Here we are at the end. I have taken you through the history of the moral

imperative in the crafted object, demonstrated the effectiveness of the moral imperative

in the marketplace, and shown a few examples of really good Craftivism. I have

presented a multi-facet picture of craft, not just as a studio practice, but as a reform

movement. (change)

Here are two eccentric men: AWN Pugin, a devoutly catholic interior designer

who after fighting viciously for a moral and Christian national style in Britain, died of

syphilis after going insane. Carlo Petrini, an Italian communist and culinary

anthropologist, who after fighting to protect provincial cuisine from big agro-business

founded a University and become an icon for romantic reform worldwide. These two men

have inadvertently done more to contribute to the cultural importance of craft over the

past 200 years than most craftspeople combined. Both Pugin and Petrini were outspoken

reformers bent on creating a more just society. The historic apogee of Craft has coincided

with larger reform movements, like when in the late 19th century Craft rode on the waves

of labor reform, temperance, and universal suffrage.

Today we are presented with a similar opportunity. After this conference is over,

and you return home, and you sit down at your bench, think. Think about the future of

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working by hand, about the future of craft and your relationship to that future. Think big,

think huge, think globally, then please, please, please… act on a realistic scale. Act

locally. Then we have taken our first step.

30

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