John Wootton, 1793, Fable XLIII The Council of Horses, based on a fable by John Gay about a group of horses who gather to discuss their servitude to humans.
We must work together to resist the one art form to rule them all.
At the Council of Elrond, men, dwarves, elves and hobbits gather to determine how best to combat the threat of Sauron. Toward the end, despairing of the ring’s power, Frodo offers to take it on the dangerous journey through the land of Mordor to cast it into the volcano Orodruin, where it will be destroyed forever.
The Lord of the Rings is a fanciful tale of imaginary creatures that continues to enchant generations. But it is more than escapist fantasy. Tolkien’s epic has a serious message about the importance of a confederation of beings who come together to fight a common enemy. At a time of increasing fragmentation and fraying alliances, the Council of Elrond remains an ideal of collective custodianship.
Councils once also played an important role in constituting the modern craft scene. The World Crafts Council, at the international level, was underpinned by national and regional craft councils. While the international council still exists, many others have adopted a more corporate structure, seeking to grow the organisation rather than merely representing its members. The word “council” today seems hierarchical and old-fashioned, implying a group of “elders” who gather to pontificate on matters. But in removing “council”, have we abandoned the process of collective deliberation?
Some writers and makers still feel compelled to reflect on issues affecting the whole. An enduring concern is the hierarchy that puts art above craft. Many books, forums, and talks have been dedicated to finding ways to elevate craft to at least the same level as art. The collective aim is to convince others of craft’s unique value and provide practitioners with proud frameworks for their work.
I was fortunate to participate in a modest version of the Council of Elrond in Seattle, sponsored by the Art Jewelry Forum. The seminal craft thinker Damian Skinner brought together writers including Namita Wiggers, Ben Lignel and Monica Gaspar to develop an argument for the forthcoming publication, Contemporary Jewelry in Perspective. In looking for an overarching framework for understanding contemporary jewellery, we decided to represent how jewellery can be found in many different contexts: not only in the gallery, but also on the body and out in the world. We were concerned that the art paradigm focused exclusively on the work found in the gallery space, and thus is limited to the visual dimension. We decided to extend this view to consider key spaces where we encounter the jewellery object.
We began with the Bench as a site where the maker exercises their skills and imagination while working with materials. From there, we moved to the Plinth, where it formally enters the art jewellery field. Then it appears on the Page, where jewellery is more widely represented through text and photography in catalogues and screens. Eventually, it finds its way to the Drawer in a private or public collection. Along the way, it finds a place on the Body where it engages with our fears and desires, and the Street as a sign of our identity.
Our aim, therefore, was to enrich the understanding of contemporary jewellery as it engages with many different contexts, rather than just the fine art gallery. It felt like the beginning of a new venture to better appreciate the meaning of craft. We were hopeful that this method could be extended to other crafts, particularly ceramics, where spaces like Table could be envisaged.
The book was published and warmly welcomed (it is freely available online now). However, the work that we anticipated did not follow. Looking back, I don’t think the problem was with the framework itself. It was more to do with the lack of a “council” to take it on board for critique and development. The craft field has many academic forums and conferences, but they are often attended by individual academics who present their work in isolation. But we lacked a forum to pursue common questions.
The absence of this forum is one of the factors that led to the creation of the Knowledge House for Craft. This association’s key activity is gathering online for a conversation, enriched by a broad diversity of cultural perspectives and underpinned by the formality of a Tongan talanoa.
So, on 28 January 2024, we met again to review the spatial framework for craft. In addition to the work done a decade ago, we could also consider the Together Spaces journey of Garland, across the contexts of street, land, table and temple. There’s a page dedicated to the meeting with a video of the meeting here.
The challenge to level the hierarchy between craft and art is formidable. Gallery art is a highly developed institutional field that includes museums, curators, magazines, collectors, and funding bodies. Craft can certainly partake of that, but only as a visual form. Its critical tactile and functional dimensions are not counted.
If you are interested in helping sustain a view of craft that reflects its richness, you are invited to join the Knowledge House for Craft. You can participate in the conversation via video or chat, or you can become a member and contribute to our knowledge archive.
Sauron is afoot. We must combat the idea of one art form to rule them all.
