Feature Stories
Celebrating Artist and Object: Putting Craft Back in the Curriculum
By Kathleen Jackson, M.Ed
Director of Visual Arts
Alpharetta High School
Alpharetta, GA
I recently watched a terrific three-part television series called Craft in America (CIA). My life, my work, and the way I present the art curriculum to my high school students will never be the same. I have always had an interest in fine crafts and craftspeople, but had let other things get in the way. I attended a liberal arts college in the mountains, surrounded by an abundance of crafts. I loved to make pots, warp a loom, and attend crafts festivals, so why was I not incorporating craft in my own curriculum? Why was craft eliminated or even put aside for something more "important?" I had the appreciation, so why was I not practicing what I preached?
While attending the 2008 National Art Education Association convention in New Orleans I had the chance opportunity to meet the producer of Craft in America. I was in a vendor's booth admiring books and checking prices when I came across a DVD of CIA. I picked it up and explained with great interest to a total stranger that I absolutely loved the series. The stranger turned out to be Carol Sauvion, the creator and executive producer of CIA. How embarrassing, yet how wonderful! Ms. Sauvion was amused and wanted me to take the DVD as a gift. She mentioned that she would be making a presentation in the next hour at the convention about craft and craftspeople that I might enjoy. In the 4,000-seat facility, I sensed that others felt as I did about the CIM series and coordinating book. As I listened, I found myself becoming more engrossed—the use of textures and colors and natural resources, the handing down of knowledge, the remembering of the past, the embracing of our ancestors. I wanted to share with everyone what I knew about craft objects, their histories, and the creators.
We have always had a deep sense of appreciation for the handmade. Perhaps because each of us, in our own way, has had a craft experience. Sometimes it's an object passed down to us, or one that crosses our path and connects us to others in traditions, heritage and rituals. You've begun your understanding and appreciation with our TV series. Now go further with the other elements of this comprehensive journey. (http://www.pbs.org/craftinamerica/)
I decided that my suburban students would learn about craft in a way that would cause them to want to become interested. I organized field trips to galleries specializing in fine crafts. I invited friends who were successfully living the lives of craftspeople to speak to my classes. (One potter-friend taught a class workshop in terra sigillata [Latin for "stamped earth;" also called Samian pottery; Mediterranean ceramic ware decorated with relief figures, first produced about 300 BCE]. Students carefully wrapped pots with burnable recycled organic materials, such as banana peels and horse hair.) I asked students to research the Foxfire books from North Georgia-a series that documents the lifestyle, culture, and skills of southern Appalachia people-and write about indigenous crafts. As a class, we dug our own clay and made our own glazes while studying earth science. (I wanted this to be meaningful interdisciplinary curriculum!) We learned how far clay could take us by donating ceramic bowls to the Empty Bowls Project and raising money for homeless shelters. (See figure of students creating clay bowls.) We found a local weaver who raised sheep and demonstrated how the animals were sheared. Of course we had to bring home some fleece for ourselves! We washed the beautiful wool with a gentle soap and laid it out in the sun to dry; we gathered materials to make natural dyes from walnuts, coffee grounds, pokeberries, and ragwort; then we made drop spindles out of sticks in potatoes and spun our wool. We also made beautiful corn shuck dolls from corn husks from the end of the summer harvest, and observed basket-making from split white oak trees.
"Ms. Jackson, is this the way it was like back in the day?" one of my students asked. I was reminded of stories about my ancestors I had heard throughout the years, and felt a sort of connection to them. We as art educators/artists/craftspeople must help keep alive this American experience, that special something that reminds us of where we have been and who we are as a people. In the prologue of the book, Craft in America, President Jimmy Carter states:
Craft, both historical and contemporary, is all around us, and recognizes and communicates much about what we are as a country. It is our identity and our legacy. The things we hold most dear, often handmade, are a record of who we are as a nation. They stand for individualism and the satisfaction that comes from making something with one's own two hands. They appreciate the environment and the gifts the Creator has provided for use in our lives. They demonstrate the creative spirit within each of us.
Our students need identities and legacies, a connection to their histories. They need to study Craft.
For more information:
Lauria, Jo and Steve Fenton. Craft in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 2007.
"Craft in America: A Journey to the Artists, Origins and Techniques of American Craft," http://www.craftinamerica.org/.
