Peter Dormer, The Art of the Maker

Peter Dormer, The Art of the Maker: Skill & its meaning in Art, Craft & Design.  1994.  Thames & Hudson.

Essential for the artist to gain self experience of doing/making, as it is very difficult to express in words.  So craft knowledge is thoughts that enable the doing/making of something.

Craft knowledge enhance human experience and develops the self by forming knowledge - but a knowledge that is felt and rarely verbally articulated well.  This knowledge is expressed in art.  Therefore art is supported by craft knowledge.

Two types of knowledge:

Articulated in words  - becomes Theoretical - leads to Analysis/ Reflection - results in Concept
Shown/demonstrated - thus Practical - leads to tacit knowledge - shown by example/comparison - results in Experience.

"The particular touch of a violinist, pianist, draughtsman, surgeon, nurse or vet cannot be described, but it can be demonstrated and, to a degree, be imitated or even learned wholly by someone else." Dormer 1994, 14.

Connoisseurship - knowledge acquired through experience of the senses.  Requires personal, practical and physical effort.

Local knowledge - when an individual applies learned knowledge in an individual way.  The 'how' of personal practical application.  Goes beyond theory.

Tendency for fast results in today's society.  Media driven society has promoted fast arts (abstract, computer, performance, video), the equivalent of art soundbites, to the detriment of slow arts.  Craft knowledge is slow and difficult to learn.  It is not "on demand".

Decline of craft skills - because it seems to have no value.  Craft is "dependent on practical skills and who intention is discovered through the process of making the object" (Dormer 1994, 7). What he calls plastic arts are reducing, because it takes time and practice to acquire skills to manipulate one set of raw ingredients (paint, stone, textile) into art.  Dormer dislikes ready-mades (urinal, but also tools like auto-focus cameras,) because so much of the artist's skill has been restricted to an automated set of variables.

Art students copy artworks that are an end result.  Thus when art students copy Matisse paper cuts - without all the underpinning knowledge -  the outcomes are weak.  In order to make a robust outcome, the students need to gain the robust supporting practice and do/make things to gain this knowledge.

Dormer states artists who are already experts do not use rules.  Rules are for beginners not experts.  I'm not sure I agree with this.  I think rules help people get started, and then rules turn into guidelines - they guide but do not restrict.  Experts definitely have extensive tactile and material experience, thus they can anticipate the handling of materials in many different circumstances (how does thread glide through fabric on a humid day compared to aridity; how fast does cyanotype react on a dull or bright day.

Artists use words to back up and give theoretical validation to their art ... and reject craft (which does not get the theoretical validation).  Artists replace drawing and painting with words to make up for lack of craft knowledge.  With this type of artwork, words become more important that the artwork itself.

Two different points of view:  Socrates: If you can't explain it, you don't understand it.

Dreyfus:  Anyone who thinks he can carefully explain his skill, does not have expert understanding.

Thus I think that in 21st century western society, the craft artist is being pushed to use language (and rationality and all the other validation techniques) because there is an expectation that expert understanding will be explained and delivered spoon-fed!

Dormer: To know a craft, the individual has to make craft knowledge his or her own, so that thinking and doing flow together (Dormer, 1994, 100)

Human experience is complex - physical, emotional, intellectual, moral and aesthetic value judgement.  A combination of individually gained knowledge, none of which is gained by the 'intelligent machine' or computer.

"What is especially valuable about craft is that once it is possessed by the individual it cannot be taken away and becomes a massive addition to the individual's life". (Dormer 1994, 103).

Thus I am using my craft skill base to honour the skills and talents of the people I depict.

My artwork is working without destination; but is working for exploration.