The current uncertainty centres around Craft as a discipline as opposed to a set of skills applied to a process for a predefined product. This dichotomy is partly due to the lack of a clear definition of craft practice, its theoretical underpinning, and criteria for the evaluation of the products of practice. It appears that this problem emanates from craft itself which has few, if any, practitioners writing from their perspective of practice. A practitioner herself, with all the tacit knowledge from which craft practice is built, enables the researcher to articulate a particular viewpoint, that of the practitioner‘s. She has used this knowledge in the presentation of this thesis and has conducted the research necessarily informed by her own practice. She has also specifically sought the views of other practitioners in order to maintain the voice of practice within this thesis. The term =Fine Craft practice‘ is used by the Past Present and Future Craft Practice1 project to which the researcher is affiliated. In order to understand what Fine Craft practice is, it is necessary to define within the Project context what is meant by this from the perspective of practice. A working definition of Fine Craft practice was developed and this definition became the tool with which to identify possible historical and contemporary Fine Craft practice and to examine the process of progress within these craft practices in order to develop a model of interrogating progress within one‘s own practice and within that of another. This process verified the definition of Fine Craft Practice. Interviews with a cross-section of contemporary craft practitioners were conducted to enable a critical analysis of their methodological approaches. Analysis of practitioners‘ responses formed the basis of a progress wheel, which was divided into equal quadrants. This progress wheel can, through self-reflection and through interview, identify the process of progress within one‘s own or another practitioner‘s practice, dependant on the balance of segments within the wheel. Fine Craft practice is the goal of dedicated practitioners, and the model developed is the yardstick against which to measure that progress and to identify the gaps in practice, which can be addressed. The relevance and importance of this research to craft practitioners and to education was discussed and further research identified. The House of Falkland in Fife, Scotland, a Grade A listed building, was part of the investigation. The wonderful original Arts and Crafts and Byzantium features were part of the refurbishment in 1890‘s, undertaken by G.W. Schultz, H.W.Lonsdale and others who were significant practitioners of the Arts and Crafts movement. A case study of the Vine Corridor2 within the House of Falkland, gave opportunity to critically analyse historical craft using the Advanced Practice Model which gave insight into the methodological approaches embedded within historical Fine Craft practice and verified the model as a tool for interrogating the practitioner responsible for the craftsmanship.

This project considers the development of the cultural landscape of Native American chiefdoms in the Yazoo Basin of northwestern Mississippi. Chronicles written by certain members of the Hernando de Soto expedition offer exciting glimpses into the landscape and lifeways of Native American societies in 1541, but they do not shed light on how the landscape of chiefdoms in the Lower Mississippi Valley developed during the period before Spanish contact. This dissertation research focuses on the time period just before Spanish contact, the Mississippi Period (AD 1200-1540), and on Mississippian culture, and it investigates how monuments were built and used in a rapidly changing and dynamic landscape, one in which the meandering and flooding Mississippi river affected the long-term formation of social and political networks. This research relies on environmental, ethnohistoric, and archaeological data to provide a historically contingent description of the processes leading to the development of one of the largest and most important archaeological sites in the region. Sediment cores excavated in mound and off-mound contexts suggest the site was constructed over a crevasse splay, a high-elevation landform. Both coring data and trench excavation demonstrate that Mound D, the largest mound at Carson, was built in four stages and that stages II and III were the largest stages. Excavations on Mound D demonstrate that a moderately large-sized structure was once constructed on the southwest corner of the mound summit and that the structure was used to produce craft goods such as shell beads, shell gorgets, and statuary. Data from mound construction and craft production, as well as ethnohistoric and geomorphic research, are used to describe social organization, hierarchy, and leadership at Carson. / 1 / Jayur Madhusudan Mehta

We understand the world around us through categorization and classification. But things are morecomplex than that, life is mixed up, flowing and unable to stick to labels. The main purpose ofcorpus is to contain, organize and control food and beverages. Corpus objects are also socialmarkers that have a tradition of being elitist; in both choice of material and in that they imply acertain way of usage. Corpus objects are heavily loaded with tradition and rituals. However, eatingis a common experience, it is an everyday ritual and often something we do with others. How andwhat we eat is an expression of our everyday culture. The corpus object is a body on its own terms,and I believe that this opens up for an emotional relation to these objects. Corpus has the possibilityof creating meetings, situations where we can feel and talk about something human, through anobject. Objects within the craft/art field may go beyond mere objects, and open up for newmeetings, they may do something else to us than what we are used to, and hopefully they cancommunicate with us in a new way about our culture and our everyday life. I want to create thingsthat go beyond being objects, I want to highlight the body of the object, I want the object andsubject relation to leek and I want to celebrate the fuzziness and the uncertainty of things with my work.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2000. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 195 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 172-177).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--University of Iowa, 2002. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf -14).

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Worldwide, externally supported craft development initiatives aim to enhance the capability of local craft producers to succeed in globalized markets. However, the contribution that these organizations make towards the abilities of local actors remains unclear. Following a hermeneutic reflection on literature, empirical field experience derived from the African and South Pacific contexts and a multiple case study analysis of craft development organizations, the research investigates the pre-conceptions that lie behind approaches adopted in craft development initiatives. Two emerging elements of particular importance have been identified. Firstly, the Western ideological notion of craft, influenced particularly by the Arts and Crafts movement, and secondly the ethos of social design, built on the legacy of the appropriate technology movement. It is argued that both of these have a constraining impact on the development of indigenous design skills that underpin successful participation in global markets. Noting that craft covers a wide range of practices, the research at hand furthermore identifies a category of craft that has become the epitome of Non-Western craft. These decorative and exotic artifacts are labor-intensive to produce, making them only marginally profitable for the makers. Yet there is an apparent emphasis on the promotion of this category within international craft development initiatives. The research concludes that the current practice of craft development initiatives cannot fully contribute to the development of the response capability of the local craft producers. Enhancing the impact of these initiatives would require serious reconsideration of product strategies and a re-think of the premises under which initiatives are undertaken. A new approach is suggested, one that examines design within a framework of social, economic and ecological sustainability, taking into consideration such socio-cultural issues as the peoples’ right to economic freedoms and the use of capabilities, building on the work of the economist and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

This practice-based art and design project explores the potential use of contemporary materials and techniques in relation to extending aesthetic and structural possibilities of embroidery, with a focus on developing textile formations through the medium of ‘free stitch’ machine embroidery. Embroidery is often perceived by the non-enthusiast as a ‘granny craft’: an ‘old’ technique. Contemporary representations of embroidery suggest that new and innovative interpretations exist. Through investigation and experimentation with products, textiles and techniques, the embroidered artefacts that I have crafted are intended to disrupt the conventional perceptions of embroidery by alluding to conceptual associations of tradition and nostalgia. The aim of this project is to promote embroidery as a diverse medium; its use as a means of narrative, a valued skill that spans both art and craft disciplines, and to lift the status of craft by encouraging discourse of craft practice within an academic environment.