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Crafts and the artisanal arts have a complex relationship with art and art education. Nevertheless, hands-on crafts have an important and often overlooked contribution to visual art education. In addition to their value as cultural icons, the artisanal arts can contribute to cognitive development, emotional well-being, and mental health. The practice of a craft can balance some of the negative effects of 21st century screen culture. This thesis explores the following regarding crafts education: its value, its relationship to traditional art education, and its future potential. In addition to the traditional elements of literature review and research methodology, this thesis includes the design of an ambitious interactive website entitled CRAFTSPLORATIONS. The CRAFTSPLORATIONS website provides information about craft education, including shared resources and craft-based lesson plans, information about and links to various craft education institutions around the country, identification of crafters and advocates who are assisting in the preservation and propagation of artisanal arts, and a space for crafters and others to collaborate and share resources.

The thesis will focus on documenting, analysing and interpreting the motifs for the ceramics of Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre Ecumenical (Evangelical) Lutheran Church (RDACC ELC, often called ELC Art and Craft Centre, hereinafter referred to as ‘Rorke’s Drift’) which were donated to the University of KwaZulu-Natal by Mark Bernstein. It is hoped that local indigenous narratives and visual designs in relation to Basotho and Zulu cultural identity will be outlined in the form of a catalogue. All vessel forms in the Bernstein Collection (as it will be referred to in this thesis) will focus on the figurative works and iconographic signifiers that represent local cultures. Ceramic works by the following ceramists will form the main argument of my thesis: Gordon Mbatha, Dinah Molefe, Ivy Molefe, Ephraim Ziqubu, Lindumusa Mabaso and Joel Sibisi of the Pottery Workshop. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

The teoretic part comes from the historical overview of use of spiral as main motive in the process of forged bars from romanesque style up to now overlap to free creation of contemporary artists. Concept of the game subjekt comes from combination of craft technology with motive of spiral to the model object for working game. The result is game SPIRAL ? Man, do not be angry!

The Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre is examined in its historical context. In order to place the pottery workshop in the context of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC) Arts and Crafts Centre, the history of the centre's other workshops, Fabric printing and Weaving as well as the Fine Art School will be compared and contrasted. The pottery workshop is investigated and compared with the printmaking of Rorke's Drift. A selection of Rorke's Drift ceramics from the Durban Art Gallery's collection has been selected and examined to determine some of the stylistic changes that have occurred in the Rorke's Drift Pottery studio from 1970 to 1994. Fifteen works appear in an illustrated catalogue which examines the imagery and stylistic content of each work. The similarities between the prints of Rorke's Drift artists and the ceramics are explored; gender issues are analysed. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005

The purpose has been to examine the textile artist Viveka Nygrens ́s artistry and her abstract textile expression between the years 1985 and up to 2000. This is done through an examination of Nygren ́s textile production in general and in detail through an examination of the textile expression in color, shape, and weaving techniques in two selected works. Furthermore, both the existence of the abstract expression in textile art during Nygren ́s time and the contemporary art field ́s views on and values about the relationship between art and art and craft are studied. This is done through a case study of the exhibition catalogs from the Scandinavian art triennials that were carried out within the chosen time frame.  Issues is:  What does Nygren ́s textile artistic look like? What choices does she make in her craft, regarding technology and materials? How does she use the hand weaving techniques in the abstract expression? What does the abstract textile art scene look like during the period 1985 – 2000? Are handwoven techniques used and what do the textile work look like? Are there actors who express opinions about the relationship between art and art and crafts? Theoretically, the essay is based on the concepts of art and art and craft and the field of tension that prevails between them. On the one hand it is about a creative relationship between art and art and craft, which is based on knowledge and creativity, in an individual and on the other hand it is about the excitement, in society and the field of art, in the question of what art is and what is art and craft. The survey showed that the non-imaginative abstract expression dominated the textile art scene and interest in weaving techniques fell sharply in the last year of 1995. The survey showed that the relationship between art and art and craft was very tense for each triennial. In the essay ́s investigation of the textile triennials, it emerged that on the textile art scene there has been a shift from an art form based on a craft tradition to one among other techniques on the art scene. Thus, it can also be stated that Viveka Nygren ́s artistic starting points were a craftmanship that served under her abstract art expression.