Difficult Subjects

Wendy Weiss

This graduate seminar in a Master of Arts program combines theory and practice as it broadly explores issues in textile art and design, culminating in a departmental gallery exhibition. The strength of the gallery programming allowed the seminar participants to have regular contact with visiting artist/makers over the semester. The seminar theme for fall 2005 was craft history, craft in a cultural context and craft makers. The readings for the course examined the historical role of craft and how the meaning of craft has changed over time. Participants examined the role of institutions, such as the museum space, in framing this debate. They considered the relationship of the maker to the object and the object as an entity that exists in the world apart from the maker. They examined the relationship between craft and culture and how some practitioners of craft use their making of objects to connect to larger current issues.

Prior to the start of the course, I invited three nationally recognized artists who have worked explicitly with politically engaged imagery, to anchor the exhibition and converse with the students. Students identified and developed their own “difficult” themes to explore in their creative work, which includes aging, balance, cytogenesis, death, economy, environment, gender, heritage, identity, pay-inequality, politics, racism, roles, sexuality and war. The discussion about the meaning of making objects in concert with generating work on personally compelling subjects forms the substance of this paper.