Craft New Zealand Issue 36 Winter 1991
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NewCRAFTZealand ISSUE 36 WINTER 1991 IN THIS ISSUE: STUDIO GLASS IN I99I STUDENTS EXHIBIT THE WOOD OF KAZU NAKAGAWA KOHIA KO TAIKAKA ANAKE Our Stories FROM THE EDITOR I” This issue introduces the Final stage in our Helen Schamroth surveyed glassworkers re-design. The new masthead on the Front throughoutthe country. She asked them how cover replaces one which has been there tor they were surviving and what the Future a decade. The internal layout has undergone holds; where their inspiration comes From many changes in that lime, and this one will and what contribution overseas tutors could certainly not be the last. Even the name has make. Her conclusions are on page 4. changed, from New Zealand Cratts to Cratt NZ. The CraFt Design Courses have an in- How permanent will that be? On one creasing inFIuence on the course at cratt. hand we gasp and are astounded by the Edith Ryan, Manager at Cral‘ts Programs For creativity 0t our leading crattspeople. The the QEII Arts Council has been centrally push from the Polytech CraFt Design Courses involved in the development of these courses. and the OE“ Arts Council seems to be Firmly In our editorial, (next page) Edith Ryan puts towards using the craft media as vehicles For her views. MAU MAHARA art. On that basis, perhaps "Cralt" is not the best title For this magazine. Words like The courses are still in their intancy. What ”Design" and "Art" may capture the mood can we tell at their success by looking at better. student work so soon, betore recent gradu- Work by l990 Carrington graduate Frances Jackson. ates have had a taste 0t independence? See page 9 tor a review a recent graduate'5 work and A fascinating look at the lives and memories ofour On the other hand, cratt in the traditional Earlier this year, I 990 graduates exhibited page 2i tor a prolile oi Frances Jackson. sense is still alive and well in New Zealand. their work at the CraFt Council Gallery. Lou- people through 150 years oftheir crafts. Using time-honoured materials and tech- ise Guerin discusses the show on page 9. niques, crattspeople produce beautt ob- A unique and extraordinary craft event that will capture jects whch equal the best the world can otter. Furniture making in New Zealand is dom- Given such diverse interpretations, is there inated by European/American tradition, al- the hearts and imagination ofevery New Zealander a name which captures what we all believe though shows like Artiture present other ap- craFt to be? Probably not, who can agree on proaches. On Waiheke Island, NewZeaIand what craFt really is? To cover the intinite woodworker Kazu Nakagawa brings a Jap— aspects of cratt, we aim to spread the net anese aesthetic. Christine Thacker writes wide. CraFt is craFt is craFt, isn't it? about Kazu Nakagawa on page 24. 1?\ \ FA . Feedback about the changes to Cratt NZ has been Filtering through. We've had some Kazu Nakagawa brings a Japanese aesthetic to New Zealand woodwork. Story by Christine Thacker, page 24. positive letters and some negative rumours. I visited "Kohia Ko Taikaka Anoke" at the There were glitches lasttime, probably there'II National Art Gallery earlier this year and be somethistime. Letusknowwhatyouthink. Found it riveting. As a wide reaching survey From a rural hideaway in Nelson, it's not oi Maori art, it brought together work oF always easy to keep abreast oi everything in many types and many regions. Bob Jahnke the cratt world. It you know about a craFt gives his impressions of this important event happening which you think is important, on page 32. please tell us. Our cover teatures the work of Malcolm Who buys cratt, why do they do it and "He mokopuna na "When they work they're "You couldn't get boy dolls. Harrison - a consummate craFtsperson - an where do they put it? In a new series, we Taharakau", you might hear lovely. I probably had about So Grandma turned Stephen accomplished artist. Ann Packer caught up examine New Zealand collectors otcratt. Pat said to someone of that place halt a dozen things work last into a boy tor me by making with his show at the Dowse Art Museum in Baskett visited Wally and Adele Hirsh. See "Kohia Ko Taikaka Anoke” - "Strip away the sap kitted out tor bad weather on year - but then I also had all him boy clothes. Those Lower Hutt. Her review is on page 15. what she tound on page 36. wood, leave only the heart wood" Bob Jahnke surveys a line day, "Ah, you must those lovely failures." clothes mean Grandma.“ this important exhibition Maori art on page32. descend from Taharakau." Did you know thatwhen Edward, Prince oi Ann Robinson bowl Doll Stephen'5 clothes Wales, wore a Fair Isle jumper on a golt This issue also covers the usual potpourri Flax pakee (rain cape} course in I922, he started a tashion trend at news about events, people and places, which still endures? That the padding in the reviews oi exhibitions, and opinion. calves 0F mid-nineteenth century men's long- Touring Nationally: johns was not to keep them warm butto make In issue 37 we'II cover the conterences 0t them look sexy? Haveyou seen the undershirt Wellington National Art Gallery's Shed 1 1 17 November quiltmakers, cratt dyers and potters. The 1990 - 27 January 1991 \9 in which King Charles I was beheaded? Fletcher Challenge Ceramics Award, Art in Researcher Heather Nicholoson Found so orgflg‘gscefai’t: Auckiand Auckland Institute 82 Museum 23 February 1991 — 7 April 1991 y) Wool and the national exhibitions 0t potters / A: Council of much to tascinate her in a study trip to Britain and craft dyers will be reviewed. The Globe New Zealand Christchurch Robert McDougall Art Gallery 4 May 1991. - 23 June .1991 "'"Z'°'°"‘ last year that her report ran to titty pages. Theatre Hangings and the touring exhibition She discusses historical knitting on page 28 Dunedin Otago Museum 20 July 1991 - 1 September 1991 at Sub-Antarctic Art will also be covered, as of this issue. well as all our regular Features. More than any other craFt medium, glass Happy reading. The Globe Theatre Hangings - next issue. has been hit hard bythe economic downturn. Peter Gibbs, Editor. Presented by The Ford Motor Company of New Zealand Limited EDITORLAL LETTERS CONTENTS EDITH RYAN CRAFTNew Zealand I'm sure there are craftspeople throughout many skills. One holds one's breath for one PLAGIARISM REVISITED New Zealand wondering about the efficacy knows the small New Zealand market will FEATURES Publisher: of the Craft Design Courses. It will be the never sustain the I 20 odd student artists who I was horrified to see a letter in your last Crafts Council of New Zealand (Inc), 22 The Terrace, Wellington. Ph'IOA) 7270i 8, Fax (04)727003. people who proved themselves to be craft graduate each year. issue accusing Libby ShaIIard andJudy Hewin of plagiarism. Editor: artists, without the benefits of tertiary craft The polytechnics Glass of '91 are greatly concerned Peter Gibbs. education, who are most assiduously assess~ about this, and are devising courses, or The quilt in question was made as a Glass artists face high operating costs. With harder Assistant Editor: ing the courses which have now been in place negotiating to have some of their graduates commission fora private board room. What economic times only the most Julie Warren. for five years in eleven polytechnics through- enter a college of education to train as art happened to itand the use that itwas then put dedicated and crea- Editorial Address: out the country. teachers. Others will to later had nothing to do with the makers. tive can survive. How are they’coping? Helen train as curators, art RDI , Brightwater, Nelson. We do know quite categorically that New administrators, gallery personnel - directors, I quote from Pacific Quilts March I990 Schamroth surveyed the industry to see. Ph(054) 20716, Fax (054) 46020. Zealand produced some international fig- exhibition and education officers, conserva- page I I . ’Thequilt”Nova” by Katie Pasquini, Messages From the Spirit Advertising sales: ures in every craft media, before these cours- tors, consultants, critics, artists in industry appealed to Peter and Rinny Gordon of Edith Gibbs [Northern region), PhIO9) 640206. es began. We have always said they made and so on. We know for certain these Enzed Sewing Ltd, and Libby and Judy Louise Guerin visited a recent exhibition of the work Jan Cranston (Central and Southern regions), felt Ph(04) 686624. their names in a seIftaught way, and we have graduates will enrich our nation, for one way that part of this design used as a central of I 990 craft graduates. Here's what she thought. all been hugely proud of them. However, or another they will ensure the cultural influ- theme, would form the basis of a stunning Layout concept: recent research has revealed that the major- ences exerted on our people are expressed quilt.” 24 Kazu Nakagawa Lexicon Design Communications. ity of these senior 'greats' have had tertiary and encapsulated in art works which sustain layout and art direction: This is hardly the statement that would be Simplicity and elegance - a Japanese aesthetic on art education abroad or in our fine art our culture. Peter Gibbs and Julie Warren. made by people intenton passing off someone schools. Waiheke Island. Christine Thacker talks about this As the polytechnic courses have gathered eIse’s work as their own! Printing: woodworker. Anchor Press, Nelson. The visionaries who negotiated these momentum over these five years, the assidu- What Helen Bissland has stolen is not Subscriptions: courses with Russell Marshall's Education ous observers must surely be standing in 28 Historical Knitting someone’s design - it is two people's pro- Crafts Council of New Zealand.