Altruism, Activism and the Moral Imperative in Craft

By Gabriel Craig

Presented at the Society of North American Goldsmiths ConferenceMarch 11, 2010Houston, TX

Introduction

Morality is subjective. Being in the

right

– so to speak – is culturally relative. Toassume that one is right by applying western judio-christian values can be the first stepdown the road toward imperialism. However, supposing that this lecture is particularlymeant to apply to western practitioners, and that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happinessare universal values, then we have arrived at the timely place where this lecture findsitself, on the precipice of craft’s institutional reform.Disclaimer complete, my goal today is to fundamentally change the way youthink about craft. At the end of my talk I hope that you will believe, as I do, that craft ismost relevant to society when it is a social reform movement. I will present my case inthree parts. The history of craft is filled with objects whose existence springs from aculturally relevant moral impetus. The first part of my talk will briefly illustrate thishistory and touch on key periods and objects that fundamentally changed our relationshipwith crafted objects. The second part of this talk will show that the marketplace andinstitutions of craft can be restructured to emphasize moral production. Finally, in partthree, I will examine the emergence of altruistic, activist, and social projects rooted incraft skills and ethos. (change, wait change again)

Part 1 - Altruism, Activism and the Moral Imperative in (Western) History

Before delving into the subject of the moral imperative it is necessary to qualify the termin the context of this talk. (click) A moral imperative is an idea or attribute embedded inan object, the goal of which is to improve the object’s value through an appeal to aviewer or user’s sense of justness and rightness. Sometimes this idea is the impetus for the creation of the object. Often the idea has a direct correlation with monetary value, butnot always. (change)The moral imperative in the western tradition begins with small statuary around22,000 BCE.

The Venus of Willendorf is the earliest example. The prevailingscholarship of the Venus contends that it is a fertility talisman, reflecting the culturalvalue of fecundity and childbirth. (change)Several thousand years later, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans also producedobjects that reflected their cultural beliefs. The prophylactic rings of these Mediterraneancultures invest psychological power in a craft object by using symbols of deities that were believed to protect the wearer. “Snakes were the symbol of a number of deities associatedwith healing. Worn as an amulet, the snake protected its wearer.”

In these objects we begin to see the abstraction of embedded symbols. Unlike the Venus, whose overt physical characteristics represent fertility, one wouldn’t see a gold snake and think of protection unless they belonged to that culture. Further, the protective value of the objectsupersedes any monetary value it may possess. Additionally, these objects allowed thewearer to connect with important culturally-specific, faith-based icons. I think it safe to

Witcombe, Venus of Willendorf. 2003.

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/objectid/O122227, April 14, 2009.