Crafting
Central to the project is the consideration of Marquetry as a craft. No one can have avoided the renaissance of knitting over the last few years and concurrent interest in ‘crafting'. Not only as an art form but the activity itself, crafting is hip? A number of cultural and social factors can be seen to be responsible for driving this trend in ‘making' that not only affects artists but all sorts of people in many different ways.
I have a lot of research to do work on in regard to this side of the project. Earlier in the year a conference held at the University of Dundee addressed craft research in its varying guises. Socially engaged craft, craftivism, the ethnographic slant and industrial processes; all important and relevant stuff.
Does Marquetry relate to a particular gender? I'd say it is a practice dominated more by males and traditionally furniture and cabinet making would have been a male dominated profession. In the resurgence of craft we experience now is this influenced by gender? I'm not sure this is important or that I am that interested in the issue but I do generally associate woodworking with men I think.
Unlike knitting Marquetry can't be done at the bus stop and neither can many other crafts. I think there is too large a gap between how craft is being redefined. From the activist, make do and mend attitude to the design approach- meticulous detail of the highest quality. Discovering what ‘craft' can actually mean today is essential.
I think it is easy for craftsmen to get hung up on the definitions of Art and Craft as they as terms have come to be viewed in opposition. Looking at how the two overlap and even if they are distinct from one another could prove positive, even put an end to a debate that has really run out of steam.
