PROVISIONAL SYLLABUS
AH 6250
Fall 2015
Art & Craft from William Morris to DIY
Professor Bibiana Obler
Email: bobler@gwu.edu
Office Hours: TBD
Tel: 202.994.4839
Office: Smith 108
This seminar examines the relationship between art and craft from the late nineteenth century to
the present, with an especial focus on the theory and history of craft as a distinctive approach to
creative production. Why did William Morris turn to handicraft as an alternative to the ills of
industrialization? What role did craft play in shaping national identity in Mexico, Japan, India,
etc.? How did the G.I. Bill result in a proliferation of craft studios across the United States? What
is the appeal of Etsy in the information age? We will consider craft through time as well as
space: where and when does the carving of African masks morph from craft to art—and back
again? When is sewing a handicraft and when (and where) is it the “mass production” of
sweatshops? In addressing questions such as these, we will draw on art history and criticism,
history, philosophy, and numerous primary texts by artists and their champions. In-class readings
will be complemented by visits to the National Museum of the American Indian, the National
Museum of African Art, and the Textile Museum. Students will have the opportunity to pursue
substantial research on a topic of their choosing.
Learning Objectives
Analytic and critical skills:
As a result of completing this course, students will be able to:
1. Read and appraise critically various types of written materials and artistic creations.
2. Analyze their content and context to derive overarching, broadly applicable concepts.
3. Analyze and evaluate abstract information.
4. Understand and analyze academic source materials and arguments, with an emphasis
on understanding theoretical claims and evaluating evidence.
Cross-cultural and comparative perspectives:
5. Apply overarching concepts to additional materials/objects and contexts.
6. Identify and analyze the impact of diverse cultural practices and experiences on
people’s thought and expression.
7. Use cultural comparison as a tool for understanding how social, cultural, and artistic
contexts shape understandings and the creative process.
8. Deploy a variety of writing genres in regard to the course material.
Visual Resources
You can view the course images on MDID (http://mdid.art.gwu.edu/). A selection of slides
relating to the readings will be available a week in advance of each discussion section.
Course Readings
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The following books should be available at the GWU Bookstore as well as on reserve at Gelman
Library:
• Rick A. López, Crafting Mexico: Intellectuals, Artisans, and the State after the
Revolution (Durham: Duke University Press, 2010)
• Elizabeth Hutchinson, The Indian Craze: Primitivism, Modernism, and
Transculturation in American Art, 1890-1915 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009)
• Rebecca Brown, Gandhi’s Spinning Wheel and the Making of India (London/New
York: Routledge, 2010)
• Kim Brandt, Kingdom of Beauty: Mingei and the Politics of Folk Art in Imperial Japan
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2007)
• Elissa Auther, String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010)
The remaining readings are available on electronic reserve through Blackboard.
Grading
15% attendance and class participation
• Please bring readings to class. This course emphasizes the exchange of ideas and
interpretations; attendance and participation are therefore essential.
15% weekly response papers and discussion questions
• See assignment.
20% exhibition review
• See assignment. 3-5 pages due XXXX.
15% student presentations
As a key component of your research project, you will do a Powerpoint presentation and
discuss the artworks and key issues you are working on. For everyone’s benefit, these
presentations should be lively and engaging, the better to prompt feedback that will be
valuable in the final revision of the papers.
35% research papers
The final paper is your chance to pursue in-depth research into a subject relating to
modern art and craft. Topics should be chosen in consultation with the instructor, and a
short proposal and preliminary bibliography will be due XXXX. Drawing on our readings
and discussions in addition to careful primary and secondary research, you will be
expected to craft a serious and original argument. Length: 15-20 pages.
Course Policies
• No laptops, smart or dumb phones, iPads, etc. etc. Discuss with me if you want to bring
readings on an electronic device.
• Late assignments will be docked a half-grade for every day they are overdue (B+ to B, B to B-;
or  to -, - to no credit). Requests for extensions will be considered if made at least two days
in advance of the due date.
• All written work should be double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point font, Times New Roman.
• If it will be necessary to miss class in observance of religious holidays, notify me accordingly
during the first week of class.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
I personally support the GW Code of Academic Integrity. It states: “Academic dishonesty is
defined as cheating of any kind, including misrepresenting one's own work, taking credit for the
work of others without crediting them and without appropriate authorization, and the fabrication
of information.” For the remainder of the code, see: http://www.gwu.edu/~ntegrity/code.html
SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES (DSS)
Any student who may need an accommodation based on the potential impact of a disability
should contact the Disability Support Services office at 202-994-8250 in the Marvin Center,
Suite 242, to establish eligibility and to coordinate reasonable accommodations. For additional
information please refer to: http://gwired.gwu.edu/dss/
UNIVERSITY COUNSELING CENTER (UCC) 202-994-5300
The University Counseling Center (UCC) offers 24/7 assistance and referral to
address students' personal, social, career, and study skills problems. Services for students
include:
- crisis and emergency mental health consultations
- confidential assessment, counseling services (individual and small group), and referrals
http://gwired.gwu.edu/counsel/CounselingServices/AcademicSupportServices
SECURITY
In the case of an emergency, if at all possible, the class should shelter in place. If the building
that the class is in is affected, follow the evacuation procedures for the building. After
evacuation, seek shelter at a predetermined rendezvous location.
UNIVERSITY POLICY ON RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS:
1. Students should notify faculty during the first week of the semester of their intention to be
absent from class on their day(s) of religious observance;
2. Faculty should extend to these students the courtesy of absence without penalty on such
occasions, including permission to make up examinations;
3. Faculty who intend to observe a religious holiday should arrange at the beginning of the
semester to reschedule missed classes or to make other provisions for their course-related
activities
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SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
September 2: Introduction
September 9: What is craft?
• Glenn Adamson, Thinking through Craft (Oxford/New York: Berg, 2007), Introduction (pp. 17) and selections: pp. 9-14, 39-43, 69-78, 103-106, 139-143, 165-69, and notes, 171-201
• R.G. Collingwood, The Principles of Art (London: Oxford University Press, 1938/1978), 15-41
• David Pye, The Nature and Art of Workmanship (Cambridge University Press, 1968), 4-8, 7182
RESPONSE PAPER DUE
Prompt: How do these writers help us understand what craft is?
September 16: Craft, capitalism, empire
• Tim Barringer, Men at Work: Art and Labour in Victorian Britain (London: Yale University
Press, 2005), Introduction and chapter 5, pp. 1-19, 243-311 and notes, 323-27, 363-71
• Karl Marx, Capital (1867/1887), as excerpted in Glenn Adamson, ed., The Craft Reader (New
York: Berg, 2010), 69-77
• William Morris, “The Revival of Handicraft” (1888), in William Morris on Art & Design, ed.
Christine Poulson (Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), 186-97
RESPONSE PAPER DUE
Prompt: What is the significance of craft for Marx and Morris?
September 23: Crafting Mexico
• Rick A. López, Crafting Mexico: Intellectuals, Artisans, and the State after the Revolution
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2010) [Note: this is a lot of reading, but it’s ok to read
strategically and do some skimming.]
RESPONSE PAPER DUE
Prompt: What was the role of craft in shaping national identity in Mexico after the
Revolution?
September 30: Crafting the Native American
• Elizabeth Hutchinson, The Indian Craze: Primitivism, Modernism, and Transculturation in
American Art, 1890-1915 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009), Introduction, chapters 1-3,
and Epilogue, pp. 1-129, 221-34, and notes pp. 235-50, 259-61
DUE: EXHIBITION REVIEW
October 7: Crafting India
• Rebecca Brown, Gandhi’s Spinning Wheel and the Making of India (London/New York:
Routledge, 2010), Introduction and chapters 3-5, pp. 1-17, 66-116, and notes, pp. 117-19, 122-29
• Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, “Indian Handicrafts” (1963) excerpted in Adamson, Craft Reader,
192-98
DISCUSSION QUESTION DUE
October 14: Crafting Japan
• Kim Brandt, Kingdom of Beauty: Mingei and the Politics of Folk Art in Imperial Japan
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2007)
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• Sôetsu Yanagi, "The Way of Craftsmanship" (1927) in The Unknown Craftsman (1972),
excerpted in Adamson, Craft Reader, 167-76
• Bernard Leach, A Potter’s Book (1940), excerpted in Adamson, Craft Reader, 177-85
DISCUSSION QUESTION DUE
PROPOSAL & WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
October 21: The Art of Studio Craft
• Glenn Adamson, “Gatherings: Creating the Studio Craft Movement,” in Crafting Modernism:
Midcentury America Art and Design, ed. Jeannine Falino (New York: Abrams / Museum of Arts
& Design, 2011), 32-48
• Rose Slivka, “The New Ceramic Presence,” Craft Horizons 21, no. 4 (July-August 1961): 3134
• Cheryl White, “Towards an Alternative History: Otis Clay Revisited,” American Craft 53, no. 4
(August 1993): 120-25
• Garth Clark, “Otis and Berkeley: Crucibles of the American Clay Revolution,” in Color and
Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1950-2000, ed. Jo Lauria (Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, 2000), 122-56
• Andrew J. Perchuk, “Time in Mid-Twentieth Century Ceramics,” American Art 21, no. 1
(Spring 2007): 10-13
DISCUSSION QUESTION DUE
October 28: Craft’s Role in Feminism
• Norma Broude, “Miriam Schapiro and ‘Femmage’: Reflections on the Conflict between
Decoration and Abstraction in Twentieth-Century Art,” Arts Magazine 54, no. 6 (February
1980): 83-87
• Patricia Mainardi, “Quilt: The Great American Art,” in Feminism and Art History: Questioning
the Litany, ed. Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard (New York: Harper & Row, 1982), 331-46
• Lucy R. Lippard, “Making Something from Nothing (Towards a Definition of Women’s
‘Hobby Art’),” Heresies 4 (Winter 1978): 62-65
• Elissa Auther, String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010), Introduction and chapter 3, pp. xi-xxx, 93162, and notes, pp. 179-82, 198-206
DISCUSSION QUESTION DUE
November 4: Contemporary Craft
• Julia Bryan-Wilson, Liz Collins, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Cat Mazza, and Allison Smith, “The
Politics of Craft: A Roundtable,” in Adamson, Craft Reader, 620-28
• Betsy Greer, “Craftivist History,” in Extra/ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art, ed. Maria
Elena Buszek (Durham: Duke University Press, 2011), 175-83
• Kirsty Robertson, “Embroidery Pirates and Fashion Victims: Textiles, Craft and Copyright,”
Textile 8, no. 1 (March 2010): 86-111
DISCUSSION QUESTION DUE
November 11: Art and Craft of Africa and the African Diaspora
**** FIELD TRIP: Smithsonian National Museum of African Art ****
• Susan Vogel, “Introduction,” in ART/artifact: African Art in Anthropology Collections (New
York: Center for African Art, 1988), 11-17
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• Alice Walker, “Everyday Use” (1967), in In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women (San
Diego: Harvest, 1973), 47-59
DISCUSSION QUESTION DUE
November 18: Textile Museum
**** FIELD TRIP: GW Museum & Textile Museum ****
THANKSGIVING BREAK
December 2: Student Presentations
December 9: Student Presentations
December 11: FINAL PAPERS DUE by 5 pm in my mailbox, Smith 101
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