Arts and Crafts Movement - history

The Arts and Crafts Movement was a late 19th century design reform and social movement. Its proponents were motivated by the ideals of William Morris and John Ruskin, who proposed that in pre-industrial societies, such as the European Middle Ages, people had achieved fulfillment through the creative process of handicrafts. This was held up in contrast to what was perceived to be the alienating effects of industrial labour.

Works Progress Administration, Crafts Class, 1935.

These activities are called crafts because originally many of them were professions under the guild system. Adolescents were apprenticed to a master-craftsman, and they refined their skills over a period of years in exchange for low wages. By the time their training was complete, they were well-equipped to set up in trade for themselves, earning their living with the skill that could be traded directly within the community, often for goods and services. The Industrial Revolution and the increasing mechanisation of production processes gradually reduced or eliminated many of the roles professional craftspeople played, and today "crafts" are most commonly seen as a form of hobby or art. The term craft also refers to the products of artistic production or creation that require a high degree of tacit knowledge, are highly technical, require specialized equipment and/or facilities to produce, involve manual labour or a blue-collar work ethic, are accessible to the general public and are constructed from materials with histories that exceed the boundaries of western art history, such as ceramics, glass, textiles, metaland wood. These products are produced within a specific community of practice and while they differ from the products produced within the communities of art and design, the boundaries of such often overlap resulting in hybrid objects. Additionally, as the interpretation and validation of art is frequently a matter of context, an audience may perceive crafted objects as art objects when these objects are viewed within an art context, such as in a museum or in a position of prominence in one's home. The term can also refer to the useful rural crafts of the agricultural countryside. Craftsmanship refers to Plato's idea of specialization, in which the lower society has a specific job in the greater society so that it functions properly as a whole.

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Decorative arts, handicrafts, arts and crafts

Textile

Banner-making Canvas work Cross-stitch Crocheting Curve stitching Embroidery Felting Friendship bracelet Knitting Lacemaking Lucet Macrame Millinery Needlepoint Needlework Patchwork Quilting Ribbon embroidery Rug hooking Rug making Se art Tapestry Tatting Tie-dye Weaving

Paper Wood Cerami c Metal Other

Bookbinding Calligraphy Cardmaking Card Modelling Collage Decoupage Embossing Iris folding Marbling Origami Kirigami P mch Scrapbooking Stamping Wallpaper Cabinet making Carpentry Chip carving bniste Fretwork Intarsia Marquetry Wood burning Wood carving Woodturning Azulejo Bone china Cameo glass Earthenware Glassware Porcelain Pottery Stained glass Stoneware Terracotta Jewellery Silversmithing

Assemblage Beadwork Bone carving Doll making Dollhouse Egg decorating Engraved gems Hardstone carving Lathart Lapidary Leatherworking Miniatures Micromosaic Mosaic Pietra dura Pressed flower craft Scrimshaw Straw marq

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