3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Redefining a traditional craft: practices of blacksmithing in the artwork of Tom Joyce(2016-02-19) Warrender, PaolaIn this study I focus on the creative practice of American artist Tom Joyce and examine how his work can be seen to redefine the traditional craft of blacksmithing. Joyce uses traditional and contemporary blacksmithing techniques to form contemporary sculptures as well as functional items such as custom made architectural and lighting fixtures, vessels, and furniture. He thus brings together fine arts and traditional craft practices in bridging the categories of fine art, craft and design. Through appropriate design, the recycling of selected metal materials and community involvement he creates social awareness around environmental issues as well as highlighting cultural craft practices. The imparting of metalsmithing skills that Joyce has been involved in through teaching groups and individuals by way of apprenticeships and workshops is of particular interest to my own artistic blacksmithing practice. As a maker of forged sculptural works, I have over the last ten years used my work and experience of blacksmithing in facilitating life skills training for South African children and youth, recognizing the value in passing on such skills and experience. The primary aim of my research is to examine how the adoption of a traditional craft practice such as blacksmithing into the realm of fine art may be shown to provide a tool to invigorate sculpture within social and educational contexts. In my research, I draw mainly on writings in the fields of anthropology and craft theory. Texts by anthropologists Tim Ingold, Alfred Gell, Mircea Eliade and Charles M. Keller and Janet Dixon Keller are consulted in my examination of the craft of blacksmithing as an “essential alchemy of art” (Gell in Adamson (ed.), 2010: 464) in which materials and the ideas associated with such materials are used and transformed. Looking at the craft and mythological significance of metalsmithing in relation to Joyce’s creative practice, I go on to consider the potentially transformative experience that the development of metalsmithing craft skills can entail. Writings on contemporary craft by Glenn Adamson, Howard Risatti, Bruce Metcalf and others are brought into my discussion to further elucidate on the value of craft-based work. I finally outline my own creative work produced for this degree in relation to the above.Item Encounters with the controversial teaching philosophy of the Johannesburg Art Foundation in the development of South African art during 1982-1992(2015-05-25) Castle, ElizabethThe Johannesburg Art Foundation (JAF), founded in 1982 by Bill Ainslie, maintained a teaching philosophy which opposed any form of discrimination and stressed that art education should be a possibility for everyone. There was no prescribed curriculum and the programme was not dependent on an external educational authority. I argue that particularly in the decade 1982-1992, the South African apartheid government's educational policy towards cultural activities was prescriptive, stifling and potentially paralysing for many artists. Nevertheless, the teaching at the JAF sustained a flexibility and tolerance of ideas combined with an emancipatory ambition that promoted exchange. The philosophy was infused with a social justice and a political activism agenda squarely in opposition to the separatist apartheid education laws. This study contextualizes the impact and efficacy of the teaching approach at the JAF in terms of its intellectual, social and political perspectives during the years 1982-1992. This teaching approach prompted acerbic encounters within the competing systems of formal and informal institutions. It is this controversial anomaly signifying elements of collision in the pursuit of developing modernism that are investigated to some extent. Personal involvement as an artist and teacher, during the period 1982-1992, allowed my contribution and participation in the development of the teaching philosophy. The paucity of available literature on the subject has stimulated a comprehensive preliminary investigation of the way in which the JAF cultivated alternative educational policies. The individual methodologies and personal experiences extracted from interviews with artists, Council Members and members of staff are documented in order to provide a detailed characterisation of the values of the JAF. In addition, original documentation representative of the genealogy of the JAF forms part of the curatorial practice for the exhibition Controversial ways of seeing at the Bag Factory Gallery. The JAF declined from 1992 and finally ceased to exist in 2001.