BSHUM1130b

Module specification template

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Title

/ Visions and Achievements: British crafts since the 1950s
Code / HD 334
Level / 6
Credit rating / 40
Pre-requisites / An ability to identify and analyse key issues and
problems in an oral presentation and in an extended
essay and to utilise appropriate visual and textual
material (including primary source material when
accessible), as specified in Level 2 Objectives.
Type of module / Compulsory Special Subject; regular 3-hour weekly
sessions over a semester
Aims / 1 To develop a familiarity with the work of contemporary makers and current debates surrounding it
2 To stimulate the ability to assess the validity of a
range of differing critical perspectives in writings on
contemporary crafts
3 To develop a range of methodological approaches to research in this area.
Learning outcomes/objectives / 1 A knowledge of contemporary craft production
across a range of genres
2 The development of a critical awareness of how
critical theory has been and can be meaningfully
applied to contemporary craft
3 The development of a range of methodological
approaches to analyse objects, images, and texts in the
study of contemporary craft.
Content / Since the beginnings of industrialisation, the status and significance of the handcrafted object have been continuously re-examined and re-assessed. During the twentieth century, within the context of mass-produced design, the ‘One-off’ or limited production piece has been invested with a whole range of new meanings by both makers and consumers. For the past few years practitioners and theorists have been raising questions about the critical reception of the crafts – should a ‘different language’ (one not based on fine art or design models) be developed for writing on, and exhibiting, the crafts and would a new approach be helped or hindered by the institutions which exist for their promotion and support?
The success of the conference ‘Obscure Objects of Desire: Reviewing the Crafts in the Twentieth Century; held at the University of East Anglia in January 1997, was a strong indication of a new and high level of interest in craft production as an area of academic research. In subsequent years this had been sustained and further demonstrated by increasing numbers of publications. The course will begin by examining a range of critical writing, to assess a variety of approaches, and then progress to an investigation, based where possible upon primary research, of objects, makers and institutions which over the past fifty years have constituted the crafts in this country. This will provide the opportunity, not only to make a critical assessment of national provision, but also to engage with the thriving local crafts community of Brighton and Hove.
Teaching and learning strategies / Introductory lectures followed by student-led
seminars: 3 hours per week over a semester
Group study visit: 3 hours
Private study: 20 hours per week
Learning support / Indicative bibliography:
Adamson, Glenn Thinking Through Craft, Oxford, Berg, 2007
Adamson, Glenn (ed) The Craft Reader, Oxford, Berg, 2010
Appadurai, Arjun (ed) The Social Life of Things: commodities in cultural perspective, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1986
Bourdieu, Pierre Distinction: a social critique of the judgment of taste, London, Routledge, 1984
Channon, Anne Contemporary crafts in museums, London, South east museums Service,1994
Coatts Margot (ed)Pioneers of Modern Craft, Manchester, Manchester University Press,1997
Crafts Council, The New Spirit in Craft and Design London, Crafts Council, 1987
Crafts Council, Obscure Objects of Desire: Reviewing the crafts in the twentieth century, London, Crafts Council1997
Dormer, Peter The Culture of Craft, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1999
Greenhalgh, Paul (ed) The Persistence of Craft,London, A&C Black, 2002
Harrod, Tanya The Crafts in Britain in the 20th Century, Newhaven, Yale University Press,1999
Ioannou, Noris Craft in Society; an anthology of persepectives, Sputh Fremantle, Fremantle Arts Centre Press,1992
Racz, Imogen, Contemporary Crafts, Oxford, Berg, 2009
Rowley, Sue (ed) Craft and contemporary theory, St l
Leonards NSW, Allen and Unwin, 1997
Two special issues of The Journal of Design History devoted to the crafts – vol 2, nos 2&3, 1989; vol 10, no 4, 1997
External resources
Museums and libraries in Brighton and Hove, East
Sussex, and London
Assessment tasks / Assessment tasks
• Two seminar presentations: one focussing on critical
texts on contemporarya crafts and the other on
specific themes and makers
(50%)
• Special Subject open examination paper (3 x 2,000
word essays) (50%)
Brief description of module content and/or aims (maximum 80 words) / This unit encourages students to familiarise themselves with the work of present day crafts people within the context of the history of making and to examine ways of understanding this through contemporary theory.
Area examination board to which module relates / Academic Programme in History of Art and Design
Module team/authors/coordinator / Jill Seddon
Semester offered, where appropriate / 1
Site where delivered / Pavilion Parade
Date of first approval / 2000
Date of last revision
Date of approval of this version
Version number / 2
Replacement for previous module
Field for which module is acceptable and status in that field / n/a
Course(s) for which module is acceptable and status in that course / Compulsory Core Special Subject Fashion and Dress History; History of Design, Culture and Society; Museum and Heritage Studies; Visual Culture
School home / Humanities
External examiner / Dr Caroline Pullee/Prof. Gen Doy/Nicholas Oddy

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