As an emerging artist myself, I have an acute interest in what is happening in the craft scene for young people and emerging craft artists.  I feel I represent some of the younger members of the Craft Council by being on the board, and I’m always curious to see what it is other young and emerging artists have to say about our field and the cultural life in general.

I was very happy to see that CODA had young professionals in craft as one of their themes this year.  There has been much discussion amongst administrators and directors of arts groups about the graying of the population within those institutions.  Where are the young people, the emerging artists?  I should clarify what I mean by “emerging artist”.  A young artist is usually an emerging artist, but not every emerging artist is young.  An emerging artist is one that has no real experience, hasn’t been in very many shows, doesn’t have that much work yet, is just new in their vision, is just finding their voice.  Therefore a young artist – one just out of school with a shiny new BFA, or one who has not received institutionalized education but is nevertheless pursuing their creativity – is usually an emerging artist.  There are plenty of emerging artists, though, who are not young.  They are older, um, adults, OK, they’re over 40 or 50 or older.  These are the people going into a second career, or finally dedicating some serious time to a practice that they have been pursuing off and on for years. 

As we experience the zenith of the baby boomer generation, there have been endless discussions about the graying of the general population, let alone in the crafts.  There just IS a big bump in the population, most of whom are now heading for retirement.  The reality is that there just aren’t as many people coming up through their careers to move into these positions.  The result is younger and younger individuals are hired into administration positions and there are less qualified people available for some of the really tough jobs.  In reaction to some of this dearth being experienced, the more senior folks amongst us are looking increasingly to the younger and younger generations.  They’re thinking about how to attract young artists and cultural workers.  How do you bring in young exhibitors and young attendees to the big craft shows?  Perhaps more importantly - how do you cultivate the young collectors?  There’s talk of new ways of finding volunteers in the youth, attracting new members that are older, those who have become full time artists later on in life.  Young craftsters sometimes have issues of being tied to one medium and aren’t interested in single media groups anymore.  There is a need for a more mentoring philosophy within institutions and arts groups.  In the CODA peer session that I attended, they talked briefly about incentives for students, such as 24/7 studio access, cross pollination of media, emerging artists awards and scholarships, studio set up and supply grants, professional practices workshops, providing more info and support with the business side.

There was a lot of use of the word “incubator”.  Established institutions and groups are trying out a number of these incentives to test the waters with emerging artists, their work, how they’ll fit into the huge gift shows, the craft council’s galleries, finding ways to incorporate the new and edgy into the more mainstream, traditional, aspects of fine craft. 

So what are emerging artists doing?   I was thrilled to meet Jay Kimball, a co-coordinator for the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador.  He couldn’t have been more enthusiastic and full of great ideas about young people within the arts and culture scene.  He was saying his craft council is committed to supporting emerging artists in a number of ways.  They continually push the high value of craft and promote the cultural life, but they really push educating all demographics about the arts, creating employment opportunities within their economically challenged area and creating awareness about environmental issues through the arts.  Those movements alone would attract young artists, but they went further and have really focused on new emerging artists, hiring young people, helping with start up grants, and putting a young person on each standing committee within the council.  They have an entire youth committee, to better communicate the youth perspective, to aid in planning for the future of the council.  The council had been seen as not youth friendly and they have really gone out of their way to change that.  Jay says he is a craftivist – a craft activist, interested in empowering youth. 

Dawn Detarando represented those people who are full time artists, doing production work, one of a kind gallery work, commissions and public sculpture.  She is one busy lady, who has also recently joined the board of the ACC.  Dawn experienced some excellent mentoring early on in her career, support from teachers and organizations that really worked for her.  They helped open her eyes to the world of huge craft shows, the kinds of craft organizations and programs that help continue the process of introducing young artisans to the craft field. 

Kari Woo is a metalsmith who received her BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design and is now one of the owners of InFlux Gallery, a jewelry and metals gallery at ArtCentral in downtown Calgary.  Kari is at the forefront of interesting happenings for young craftsters in Calgary.  She recently started a new crafts collective that aims to create a more cohesive community for emerging artists dealing with a singular lack of exhibition space in this city.  Kari is a blogger and a craftivist, as well as an active member of the ACC. 

Maegan Black is a young emerging artist that has taken an interesting turn in her career, she is now administrative direct for the Canadian Crafts Federation.  Maegan has shown herself to be a real asset to the CCF, as well as MAGazine and the Metal Arts Guild, where she is currently a board member.  Maegan will tell you that she values the knowledge to be gained from the cultural leaders in place in organizations right now. 

I believe that there are about the same number of young people graduating from institutions with art degrees and practicing in the crafts (or emerging artists taking up their craft medium in a serious manner) as there ever have been in the past, proportionally.  I also believe that these same young and emerging artists are not necessarily joining craft media groups, and are generally not aware of the resources available to them – either through not looking or rejecting what they perceive to be backward, not innovative, traditional, mainstream. 

Craft artists have always been an insular type of person, obsessed with their own practice and perfectly prepared to remain stuck in their own world, of their own making.  Crafters seem to always want to find their own way, even if it means re-inventing the wheel every time.

There is nothing new in emerging artists wanting to do in their own way, but I would say artists now tend to not see themselves as belonging to what has come before and tend to reject the more traditional practices and mainstream galleries. 

Young artists that think they’ve found their voice in their work are wary of diluting that voice by going to others for help with their career.  Young people don’t necessarily want to talk to older artists and see how they’ve done it, they want to create their own path and do it their own way.  In general, I’ve always found it’s best to find out what’s come before so you can truly find your own path and really (in the larger history and context) do it your own way.  To quote Mahatma Ghandi: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”. 

Craft is about selling your vision, your voice, it’s an individual type of thing.  We’re a group of artistic individuals, with a sense of community within the larger social construct. Young people that have found their niche, their medium, their voice, may not feel that sense of community because they think they will have to change their voice.  They don’t necessarily join existing groups, or even join in on joint exhibitions, because they think their work is so new and innovative that it doesn’t fit in with what has come before.  To be a part of the crafts community, though, participation is key.  Sell your voice, be the maker that you want to be but continue to learn from the makers that have come before you.  It’s so valuable to learn the how and whys of the people and organizations that do exist.  See what they’ve been doing, find out what programs are available.  Never have there been so many incentives to draw in the youth.  They really do want to hear what the young and emerging artists have to say.  Be green, be a craftivist, have a social agenda, even if the senior artists roll their eyes, be who you gotta be, but listen to what they have to say, process it and take what it is you want to take from their experience.

Schools, craft councils, government funding bodies, guilds, societies, are realizing that they have to continue with educating the public about the value of arts and culture, continue to cultivate a collector base and appreciation within curricula for hands-on craft practice.  As in the past, they expect young and emerging artists to join the large groups, start some of their own, go to symposia, attend lectures, find out what others in the scene have to say, then come out and say what they have to say as well.  Those established in the crafts do respect emerging artist’s words and artwork all the more if they are aware of a sense of history and context. 

I think now is a fantastic time to be in the craft sector.  There have been more and more news stories in the mainstream media about the value of the arts within wider society, as well as a general growing interest in all things handmade.  Discretionary shopping dollars are going more and more to good design, local materials, local artisans, the look and feel and cachet of something unique, beautiful to behold.  Not only are more and more consumers interested in where their objects come from and who made them, there is even a movement towards information on the sheep that donated the wool for the wool sweater you just purchased, and what part of the province the clay came from that your pot was formed with.  If ever there was such a thing as leaving your fingerprints in the clay as the mark of the maker, now is the time.  It’s becoming valued, as an extension of the voice of the artist, representing the vision of the maker, and denoting status for the consumer.

So, attending CODA was very cool.  I was proud of how well the conference ran thanks to the Alberta Craft Council staff and volunteers.  I was proud to be a Canadian and to brag about our achievements within the arts and crafts culture.  I was thrilled to see the All About Alberta show at the Nickle Gallery at the University of Calgary.  I was proud to consider myself one of the emerging artists in this province, with a number of my peers on the panel explaining to the CODA attendees just how interesting and vibrant we really are.  It was really fun to watch the Bee Kingdom boys doing demonstrations in their workshop during the CODA social on the Saturday evening, and it was very satisfying to know that there were some excellent connections made during this conference, not just cross border, but even within our local community.  Craft artists of all ages came together to celebrate and talk about ourselves – we really do foster community, we can’t help ourselves.
 

By: TARA OWEN