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Panel
Discussion
Making the Story Visible: Educating our Audience on
Craft
June 2, 2006
Andrew
Glasgow, The Furniture Society, moderator;
Leslie Pryzbylek, Mid American Art Alliance
Deborah Smith, American Craft Council;
Susan Warner, Museum of Glass
Lynette Jennings, Eagleheart Center for Art and Inquiry
Deborah
Smith
The American Craft
Council was founded in 1943 with a mission to promote
the appreciation of contemporary craft. They host an
annual juried show, give an annual award and have a
13,000 volume library in New York City. The American
Craft Magazine has a circulation of 90,000. Education
is through public shows in 6 cities: Atlanta, Sarasota,
San Francisco, Baltimore, St. Paul and Charlotte. These
shows attract an audience of 60,000, and include 13,000
artisans. At each site, local organizations do craft
demonstrations.
The organization’s
focus has been to create an understanding of the current
state of craft and how it can be a conduit to the
future. Seeking to modernize the public’s view of
craft, they elevate the public’s perception by
demonstration of the process.
Another goal is to
influence the shapers of culture – for example, getting
a craftsperson on Oprah can lift the whole industry.
Educate on the value of hand-made products.
Marketing help for
the artists is part of the mission as is helping the
public be more informed. Having a designer on hand to
show the public how to display a piece links consumer
with artisan.
Survey Monkey is a
web tool used to quiz the consumers.
Leslie
Pryzbylek
The Mid-America
Arts Alliance is an organization which seeks to enrich
communities through cultural experience. Exhibitions
become access points for the education of the audience –
they create an opening and start a dialogue:
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The
Art of Gold – an exhibit with an intrinsically
exciting medium which ignited an interest in jewelry
making classes.
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Needle Art: A Post-Modern Sewing Circle – audience
had a positive and interactive response – they
wanted to start sewing, to take a class. The word
“post-modern”, however, had a negative response.
-
No
Boundaries was a basket making show in Durant
Oklahoma which invited 5th graders to interact and
try basket making.
Tying
an exhibit to a personal experience of the audience
creates more interest. In this way, craft has an
advantage over fine art because people feel, they can
actually do it, can take a class, can use things they
already have on hand. Craft has a more human scale.
www.maaa.org
Susan
Warner
The Pacific Northwest is one of the leaders in studio glass
with 500 glass studios including the Pilchuck School
founded by Dale Chihuly. The Museum of Glass is part of
the City of Tacoma’s efforts to save the decaying
central city – it is co-located with the Tacoma Art
Museum and the Historical Society. The Glass Museum is
the biggest “hot shop” in the world with 200 seats – it
turns glass blowing into performance art. .There is a
glassblowing staff, technicians, and a 5 day residency
program which brings in glassblowers and other artists
from all over the world.
One unique program allows
students, 12 and under, to submit plans for a piece of
glass. One design is chosen and the young creator
directs production. The resulting art works will be put
together for a traveling show marketed to children’s
museums.
Adult audiences
participate in an interactive Flash Application which
allows groups to vote on the design and color for a
piece of glass which can be created in the hot shop.
In the History of Glass lecture series, each
lecture is followed by a demonstration of the mentioned
techniques.
12,000 children tour the
Glass Museum each year. The information on the tours
has been designed to meet the Washington educational
guidelines.
Lynette
Jennings
The
public who are regularly in contact with the craft world
are ˝ of 1% of the population. We have no universal
arts education. In 1985 Lynette decided to teach
America about design via ˝ hour weekly TV programs. She
found the public was hungry for this information. To
communicate with the public it is necessary to break
down the fear about making decisions about art, the fear
of asking questions. The public generally doesn’t want
art education until they have to decorate or buy
something. Their only time is the weekend and there is
competition for that time. Forget arts jargon. In the
media you have 6 seconds to make an impression, so be
clear. Jargon is one wall between the arts community and
the general public.
Unapproachable art
galleries often are a wall, a way of keeping the
uninitiated out.
Another barrier is the
continual featuring of “star” and “dead” artists with
the astronomical prices. People are afraid to buy art
because:
1. They may not be able to return it
2. They may spend more than it is really “worth.”
3. Their friends and family might make them feel silly
for buying it.
Good advice to this public is to buy what they can
honestly relate to.
Think of the public not
as an audience, but as consumers – you have to get their
attention, speak their language, make them comfortable,
make them feel smart.
Open for Questions:
Question: What can we do to optimize our use of the
mass media?
Answer: “Close the loop.” Have your message appear
on TV, radio, and the print media at the same time.
Stretch it out over a period of time – depth and
breadth.
Don’t
expect national media to cover a local or regional
event. Match the quantity of your product to the push –
you don’t want to create a demand that can’t be met.
Personal stories play extremely well in the media – use
people to pique curiosity. Use your web site better.
The Museum of Glass has plans to “stream media” from the
hot shop.
Comment: There is an audience which does not buy, who
aren’t “consumers.” What they want is experience,
emotion, education. Emotion the connection for those
who want to know not how art is created, but why.
Question: What about corporate America? How can we get
them interested in fine crafts?
Answer:
Big boxes are looking for innovative things to save
them. Hand-made crafts might become part of their
plan. (An evil idea is Target taking an American hand
made craft and having copies knocked off in China.
The real problem is the quantity required by national
retailers. They will perhaps change their business
model to market local items.
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