Sloppy Craft: Postdisciplinarity and the Crafts

Description

Sloppy Craft: Postdisciplinarity and the Crafts brings together leading international artists and critics to explore the possibilities and limitations of the idea of 'sloppy craft' - craft that is messy or unfinished looking in its execution or appearance, or both. The contributors address 'sloppiness' in contemporary art and craft practices including painting, weaving, sewing and ceramics, consider the importance of traditional concepts of skill, and the implications of sloppiness for a new 21st century emphasis on inter- and postdisciplinarity, as well as for activist, performance, queer and Aboriginal practices. In addition to critical essays, the book includes a 'conversation' section in which contemporary artists and practitioners discuss challenges and opportunities of 'sloppy craft' in their practice and teaching, and an afterword by Glenn Adamson.

Elaine Cheasley Paterson is Associate Professor of Craft History at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. Susan Surette is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Art History and Critical Studies at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, Halifax, Canada and a professional artist.

Sloppy Craft is edited with precision and wit. It is an important, of the moment, contribution to craft writing. It crosses boundaries of practice with elegance and rigour, defining Sloppy Craft in ways that are appealing as well as polemical. There is writing of the first order from some of the most significant authors in the field. -- Simon Olding Director, Crafts Study Centre, UK Elaine Cheasley Paterson and Susan Surette have brought together diverse, uniformly thoughtful writings making the case that the concept of Sloppy Craft is not a contradictory one. Much as the artists in this book explore art practices that simultaneously challenge and reassert traditions of art-making disciplines, so do its authors illuminate how "sloppy craft" similarly challenges and reasserts traditions of skill. Sloppy Craft is an exciting, necessary new addition to the growing discourse on craft and contemporary art. -- Maria Elena Buszek, the University of Colorado Denver, USA Sloppy Craft's collection of essays is a welcome addition to a relatively small canon of craft theory in the twenty-first century. It offers a broad array of perspectives to consider, and these always within historical contexts. * International Journal of Education Through Art *