COLUMBIA

Touching Hands: A Challenge to Craftspeople 2y Bertina Matzkuhn

ears ago I exhibited a fabric arts work I called “Sharp Turn.”

It was hand-embroidered, depicting a memory of driving to

Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island. There was a
clear night sky, a full moon and a pantheon of trees partially illumin-
ated by the headlights. Announced by a yellow sign with a bent arrow
on it, the road veered around a cliff. After the show, the gallery passed
an unsigned note on to me. The writer described how it evoked mem-
orable road trips and the constant longing to know what was around
the corner. The person regretted not having enough money to buy it,
but wanted me to know of the many memories it conjured. I keep
this scrap of paper in my desk. It reassures me. There is no mention of
medium or theory; it is simply a response, a generous gesture.

Gestures of support are important to me as a creative person. I work
in textiles, embroidering by hand, printing and painting fabrics to use
in my work. It is a slow, solitary pursuit and I am never sure how the
work will be received. My friends and family wax enthusiastic, but I
fear they are too diplomatic. Even on the opening night of a show,
or at a presentation of my work, I have little detailed feedback from
viewers. I am discouraged when people look at the work and say “My
grandmother does this stuff’ or suggest helpfully, “Why don’t you get
a machine to do this?” The comment book from a gallery show often
has either very kind words or ones to the effect of “what is this crap?”,
but they are rarely specific. What that stranger gave me was a small but
tangible reply, a sense of how it had spoken to them.

I am reminded of watching my son’s high school basketball games
when the teams line up on either side of the basket so one player
could take a foul shot. Some wiry boy at the shooting line would focus
himself and launch his first attempt out of two. Then his teammates
would all step over to touch his hands before the second shot whether
or not the first one had gone in. ] wonder what would constitute a
parallel in the crafts community? How can we find the equivalent of
this gesture? How can a process that is often meditative and personal
—no cheering fans here—be acknowledged and celebrated publicly?

An obvious way is to acquire another person's work, but most of us
don't have significant amounts of spending money. Another way is to
attend the exhibition openings of our peers, raising a glass to the new
body of work. But I think the most significant way of “touching hands”
in the crafts community is to write about each other. The written word
can be more durable than a pat on the back. Through writing one can
toot another’s horn. And toot the horn intelligently: to describe why
the work is significant, why the process is relevant to the finished piece,
and to describe a greater context for the work. Writing connects the
maker and viewer by explaining the impetus behind the work, how the
maker has arrived at his/her form of expression (never a straight line)
and the adventures, innovations and metaphors bound in with the
making. Paula Gustafson, in a presentation at a conference hosted at
the Alberta College of Art and Design and the University of Calgary,
talked about the absence of a national (English) magazine devoted
to craft. She described how writing “documents artistic endeavor”
and that the shortage of writing on craft makes us “invisible.” Lack of
written documentation means lack of resources for teaching, a lack of
analysis of the position the work inhabits, both in the craftsperson’s
body of work and on a grander, cultural, international scale. Lack of
writing means a lack of promotion and celebration.

It is easy, as craftspeople, to maintain that we are not writers. But

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - February 2009

writing is a craft like any other. The first attempts are wobbly but
improve with persistence. Writing is a craft-like practice in the sense
of working the material, the same way I pin, cut and colour fabric,
embroidering, embellishing, ripping it out, re-working the piece.
‘The craftspeople I have interviewed, as a paid or volunteer writer,
are articulate, perceptive, witty, well-educated people. There is much
to discuss. I feel that we are uniquely qualified to write about each
other as we have an appreciation for the process and practices in craft
disciplines, the way athletes on a team know and admire one another's
investment, special skills and personal breakthroughs. Describing and
analyzing our responses to another's work often results in the focusing
of ideas around our own work.

And so I challenge you to take this on. Volunteer to write a short
essay as a handout for a peer’s exhibition. It would serve as an
introduction and a record. Send in a review to a local paper. It may be
rejected, but that is part of any creative process. The writing could be
critical. Ifit is undertaken in a sincere spirit, it will generate discussion,
even controversy. The writing could be as understated as touching the
hands of the person taking the foul shot or as jubilant as a high five.
‘The tiny note left to me has the kernel of how we must begin to write:
as a generous response.

Bettina Matzkuhn fas worked in the fibre arts since 1976 (see www.
bettinamatzkuhn.ca), She also writes professionally on the arts and
teaches as a sessional instructor at Emily Carr University. This article was
originally commissioned by the Canadian Crafts Federation. —Editor’s
challenge to you: Write something for your guild newsletter this year!

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