The Center
I confess that my long time dream has been to start a non-profit with my partner Amy Weiks and a few like minded metalsmith friends. The Center for Sustainable Research in Craft (CSRC) was to be a residency program and craft research laboratory. The general premise being that artists would make proposals to use the facility to do research that would advance sustainable practices in studio craft disciplines. The research would then be disseminated to a larger community of practitioners with the ultimate goal of creating more sustainable practices in studio craft production. Any technical innovations would be licensed by the CSRC in order to generate revenue. Additional revenue would come through grant writing, and possibly a gallery which would show/ support artists working in green modes.
Okay, so this is not actually a concept sketch for the CSRC, but it looks good here, right?
McDonough + Partners, Concept for Rooftop Farming, Liuzhou, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China, 2005
The underlying reasons to start such an organization were as follows:
- To foster a culture of sustainability in craft. This is based on the assumption that studio craft production, like all industries, must face the challenge of becoming sustainable if it is to continue indefinitely.
- To offer assistance to artists in creating a zero impact studio practice using the tenets of a cradle to cradle system.
- To help craft gain market share by rebranding itself to fit into larger ethically based value added categories. i.e. green, slow, fair-trade, etc.
- To encourage technical innovation in studio craft production as an ethical goal (rather than technical innovation for the sake of originality or virtuosity).
- To provide makers with the time and space to conduct technical research in a supported environment.
- To build a sustainable studio that will serve as a model for other craft studios.
- To take action towards moving studio craft into 21st century paradigms (rather than just talking about it).
- To feel like we are making a difference in the world, and not just making another object.
The Center that never was
Perhaps the list could continue, but by now you get the idea. And perhaps by now you have also noticed that I have been talking about the CSRC in the past tense. I still believe whole heartedly in the goals of the CSRC, but I think the effectiveness of the model was fatally flawed. So...I'm out. If you would like to be involved in my stead, email me and I will hook you up with those other individuals.
I think we are all frequently confronted by the choice between efficacy and pleasure. One example is my insistence on ALWAYS sanding my work by hand, even when there is no practical reason. A huge waste of time, but it is my guilty pleasure. Another example is driving Vs. walking. I know that driving to the studio somedays would be faster but I would enjoy walking more, or conversely walking is better for the environment but driving is easier. Decisions, decisions. Deciding exactly what to devote a decade or more of your life to might be a slightly bigger decision than, "by car or by foot?" I believe the Center for Sustainable Research in Craft would be more of a personal indulgence than it would be a policy center and technical beacon. Perhaps my excitement over the past year or so about the CSRC has blinded me to the fact that engineers are better systems analysts than artists. And slowly, oh so slowly, the obvious path that craft must take into the future revealed itself. I feel like I have had a vision of the future or communed with some higher consciousness (metaphorically).
Dreaming a new (interdisciplinary) dream
It seems obvious now that if craft is to implement sustainable models and methods of production then makers must collaborate with scientists and engineers to create the processes and technology to do it. With many academic institutions now placing a emphasis on interdisciplinary projects, it seems like an opportune time for academic craft programs to seek out collaborative partnerships at the research institutions where they exist.
I am forcibly reminded of when I was researching graduate schools as a young man four years ago (lol) and had a conversation with Mary Lee Hu - who was teaching at the University of Washington at the time - about the project that existed between the metals program and the medical school, where the metals students were helping to fabricate custom facial implants, for reconstructive facial surgery patients. Admittedly nothing to do with greening craft, but a potent example of collaboration at a major research institution.
By establishing just a few collaborative relationships at research universities over the next decade and creating an open source model of sharing this innovation, the way that craftspeople utilize and design with material can radically change. I think it should also be noted that the relationship is a symbiotic one as many scientific and engineering researchers are often challenged when it comes to the practical application of their innovations. Craftspeople are experts in function and material, but I digress.
This type of collaborative institutional innovation has extraordinary potential. Just two days ago Ashley Herron, a metals major at Winthrop University, posted a request for guidance in developing a durable and environmentally friendly paper based material for jewelry making on The Academic Metals List Serve (sponsored by Tyler School of Art Metals/Jewelry/CAD/CAM dept.). What if Ashley could partner with paper engineering students from Western Michigan University (my alma mater)? Here's another example: last year I wrote an article called Seeing Green: Towards More Sustainable Jewelry Practices, I profiled a student artist (actually she had just graduated) named Angela Kuyers who was also interested in creating jewelry using ethically sourced materials. Her work, with felted alpaca fleece and sustainable bamboo, entitled Wearing Sustainability could have benefitted enormously from a partnership with an agricultural research department at an institution like Texas A&M. I am sure that there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of craft students around the country working on green projects in their own small way. What if their institutions could actually support their research in a meaningful way? If nothing else, it would at least bring these students notoriety as they launch their careers.
Angela Kuyers, Wearing Sustainability (Bracelet), 2007
Calling all big-shot professors
So this is perhaps what it comes to: In my estimation the best chance at sustainable innovation for studio craft production would result from an institutional collaboration between a craft program and a relevant research department at a research intensive university. I have taken the liberty of compiling a list of possible institutions to initiate such a program by cross referencing the Society of North American Goldsmiths educational institutions list, with a study of the top research universities published by the Center for Measuring University Performance - hardly scientific, but effective none-the-less. Obviously this list is metalsmithing specific, but if anyone would like to provide a list of other institutions with craft media programs capable of collaborative research (by doing a similar cross-reference) I would be happy to post it.
While I understand that this type of cross disciplinary research may not be valued, encouraged, or even appealing to the institutions and individual academics listed below, I insist that the future of the field (at least in terms of green innovation) lies in their willingness to initiate or attempt an interdepartmental collaboration at their university. I would even go so far as to say it is their responsibility to do so, by virtue of their position. Who knows, maybe this is already happening without my knowledge?
Top 50 Public Research Universities with Metals Programs including Metals Professor(s)
University of Michigan - Anne Mondro
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign - Billie Jean Theide
University of Wisconsin - Madison - Lisa Gralnick & Kim Cridler
University of Texas - Austin - Thelma Coles
University of Georgia - Rob Jackson, Mary Pearse & Marsha Black
Indiana University - Randy Long & Nicole Jacquard
Iowa State University - Joe Muench
University of Iowa - Kee-ho Yuen & Chunghi Choo
Purdue University - Robin Kraft
University of Utah - Elizabeth Peterson
University of Colorado - Boulder - Garrison Roots
University of Kansas - Lawrence - Lin Stanionis, Jon Havener & Gina Westergard
Of the top 35 private research universities listed in the study none had a metals program, with the possible exception of Brown University, which offers classes through the Rhode Island School of Design (an inter-institutional collaboration might be a bit more difficult, but who knows).
I thought about listing their email addresses here so you, dear readers, could email them to express your encouragement...but I thought that might be a bit tactless. Instead here is a link to the SNAG educational institutions list, where all of their emails are listed if you are so inclined. I would be interested to hear any and all thoughts about the role of academic institutions in pioneering sustainable studio practices, and the feasibility and/ or appropriateness of interdepartmental collaborations to that end. Comments Welcome!
-Gabriel
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