artsinsociety.com

Creating a Better Place to Live: The Argument for Craft Education by Howard Cannatella is now available as part of  The Arts in Society series.

Where would we be without the movements that corroborate our feelings and desires and make a practical difference in our lives? In a timely fashion, this book challenges our understanding of craft activity. Creating a Better Place to Live: The Argument for Craft Education reads as a social critique that champions the culture and relevance of this practice in a refreshing way. A redefined account of craft activity is given, while different positions are postulated as to its role. This book asserts that the teaching, professional practice, and policy making of craft activity needs to change in order to benefit society in a more constructive manner. Far from being just an adjunct to production requirements and a slave to economic conceptions of life, the theory, history, and contemporary practice of craft activity can be utilized considerately to create a better environment for us all. The delights, hard hitting conceptions, foibles, and intelligence of craft work are debated. This discourse argues that craft activity is vital for living well and is a voice of freedom, common observation, collective effort, and reason that can affect our social cohesion, sympathetic unity, independence, and passions in life.

Dr Howard Cannatella is a teacher and philosopher in art education and a practising artist and designer. He lives in British Columbia, Canada with his wife Kirsten and their three children