It's finally out!

  I am referring to the newest issue of Cahiers métiers d'art ::: Craft Journal Vol. 5 No 2 Printemps Spring 2012.  Now, I always look forward to getting my copy in the mail but this time I had a little more invested.  You see, Elaine Cheasley Paterson and I are the guest editors of this issue.  The theme is stated in the subtitle:  "Economy, community and self-expression–Craft and Social Development".

Here's the line up of the contents:

Volume 5 number 2

Volume 5 numéro 2

Printemps Spring 2012

Craft and Resilience: Northern Ontario's Emerging Cultural Identity

Métiers d’art et résilience : Identité culturelle émergente du nord de l’Ontario

Jude Ortiz

Hansen-Ross Pottery: Tourist Ware or Something Else?

Les poteries Hansen-Ross : plus qu’un produit touristique? 

Julia Krueger

Atelier Le Cep-Grés: A Case Study

Atelier Le Cep-Grés: une étude de cas

Mireille Perron

Craft Off: Performance, Competition and Anti-Social Crafting

Craft off : Performance, Compétition et Métiers d’art asociaux

Nicole Burisch

Here Comes the Knitting Men: Knitting and Masculinity in the early twenty-first century

Monsieur tricote : tricot et masculinité au XXI^e siècle

Alla Myzelev

Comptes rendus ::: Reviews

Prairie Excellence

Mary Reid

(c) 2012 Cahiers métiers d’art : Craft Journal

ISSN 1718-9802

I am going to quote from our editors' foreword to give you a taste of the issue:

From the socialism of the Arts and Crafts Movement to the radical interventions proposed by "craftivists", the material, makers and processes of craft have been mobilized for social change.  Based on this insight a call for papers went out for the 2010 Universities Art Association of Canada conference, craft session.  The papers presented, selected, expanded and revised, discuss the communities created through craft –whether on a local, global or virtual level.

Craft production is embedded in living culture and heritage and is seen as expressing cultural identity.  For better or for worse, it gets pressed into social service because craft is perceived as accessible and useful.  Historically, this has taken the form of job and revenue creation through the sale of products based on traditional skills like weaving, rug hooking and knitting.  Communities created through craft in this way range in time and space from the Grenfell Mission in Labrador and the Home Arts Association in Great Britain to more recent initiatives like the Navajo Crownpoint Rug Auction.

Examples of craft and micro-economies persist today and are linked with contemporary lifestyle issues of creating, buying and consuming "local"…

And then we go on to comment how this is borne out in the particular papers.

Like Cmagazine I consider the Cahiers to be one of those publications that is under-read and I sincerely recommend it to anyone and everyone.  Happy reading!

Oh and before I forget here's a link to their website in case you want to check it out:

http://www.craftjournal.ca/