Both articles, Towards a Standard of Beauty and Art versus Craft: The Issue of Craftsmanship in The Twentieth Century, presented ideas about how craft functions in today’s society and the relationship it has to tradition and progression of culture.
I found both articles to bring up interesting questions about the role technology has brought in the craft genera. This relates to Yanagi's article in how he discusses the handmade being of the "human heart" and the manufactured being a "child of the brain". This article seemed to critique the role technology had in the progression of the craft industry and rather suggest a reversion traditional means of working. To this author, these means of working would, in essence, bring back "beautiful" and "truthful" objects. In the Selvage article, she discusses the ways in which progression through the absence of necessity of functionality had led ceramics to take on a form of art that is pure. It is able to speak to history, tradition, self-identity, progression, and exploration all in one.
While these articles discus these matters and bring up interesting questions, it is important to understand there relevance to our practices today. The Yanagi article is from the book The Unknown Craftsman published in 1989 and Slevage's article presented in 1979. While many of the overarching ideas and philosophies can hold true through the test of time, it is important to think about how advances in the last 30 years have altered this conversation. What is still considered traditional means of craftsmanship? Are people still attracted to "machine-made beauty" because of our modern sensibility? And has the machine and hand found a way to supplement each others shortcoming? Are we as makers defined by our physical limits or can we still consider an object "crafted" through digital means that strip us of physical limitation?
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