Even prior to lockdown there has been a renewed interest in craft-based activity that can be viewed as a reaction to an increasingly technological age and to a focus on the conceptual within art practice. 

This has led to a revival of interest in working with our hands, keeping alive skills and traditions and having more of a direct contact with materials.  The tangible benefits of making is also something that has been central to certain educational philosophies that believe participation in crafts and art offers wider benefits to learning.  

One of the guiding principles of Rudolph Steiner (1861–1925), whose Steiner schools still exist across the UK, is a belief that artistic activity and the development of the imagination is integral to learning. Steiner believed that the artistic process combines both cognitive and creative activities simultaneously in the creative act   Equally, Otto Salomon (1849–1907) developed something called ‘educational sloyd’ which argued that there were some key educational benefits to be gained from participating in handicrafts and in particular woodworking.   Salomon identified the following;

1. To instil a taste for and an appreciation of work in general.
2. To create a respect for hard, honest, physical labour.
3. To develop independence and self-reliance.
4. To provide training in the habits of order, accuracy, cleanliness and neatness.
5. To train the eye to see accurately and to appreciate the sense of beauty in form.
6. To develop the sense of touch and to give general dexterity to the hands.
7. To inculcate the habits of attention, industry, perseverance and patience.
8. To promote the development of the body’s physical powers.
9. To acquire dexterity in the use of tools.
10. To execute precise work and to produce useful products

The above principles were, in part, the impetus for a previous Radar project developed by artist Maria Pask . She was asked to develop a new work in response to research around labour and value being carried out by the Politicized Practice research group.

Maria visited the university archive and became interested in the unique and interesting history in which Loughborough University employed leading arts and crafts makers to train students in a range of handicrafts which required them to make functional and decorative objects for use within the fabric of the university, echoing some of the principles of sloyd.

Between the 1930s and 1950s the University employed two key craftsmen of their day, firstly in Peter Waals and then in Edward Barnsley, to train students in making furniture, some of which can still be seen around the campus today.  Maria was also interested in other examples of students contributing to their environment such as the development of a new cricket pavilion, an open air swimming pool or a radio station.    

The history of students physically making items for the campus environment alongside the educational methodologies led Maria to develop a project that trained today’s students in craft based skills , making items for the campus environment.  

Current students were trained in woodworking and ceramics and produced a range of items including a tea set and public seating.  She then developed a website that documents her project activity alongside some wonderful images from the University archive.  

I would highly recommend you also look on the information section which has a fantastic resource of sloyd and links to other aspects of the University’s history.

Nick Slater
Director, LU Arts