Studio Glass Sustainability: From The Microcosm

Abstract

This paper reports on research prompted by arrival at a personal artistic crossroads signposted by both the continuing Art/craft schism and the socio-economic challenges that bulwark the imperative for sustainability. Hence a significant driver of the resulting journeying is the challenge implicit in fundamental dilemmas for today’s artists which centre firstly on the nexus between the sustainability of artistic integrity whilst retaining economic viability and, secondly, on the potential engagement of the broader community’s ability to link/re-establish/ via socio/symbolic bonds to current craft/art conceptions.

The paper will probe the genesis and professional focus of the artist in the twenty first century with specific relevance to a personal arts practice providing an economically feasible model which enables a synthesis between tradition and innovation based on arts tourism. The specialism of cultural tourism represents an increasing growth area within tourism and offers both opportunities and difficult decision points for artists and craftspeople. Higher and broadened levels of education in Australian society, combined with entrepreneurial business directions of the last two decades, has seen a shift in awareness of and desire for participation in the arts from an enlightened and ever expanding audience. As well as an expanding arts audience within Australian society, the scope and nature of artistic practice has burgeoned from the specialized highway of exhibition focused career path to encompass numerous collaborative alternatives. The changing face of art in the Australian and International context prompts a re-consideration of the role and place of artists in society.

Issues of financial security, collaboration, career path options and artistic content point to a necessary redefinition and re-conceptualization of key parameters within the discipline. This should lead to a different focus on arts practice, enabling the arts and artists a continuation of sustainability and value in society. Outcomes include the identification of key new niche markets for artists such as in cultural tourism. The implications of the current research reverberate on a personal level as well as on a broader industry wide scale for the future of art and cultural tourism. Directions identified indicate an industry and the individual artist presently standing at a crossroads where decisions can be made and constructive pathways explored.

An interwoven history of the studio glass movement in Australia will underpin the paper. Whilst the geographic reference in the title of this paper is a somewhat tongue in cheek recognition of the reality that Australia lying globally a long way south of England to the far north, it also touches on the current sustainability dilemmas that bedevil the arts/craft industry of today, in as much as my resolutions may be a little ‘south of north”!