Diverse Particular Models of Creativity found in Societies, Institutions, Persons Changing

Art Audience as Shamanic Community: How Art Meets Psychological, Social, and Spiritual Needs

by Denita Benyshek, MFA, MA

    Within the field of psychology, the majority of research on artistic creativity focuses on the... more     Within the field of psychology, the majority of research on artistic creativity focuses on the originating creator, i.e. the artist, while neglecting the art audience. A brief literature review considers the trajectory of thought that led to such neglect. Utilizing the definition of shaman constructed by Ruth Inge-Heinze (1997), a preliminary definition of the art audience as shamanic community is constructed. The study demonstrates how art can provide for the audience’s psychological, social, and spiritual needs; thus, illustrating the defining constructs of the art audience as shamanic community. The formation of a new subfield in creative studies, the psychology of the art audience, is recommended with specific recommendations for future studies.

Understanding the Individual Craftsperson: Creativity in North-East Scotland

by Kathryn Lichti-Harriman

Harriman, K. (2007) ‘Understanding the Individual Craftsperson: Creativity in North-East Scotland’ in New Craft Future Voices, eds. Follett & Valentine, Dundee, Scotland: Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design

This paper draws on my own situation as a visual anthropologist doing doctoral research on craft as material culture.... more This paper draws on my own situation as a visual anthropologist doing doctoral research on craft as material culture. My work in the North East of Scotland, based on fieldwork undertaken in 2005-2006, combines art and documentary photography with traditional participant observation. The resulting research approaches craft from theoretical and methodological perspectives situated slightly outside those of trained crafts practitioners. The interesting questions for me do not involve debating categories, but understanding how they work; they’re not about judging the value of Art or Craft, but understanding the social mechanisms that drive their makers.

I ask questions about the role of creativity in vernacular craft, by looking how people synthesize different modes of creative agency, balancing the paradoxes that arise. Then I examine discourses of Art and Craft, femininity, and individualism as cultural categories that pervade Euro-American understandings of the individual craftsperson. The main findings of these questions that there are two modes of creativity operating within Craft, which are embraced differently in the realms of fine and hobby craft. This impacts widely held views of the individual, non-professional craftsperson by informing discourses of femininity and individualism.

In order to explore this topic, I rely on visual based, ethnographic research on skilled people who live with and make craft as part of their daily lives. And, in order to explore my results further, I am planning an exhibition for June - August 2007 in order to share these findings with the communities in which I undertook my research. The goal is to encourage community participation and critique of academic research. Additionally, I have produced a set of art/documentary photographs that I use in my fieldwork as the basis for photo elicitation interviews. A selection of them appears in the paper below.