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Murray, K, Symmetry, Crafts Meet Kindred Trades and Professions, catalogue essay, 1994.

In introducing crafts to their kindred trades and professions, two worlds come face to face. On the one hand, there is the world of the crafts, where makers take pleasure in producing objects whose worth extends beyond their immediate usefulness. And on the other hand, there is the world of the trades and professions, where workers provide services or products whose prime aim is to satisfy the needs of their clients.

An exhibition such as Symmetry could not take place without the belief that these two worlds have something in common. There are some surprising parallels in materials, techniques and histories between the decorative arts and their more "serious” partners. But the comic recognition of these similarities is only one phase of the meeting. As the two worlds move closer, their incompatibilities become more pronounced. This kind of symmetry is made to be broken.

Unlike recent moves to place crafts among the fine arts, no permanent alliance is intended with trades and professions. The prime intention of this meeting is to provide a fertile ground for the fabrication of objects. The participants in this exhibition have been chosen for both their likely curiosity in a kindred practice and their experience in the craft medium. Their task has been to construct work that not only accompanies the conversation between two worlds, but also stands on its own as an object of aesthetic value. Standing before the items in this exhibition, you have the opportunity to witness a conversation between a craft and its partner. If you stand a little closer, however, you should expect to find an aesthetic value, which is greater than the particular symbolic equation on which they are based.

This catalogue has been organised to elaborate a set of links, which makes that symbolic equation possible. Their logic is simple. At the heart of any occupation there is a lack, which denies it full expression. The trades and professions have little to show for what they do, whereas the crafts lack a practical role in society. You can't have your cake and eat it too, as the saying goes. One half offers what the other can never have: the crafts grant durability, while the trades and professions bestow relevance.

The theoretical note at the end of the catalogue locates this complementarity in a larger picture, which maps the high road of knowledge and the low road of action. Traditionally these two paths have been clearly separated, but now it is harder to tell which is which: the information super highway transforms knowledge into electronic data. In this picture today, the crafts provide a fresh means of reviving the separation between spiritual and material world - a separation which enables the works in this exhibition to tell a story about what it is to be a conscious being in the material world.

While many strive to turn their lives into works of art, there is a more basic craft at the heart of living. The incubator is not only the dwelling in which life for many has its early beginnings, it is also a meeting place where left and right hands combine to care for the offspring delivered to their charge. This incubator is a likely emblem for Symmetry, which involves not only participation from ten dexterous members of their craft but also the combination of two complimentary halves of work culture. So while this meeting lasts, please consider the unique objects that have issued from their hands.


They bake. Their working substance is moist and elastic so that it can be formed by hands into discrete forms, After fashioning, the form is left to rest while it settles into its own shape. Sometimes a glaze is applied to improve appearance. And then it is placed with its batch in the oven. Their techniques constitute the origins of human settlement.

They fix objects, often precious metal, to the human body. They drill, file, solder and cast. Their operations require minute precision and careful planning.

They cut and join organic tissue. Using sharp blades they separate the fibre along natural lines of division. They attempt to reconnect the tissue in joins that are flexible and durable. Metal supports are sometimes inserted to strengthen the framework. Their manual skills have recently been degraded by the introduction of lasers and computer technology.

One draws on the earth, while the other takes from the grain that grows in the earth. One squeezes air from the substance to make the shapes that hold food, the other aerates the forms so they are edible. The goods of one may endure through millennia, whereas the other's products are worthless the next day. One makes utensils, the other makes food.

One makes ornaments that improve on nature, the other fabricates devices that are designed to look as natural as possible. One works on a still and upright wooden surface, the other operates upside down on a moving and wet surface. The craftsmanship of one is visible for all to see and comment, while the techniques of the other are hidden and spoken of reluctantly. One makes jewellery, the other fixes teeth.

One kills its subject to make objects of use and beauty for others. The other restores its subject so that it might walk away to choose its own ends. The products of one display overtly the skills of the maker. The other's skills are inversely related to their visibility. One makes furniture, the other heals bodies.

They tell stories. They sit at their instruments pulling together the narrative elements into a tight web. Working on the grid, they are restricted to the horizontal and the vertical. Fibre is their medium.

They blow. They have a supporting team, which warms things up for them to take the lead. Each member of the team has their own moment of attention as the leading element is passed around. The work is of the moment, irreversible - there's no going back. While they express themselves as individuals, with spontaneity and lyricism, it's important that everyone works to the same rhythm.

One takes months to bring the story together, the other tries to get the story out in less than a day, the quicker the better. One works in isolation far removed from the main action. One works in a team and is subject to competing demands from a variety of sources. One adds a stable warmth to a home, whereas the other makes objects that are ejected from the house as soon as their day is over. One weaves, the other writes.

One makes things that continue a fragile presence, the other makes sounds that disappear into the ether. One is judged purely by the product whereas the other is enjoyed for the process. One is largely white people's business, whereas the other comes from Afro-American culture. One blows glass, the other blows notes.

Helmut Lueckenhausen's work invites us to look at wood not simply as a material for fabrication, but also as part of what was once a living being. As a rare Tasmanian wood, Huon pine used in woodwork comes close to the horror we attach to objects which once served an uncomplicated function as coats and handles, but now seem little more than fur and bone. The animistic nature of Lueckenhausen's design gives additional pathos to this sacrifice of wood. What kind of family scene do we have here? What does the base drawer constructed of MDF (Medium Density Fibre-board) reveal?

I visited an acquaintance of mine, a taxidermist who is also a carver of wooden miniatures. An obsessive collector and classifier, be houses an extensive array of curiosities, most of which are animal tissue and all of which relate to the traditional natural sciences. Rack upon rack of every manifestation of ivory and bone carving sit near boxes and cupboards full of evocatory twisted root and branch forms, which in turn complement a spare parts inventory of feathers, bird skins and jars of preserved animals and animal parts. I kept to the edge, entertained but a little wary of common threads. His wife brought a tray of coffee through the garden, past the fernery, past the aviaries and reminded him that the house was full of visitors, relatives, children. H.L.