Society cannot underestimate the role and power of art in shaping how people view their relationship with each other and their environment throughout human history. From early cave art to modern art forms, art as science seeks to educate, entertain, and most importantly, shift consciousness from one level to another. In this summary, we examine how The New Politics of the Handmade’s chapter titled Craft as property as liberalism as problem by Leopold Kowolik examines craft as an aspect of political thought. The book examines various artistic expressions that point to a common belief in craft’s capacity to shape political opinions, even if such views are not universally shared. It looks in further detail the distinction between the terms ‘craft’ and ‘handmade’, stating that not everything handmade can become a craft. Craft has a more profound allusion to a spirit in the created object, thus elevating it to an artefact, whereas handmade, lose this quality.
In a similar trajectory, the Theory of Decorative Art by Isabelle Frank features a collection of art from diverse backgrounds between the mid 18th to mid 20th centuries. These texts are from scholars, sociologists, philosophers, critics, anthropologists and reformers. These texts examine how objects featuring in everyday use have in the past been the centre of a collective theory on the history of culture and the aesthetics of art. The parts oscillate from contemporary art appreciation or decorative art before delving into its historical precedents.
These texts are crucial in understanding the origins of aesthetic value and teaching in art. Art and crafts teach society what it means to have a deeper understanding of the relationship between people and objects around them and the relationship between individuals. The artist’s choice in colour, material, texture, and even setting all communicate a central idea that connects contemporary and historical approaches towards humanity’s space in the world