All societies need reference points to form their future and to orient themselves in the present. Craft constitutes such a reference point through its association with human needs and activities. The subject of craft extends from tradition to science, forming an exciting, artistic arena. The Masters programme in Crafts at HDK-Valand Art and Design, University of Gothenburg is an all-encompassing environment that involves constant exchange and interaction between undergraduate education, research, and society.
The Master programme in Craft has three specializations:
Ceramic Art
Jewellery Art
Textile Art
A balance of collaborative work and individual development
The courses in the programme are taken together with students from the three specializations (Jewellery Art; Ceramic Art and Textile Art). During your education you will develop your ability to initiate and resolve artistic projects creating vital confidence with your own working methods. This requires independence and the capacity for experimentation. As a student, you will have the opportunity to broaden your frame of reference, develop exploratory artistic working methods, deepen your technical and theoretical knowledge, reflexive and critical thinking. You will work in close cooperation with fellow students and staff. Additionally, you will have an individually allocated workplace and generous access to the school and be a part of a vibrant and dynamic Department of Craft and Fine Art.
Support in shaping your artistic expression
Artistic exploration through materials and concepts is the basis of the programme. Course work encourages the development of skill-based knowledge, fosters debate about the meaning of material inquiries, and investigates the conceptual identity of craft, with specific emphasis on craft’s social meanings. Through studio work, theory, writing, and reflection, you will shape your artistic expression, and have further support with lectures, seminars, and supervision. The artistic and investigatory process comprises the foundation of the programme and you will have access to well-equipped workshops and study places right in the centre of Gothenburg. We invite international specialists and practitioners to come and visit us, to encourage an international network within the subject area.
Programme Structure and Content
The first semester starts with a subject-specific practical and theoretical introduction where you will outline your focus and goals for your studies. Material-based, practical, technical, and contextual experiences are broadened through exploratory inquiries and artistic risk taking.
During the second semester you will create in-depth artistic projects in order to develop understanding of your choices, working methods, and the context you are operating in from a historical and contemporary craft perspective.
During the third semester the focus shifts from the self-initiated look to the viewer’s gaze: to view and to be viewed. The exhibition format is examined in practice and theory. Prerequisites for a professional life are addressed. You will begin your independent degree project this semester.
During the fourth semester you will complete your independent degree project that includes a major artistic work, a degree report, and a presentation of the project within the framework of a degree exhibition.
It is with great pleasure the Master’s Programme in Craft at HDK-Valand presents the final MFA Degree projects for Jewellery, Textile and Ceramic Art.
The Masters education in Craft at HDK-Valand welcomes students from all over the world with BA backgrounds in craft, fine art, design, and other related arts education. Through a multidisciplinary approach craft is questioned, challenged, and critically contextualized from a broad range of perspectives, detailing and shaping its impact on our everyday and future lives.
Craft is an artform closely related to the materials and processes of making. The students in Craft at HDK-Valand intimately and iteratively synthesize ideas and theories with the physical shaping and forming of materials in their studios and specialized workshops.
This year with a worldwide pandemic, this has not been possible. With reduced access to the facilities the students were interrupted in the middle of their projects. The teaching and planning changed with the adoption of remote learning, as well as the form and content of the students’ final degree projects. Despite being removed from the studios and workshops, the MA Craft students managed to adapt and complete their projects, including the presentation of their work for examination and presentation on a new digital platform.
This website features the Degree Projects of twelve students who graduated from the Masters Programme in Craft in 2020. The students achieved the educational requirements of the Masters Programme in Craft, Jewellery, Textile and Ceramic Art, producing high quality artworks and demonstrated that they are ready to cope with the many challenges they may meet as Craft practitioners outside the art school.
We warmly congratulate the completion of the MA Degree Projects 2020!
Anna Tegeström Wolgers Professor of Craft, Textile Art
Anna T. Wolgers works across multiple disciplines in arts and craft. For the last 15 years Anna has worked mainly in the textile field exploring the semiotics of textiles and their narrative values. Textile materials, tactile and visual recognition are elements that Wolgers works with.
Wolgers has participated in numerous international and national exhibitions including public commissions and collaborative works with museums, where she has curated projects/exhibitions. Wolgers is chairwoman of the textile network Fiber Art Sweden
Dr. Jessica Hemmings Professor of Craft
Vice-Prefekt of Research
Jessica Hemmings writes about textiles. She studied Textile Design at the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating with a BFA (Honors) in 1999 and Comparative Literature (Africa/Asia) at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, earning an MA (Distinction) in 2000. Her PhD, awarded by the University of Edinburgh in 2006, is published by kalliope paperbacks under the title Yvonne Vera: the Voice of Cloth (2008). In 2010 she edited a collection of essays titled In the Loop: Knitting Now published by Black Dog and in 2012 edited The Textile Reader (Bloomsbury) and wrote Warp & Weft (Bloomsbury). Her editorial and curatorial project, Cultural Threads, is a book about postcolonial thinking and contemporary textile practice (Bloomsbury: 2015) accompanied by a travelling exhibition Migrations (2015-2017). Jessica is a member of the Editorial Board of Textile: the journal of cloth & culture (Taylor & Francis) and Craft Research (Intellect). She is currently Professor of Craft & Vice-Prefekt of Research at HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg, Sweden and the 2020-2021 Rita Bolland Fellow at the Research Centre for Material Culture, the Netherlands.
Yuka Oyama is a Japanese-German artist who grew up in Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, USA and Germany. Oyama’s artistic practice incorporates sculpture, jewellery, video, photography, public interventions, choreographic experimentations and performances.
Her life-sized, wearable sculptures, object-human hybrids – objectified humans and personified objects – display disconnections often felt in contemporary life: the degeneration of human-to-human emotional communication and our sense of belonging. Oyama employs everyday objects to upset these disconnections, facilitating our ability to act beyond set conventions.
Oyama was one of the core members of the artistic research, Critical Costume 2000 –Costume Agency (2020) based at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, where she acted as the curator and the creative director. Oyama’s research considers critical adornments, material culture, and identity.
Katarina Andersson Senior Lecturer and Programme Director MA Craft
Katarina Andersson is a senior lecturer and since 2016 is the programme director for MA Craft. She is an artist and designer and her work extend between sculptural objects and tableware. Ceramics and glass are her main materials. Her work involves both semiotics, the relation between materials, objects in relation to space and objects as mediators.
Katarina Andersson has worked as a curator and project leader for various craft projects. She was previously senior lecturer at Konstfack at the Ceramic and Glass department, where she led the pilot project in artistic research Keramiska väggmaterial i offentlig miljö.
