Rural Utopias Residency: Mike Bianco in Pingelly #3, Craft Heroes

Mike Bianco is currently working with the community of Pingelly, in a six-month residency. This work forms part of one of Spaced’s current program, Rural Utopias.

Mike’s art practice is invested in socially engaged art, and focuses on the politics of ecology, sustainability, and the impending “century of crisis.” Bianco has conducted extensive research in the field of gastroecology, and the intersection of food, craft, and sustainability, in locations that range from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Fukushima, Japan. Bianco exhibits his work internationally, and has been featured in venues that range from the Kenpoku Art Festival in Ibaraki, Japan, to the Science Gallery in London, England.

Here, Mike shares his third update from Pingelly.

My initial engagement with Pingelly began through my interest in the University of Western Australia (UWA) Future Farm. Even before I immigrated to Australia, I was closely following the Future Farm from afar and was interested in engaging the program in some capacity after I arrived in Australia. In my mind, if the Future Farm is interested in asking what a sustainable Wheatbelt farm might look like in 2050, then I am interested in asking how a sustainable craft-based agricultural community might operate in the near future. In many ways, I felt as though my engagement with the Future Farm was bringing my own interests in craft and sustainability to Pingelly, never realising there was already a long-standing precedent of crafting in the community. 

Shortly after my introductory week, I was encouraged to meet with a number of known crafters in town. Of particular importance was my introduction to Marg Stone and Sheila Nicholls, two quilt makers who have been sewing together for nearly half a century. While both Marg and Sheila grew up around sewing, each began quilting in their 30’s; a reality which dispels the myth that great crafters are born into traditions. Both Marg and Sheila were part of the Pingelly crafts group of the 70’s, when artists invited from the Fremantle Arts Centre would travel to Pingelly to offer classes. What began as a working in textiles to provide domestic elements for their homes quickly transformed into what is arguably a proto-social practice. Now in their 80’s, Marg and Sheila have been sewing quilts for orphans, the elderly, and cancer patients for nearly fifty years. While I imagine scholars like Nato Thompson and artists such as Lauri Jo Reynolds might call such forms of making Social Practice, for Marg and Sheila sewing to change the fabric of society just seemed like an natural extension of caring for community. And while members of Pingelly know about Marg and Sheila’s work, unlike community sports heroes of Pingelly’s past whose achievements are immortalised in brass plaques and engraved boards, there is no formal recognition of Marg and Sheila’s contributions to be found in town. 

In my mind, this is a societal failure, one that I have known all too well as someone who was raised in the craft rich (bit acknowledgement poor) United States. So often we overlook such contributions like those of Marg and Sheila’s because we lack the language to describe their value to society. In my travels around the world, I have witnessed how artisans and community activists are formally acknowledged, and perhaps no greater example stands out to me than the Living National Treasure tradition in Japan. 

Born out of a tradition of keeping artisans on staff as part of the imperial household, the designation of “Living National Treasure” emerged out of the “Law for Protection of Cultural Properties” established in the 1950s. Directed to acknowledge individuals who are identified as “Preservers of Important Intangible Cultural Properties,” the designation of Living National Treasure has ensured a rich life of cultural production in Japan for nearly 100 years. Like Halls of Fame In countries such as the U.S., designating an individual as a “Living National Treasure” endows them with some of the highest esteem in a society, and structurally enables them to practice their practice for the rest of their lives. The law also underscores the importance of cultural production as central value in society. As such, one can maintain a humble practice, such as that of being a potter, while still being celebrated as being of national importance. I often think that such laws and programs should be passed in nations such as the U.S. and Australia to underscore our own valuing of cultural production, and while I see no moves to this end in the near future, there is no reason we can’t acknowledge members of our community such as Marg and Sheila at a more local level. 

As such, I wonder about creating a “Living Local Legend” status in communities such as Pingelly. While it is not uncommon for such small communities to place great value in a Mayor, priest, or school principal, I can’t help but think that acknowledging such dedicated community practitioners would inspire new generations to aspire to the essential talents and values. While using sustainable materials might be essential in a move to tread more lightly on the planet, I also wonder what social methods we might employ to actually generate the culture of the sustainable society of the future we all so desperately need. 

-Mike Bianco