Crafts counsellor

`I'm one of those rare Americans who have no Irish blood at all," says Frances Ruane. She came to Ireland with her Irish-born husband, Jim Ruane, from New York in June 1973. It was a traditionally chilly Irish summer. "I remember how cold it was. New York had been so hot and it was supposed to be summertime in Ireland, but I got off the plane and started shivering. And I didn't have a job. I do remember thinking I hoped I hadn't made a big mistake."

At the time, Frances Ruane had just completed a PhD at Penn University on art education: "about the way that people respond to looking at artworks," she explains. "It wasn't the sort of doctorate which I thought could get me a job in Ireland in 1973."

She got hold of the Golden Pages and looked up the schools section. "I worked my way down the list, phoning all the secondary schools, asking if they needed an art teacher." Within two days, she had been offered three full-time jobs. For a year, she taught at a school in Milltown. Then her "dream job" was advertised; education officer at the National Gallery. She got the job.

From there, she was "in" on the artworld circuit. Since 1977, she has been working at the National College of Art and Design, where she lectures in the history of art and design. There are other hats too. Ruane acts as art adviser to AIB, which has an impressive collection of over 1200 paintings, among them pieces by Jack B. Yeats, Roderick O'Connor, William Crozier, Barrie Cooke, Kathy Prendergast, John Kindness, and Camille Souter.

In January of this year, she was appointed non-executive chairwoman of the Crafts Council of Ireland; a three-year term. The Crafts Council of Ireland was formed as an association in 1973. In 1976 it became a limited company and the following year it received its first government grant. Last year, it received funding of £1 million. Half of that came from the Department of Employment and Enterprise, and the other half from the EU.

"One difficulty in defining the role of the Crafts Council is defining the role of craft," Ruane explains. "With heritage crafts, the definitions are easier to make: curragh-making, basket-weaving, knitting, coopers.

"The craftsman often lives the lifestyle of the artist, sometimes working on one-off pieces, whether in stained glass or ceramic sculptures. The difference is that the materials they work in are traditionally craft-based. Jewellers, for instance; they are a craft-based industry with a high level of manual skills.

"One of the dilemmas of craft is, at what point do you draw a limit: where does something stop being craft and start being mass-produced? Look at print-making: you can have limited editions of 25, or 250. But if you go up to 2,500, is that still craft? What is an acceptable number?

"I think the answer is when someone is designing for a market without creative input. When the craftsperson no longer has input into the pieces of work; when the art in the craft disappears and the design element of the piece gets lost."

The Crafts Council's members are composed of bodies such as guilds and organisations which represent people working within crafts. There is also a register of some 1,200 individual members. On average, no more than three people work in any one workshop.

"Twenty-five years ago the number of people who'd be interested in buying art or sculpture for their homes was very small. That's changing. Look at all the television programmes on interior design and all the books about interiors there are now.

"I worked on the first series of Beyond the Hall Door, and the thing that amazed me about it was the number of young people watching it - and the number of young men. It's not only women who are interested in interiors any more. And there is a much more sophisticated buying public now. This is where crafts like that of furniture making can really do well. I believe the key element to success is improving design."

She points to the success of people like John Rocha, Paul Costello, and Louise Kennedy; all fashion designers who were invited to design a range of glass and cutlery for bodies such as Waterford Glass, Newbridge Cutlery and Tipperary Crystal. "They would all call themselves fashion designers, but their creative input into the craft-based sector is really exciting."

Ruane also cites Lainey Keogh as someone who has reinvented a traditional craft - knitting - and made it into something new. "Lainey Keogh took a traditional idiom that was unfashionable and transformed it into something hugely successful. It's an example of what can be done."

She would love to see more galleries showing craftwork. "To my knowledge, only the Solomon Gallery and the Guinness Gallery in Foxrock show craft. The Guinness Gallery is particularly good for showing the work of glassmakers. But it would be wonderful to see someplace like IMMA have a big exhibition of craftwork, not just from this country, but internationally."

Frances Ruane's appointment coincided with the initiation of a three-year strategic development plan, which is currently being implemented by the Crafts Council. The Crafts Council are in consultation with a wide range of people involved in craft: buyers, museum curators, teachers, marketing people, and of course craftspeople themselves.

They have already had one forum in Dublin, which was attended by 80 people. Three more will take place shortly. "We are trying to gather as much information as possible, people's views and ideas on the craft sector. In the summer, we'll pull together all this information."

What would Frances Ruane like to contribute to the Crafts Council in her term of office? "I need to respond to what the crafts sector itself feels is important, while balancing the diverse needs of the people working within the sector." And she flicks her scarlet velvet Louise Kennedy scarf over her shoulder and smiles.

Frances Ruane is a striking example of reinvention herself: the American with no Irish roots, who arrived here with no job a quarter of a century ago, and who is now immersed in the revitalisation of Irish crafts.