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Fanart as Craft and the Creation of Culture

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DOI: 10.1386/eta.5.1.7_1

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 International Journal of Education through Art Volume 5 Number 1
Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/eta.5.1.7/1 © Intellect Ltd 2009

Fanart as craft and the creation

of culture
Marjorie Cohee Manifold Indiana University, USA

Abstract Keywords
A study reveals how young people from nineteen countries have begun to manip- adolescents
ulate media conveyed narratives of popular culture in ways that may be con- cultural communities
strued as culture creation. Through intense engagements as fans of commercially craft
produced images and stories, adolescents and young adults may craft fanart illus- fanart
trations as images of self. As they learn art making within the global fandom, media culture
or Internet-connected community of like-interested fans and fanartists, these
young people enact relationships to the subject and process of fanart making,
fellow fanartists and the fan community that are not unlike those of the medieval
European craftsman to his craft, guild workshop and community. Appreciation
of local and global aesthetics is quickened, and a desire to develop a high level of
skill is inspired. Knowledge, skill, and aesthetic appreciation, however, do not nec-
essarily lead fanartists to desire art-related careers. Rather, many fanartists are
satisfied to experience fanart making as internalized affirmations of communal
self. These findings suggest art teachers should encourage practices that permit
students to explore personally relevant content, such as may be found in popular
narratives, and enter into interactions that reiterate those between craftsman
and media, process, and community.

There is general consensus among media critics, social theorists and educa-
tors, that young people with leisure time and ample access to media technolo-
gies, have begun to manipulate these technologies in newly expressive ways
(Jenkins 2006; Johnson 1999; Rushkoff 1999; Stephens 1998; Tapscott 1998).
Media pundits list computer generated images, digital videos and flash ani-
mations, Web ‘skins’, podcasts, and vodcasts as examples of new art forms
(Stephens 1998; Pollack 2001; Jenkins 2008). Henry Jenkins, director of the
MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, suggests it is not the invention of
new art forms that distinguishes youth culture of the twenty-first century;
rather, he argues, it is the way young audiences engage with commercially-
produced, media-made narratives that evidences culture creation (1992;
2008). In this paper I will suggest that as they interact with one another and
the stories of popular culture – through media technologies – young people
are crafting ideas of self and society in ways that reflect traditions of the crafts-
man and his/her relationship to the crafting guild and to the larger social com-
munity. These activities, which may ultimately affect global aesthetics within
real local and global communities, inform art educators about the importance
of art making in the lives of many young people and suggest purposes and
strategies for teaching art effectively to twenty-first century youth.

ETA 5 (1) pp. 7–21 © Intellect Ltd 2009 7

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 1. The subjects of this I recently conducted an investigation of youth who identify themselves as
study were selected
from websites
fans of various media-conveyed stories, create fanart (i.e. artwork that copies
that cater to fans or is inspired by commercially produced materials), and share these activi-
of popular media ties with others in online fan communities or fandoms. Through my study, I
narratives and per-
mit fans to post
hoped to gain some insight into the ways these particular youths were iden-
their work in fanart tifying with stories and characters from popular culture, understand some-
galleries. Subjects thing about the social implications of their activities, discover how they
were selected on the
basis of judgments
learned and developed the skills of fan-based art making, and determine the
that the artworks extent to which these activities might be construed as culture creation.
they posted demon- I focused on email interviews1 with fans of Japanese manga and anime,
strated advanced skill.
It was anticipated
fantasy literatures like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, and cinema such as
that accomplished Smallville, an American television series that chronicles the teenage years of
fanartists could give Superman. Potential subjects were contacted through two large fan-oriented
a reflective account
of their fanart learn-
websites: deviantArt.com and Elfwood.2 Of the 69 subjects,3 all but five were
ing experiences and between the ages of 14 and 24, and 58 were girls or young women.4 The
interactions in the fan subjects identified their residences in nineteen countries (i.e. Australia,
community.
Belgium, Canada, El Salvador, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Indonesia, Korea,
2. deviantArt.com Lebanon, Mexico, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan
(http:www.deviantart.
com); Elfwood (http://
ROC, United Kingdom, and the United States). These youth were asked to
elfwood.lysator.liu.se) respond to a series of questions organized by themes. In this paper I will
and Fanart Central consider their responses to these questions:
(http://www.fanart-
central.net).
When and how did you first get interested in creating fanart?
3. This study was
couched in a larger What interests you about this activity and what does it mean to you?
study that included How do/did you learn the skills of fanart making?
fans who created How do you think of this activity in terms of your life?
cosplay (i.e. costumes
and masquerade as
characters from nar-
ratives of popular Crafting self identity
culture). Erik Erikson’s (1950/1994) Theory of Psychosocial Development identifies
4. The higher number of adolescence as a critical period during which youth strive to construct
female respondents coherent self-identities. Narrative plays an important role in this construc-
might be attributed
to having selected tive process. Philosopher Paul Ricoeur, for example, argues we make use of
fans of narratives that stories from literature and popular culture as a framework for constructing
appealed to me. As a the narratives of our own lives (Ricoeur 1995; 2007). Child psychologist
woman, I would likely
gravitate towards nar- Bruno Bettelheim (1976) suggests that heroes and villains of popular stories
ratives and images and fantasy tales serve as archetypes of human agency and as instructive
that appeal to other models of ways-of-being in the world. Sociologist Anthony Giddens (1991)
girls and women
rather than to boys understands authentic self-identity as dependent upon one’s capacity to
and young men. sustain a particular narrative of self but sees social interaction as important
to this process, since personal narratives take shape as individuals link to
communities of people who are like themselves or ‘who, at least, have made
similar choices’ (Gauntlett 2002: 103).
Erikson, Gauntlett, and Giddens are among those who agree the con-
struction of self-identify occurs through processes that involve conscious
and unconscious responses to inner psychological and exterior social
environments. Individual narratives are affirmed as members of a group
mark themselves in relation to others, practice particular attributes or skills,
and situate self within specific cultural environments (Sennett 1994).
Through interaction with peers in school and local community, adolescents

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 develop a sense of themselves in terms of their competencies and weak-
ness, the roles they can or are permitted to play, and where they ‘fit in’ in
relation to the overall social group. Placing the playground in cyberspace,
where a young person may change his or her physical appearance or per-
sona and interact with others from diverse cultures or points of view – and
who may or may not actually be who they appear to be – might be perceived
as liberating (Peck 2008; Turkle 1995). Yet these youth are still bound by
parameters of social propriety established by those real and online commu-
nities to which they belong, and they are bound by internal drives to find a
sense of self that can function competently within these social parameters.
Therefore, while art educators may understand adolescence as an impor-
tant stage in artistic development, during which students often demonstrate
increased interest in drawing realistically, it is also important to consider
that adolescents might view favourite figures and narratives of popular cul-
ture as models and plastic media from which to construct or craft realistic
personal identities within peer social groups (Boyd 2007: 21).

Craft and crafting in art education

Crafting is a term frequently used by fanartists to describe not only how they
create fanart out of whole models, but also how they, and others, of the
fandom construct self out of pieces of fictional characters as model arche-
types. Fanartists’ use of the term crafting implies a definition of fanart as an
artefact having functional form and suggests that excellent craftsmanship
and adherence to models might take precedence over originality or aesthetic
considerations in determining quality of the realized form. This definition
may be problematic for art educators in the United States. Although the
roots of k-12 art education in the US were planted in the nineteenth century
by the economic needs of an increasingly industrialized and technologically
progressive nation, distinctions were quickly made between utilitarian
‘crafts’, whose value is determined by practical function, and ‘art’, whose
value is determined by aesthetic, intellectual or spiritual criteria and
uniqueness (Stankiewicz 1992). The instruction of craft making skills neces-
sary for careers in the production of utilitarian objects fell under the auspices
of vocational education. Art educators taught craft as an aesthetic and con-
ceptual practice and guided children to learn manual skills, such as realistic
drawing or facile manipulation of media, in order to express themselves
effectively as artists (Efland 1989). Children’s craft making, however, did
not receive serious attention as ‘statements of control and connection’ even
though it was generally acknowledged that art and craft making influenced
‘the social development of the child’ (Bronner 1996: 152).
Social theorist, Richard Sennett (2008), whose ideas are frequently referred
to and provide a conceptual frame for this paper, distinguishes between art
that ‘has one guiding or dominant agent’ (i.e. the lone artist working inde-
pendently to produce an original, novel idea or artifact) and craft that ‘has a
collective agent’ (Sennett 2008: 73). Yet, he argues the originality of the artist
‘does not provide a solid social foundation for autonomy’ (Sennett 2008: 72).
Art educator Eldon Katter implies ‘craft’ as providing this foundation.

The term ‘craft’ implies inherent connectedness between or among an object

and its maker and its perceiver. Craft forms are the result of the merger of

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 5. The percentages people and materials. Craft records the interaction of human beings with each
throughout represent other and with their culture.
only responses that
could be tallied. The (Katter 1995: 9)
interviews, which
were conducted in Sennett sees craft making as an activity that permits one to celebrate ego,
asynchronous time
through question- develop a sense of control and power through skill mastery, intimately
naires sent to the engage with media, and connect with others. He describes these elements
subject, permitted as having been evidenced in the education of apprentices in medieval craft
open-ended responses.
Not all respondents workshops and having influenced medieval culture. I suggest they also may
tended to all the be understood in the experiences of fanartists crafting in contexts of fan-
questions and some dom communities, and may describe how adolescents’ interactions with,
respondents gave
more than one answer and manipulations of, popular visual narratives could lead to culture crea-
to a question. tion in the twenty-first century.

Getting started in Fandom

Fanart that adapts images of characters from visual stories or phenomenon
of commercial media (Figure 1) may be understood as an expressive
response to popular culture, and nearly all my respondents indicated that
they had been drawing favourite characters from popular culture since they
were very young children. Over 66 per cent5 of the study subjects, however,
reported they did not become fans of specific stories until they reached early
adolescence, usually between the ages of 12 to 14. Being a fan meant the
relationship to a phenomenon had qualitatively shifted from appreciative
awareness to an emotionally charged embrace and potentially life-changing
engagement with a favourite narrative. ‘I’m nothing like I was before
[becoming a fan]’ wrote Daniela (personal correspondence, July 30 2006).
Just as becoming apprenticed to a master craftsman marked a new stage in
the lives of medieval children (Orme 2003), the moment of becoming a fan
was remembered by many fan youth as a turning point in their lives.
Over 70 per cent of the subjects described being drawn as fans to specific
characters in narratives of popular culture because they saw desirable traits in
the characters that they wished to possess, or emulate. This connection to
character was frequently described in passionate language as, for example, a
desire to ‘get inside the skin’ or ‘experience the soul’ of the fictive. Thus
beloved characters served as media from which ‘pieces of self’ (Jessica B.,
personal correspondence, January 7 2006) might be constructed, and as mod-
els of how the ideal self might interact with others or respond to experiences.
Nearly 79 per cent of these youth stated that they had learned to create
fanart by incessantly copying the commercially-made models of their favour-
ite characters. Repeatedly drawing a figure was not only a way of learning to
draw the form of the beloved fan phenomenon, but also a way of drawing it
close and absorbing it’s essence – that is, of harmonizing attributes of the
inner self with aesthetic qualities of an external form. I suggest the fan’s
engagement with her subject is also akin to the work of the craftsman
apprentice, for internalizing form and essence are necessary processes of
learning craft and coming to know oneself as craftsman. ‘You get to know a
terrain by tracing and retracing it,’ explains Sennett, ‘sketches are often pic-
tures of possibility; in the process of crystallizing them and refining them by
hand, the [craftsperson] … gets deeply involved in [the possibility of a form
and] matures in thinking about it’ (Sennett 2008: 40).

10 Marjorie Cohee Manifold

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 Figure 1: Baldrick and the Baby Dragon (Black/White), by Noel Dwyer (age 17, USA), Ink on paper.
http://www.elfwood.com/fanq/n/d/ndwyer2/black.jpg.html

Fanart as craft and the creation of culture 11

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 6. Although many of Learning the craft of Fanart
the study partici-
pants demonstrated More than 33 per cent of the fanartists volunteered that their fanart making
advanced skills in skills were self-taught, and described how their art learning and art making
the use of software skills had been developed through self-motivated interests and practices.
programs and
digital technologies, They had applied strategies such as intently studying and relentlessly copy-
none mentioned ing models created by artists of the source materials, and also turned to
a disparity between one another as teachers. Over 79 per cent of the respondents acknowledged
their teacher’s
tentative skills and that practicing exact copies (i.e. ‘canonical’ representations) of source material
their own advanced was critical to learning fanart drawing. The necessity of getting a character’s
technological skills appearance right, in order that it be recognized by other fans, compelled
as problematic.
fanartists to attend to the difficult technical skills of drawing.
7. Bullfight: Death of On the other hand, less than 33 per cent acknowledged that having taken
the Torero (1933),
Pablo Picasso, The formal art classes in grades 7–12 assisted them in learning technical skills
Musee Picasso, Paris: necessary to fanart making. Over 29 per cent eschewed taking secondary-
oil on wood panel, level art classes altogether, because they did not believe formal art instruc-
324 X 40 cm.
tion would benefit their artistic growth. These youth explained that their art
teachers too often focused upon the elements and principles of design or
upon compartmentalized, sequential presentations of art knowledge rather
than upon meaningful content and contexts of art.6 One study participant,
Helene, described an alternative, holistic approach to art learning.

I made a Harry Potter themed version of Picasso’s Bullfight; The Death of

the Torero7 which became the death of the wizard Sirius Black. It made me
look very closely at the painting. [I learned a lot] about Picasso and about
composing a painting.
(Hélène L., personal communication, April 25 2006)

Research aimed at understanding how ‘challenging knowledges and practices

[may be made] accessible’ (Perkins 2009: 3) affirms the importance of immers-
ing students in holistic learning experiences. Perkins, of Harvard’s Project Zero,
advises that opportunities be provided for students to ‘play the whole game’
(Perkins 2009: 8), that is, to see how all the parts work together, even while
attending to individual parts. There is correlation here to learning in the guild
craftsman’s workshop, where various workers may be engaged with discrete
parts of a whole, yet, with awareness of the interdependency of these parts.
Perkins’ also tells us learners only become engaged and actively remem-
ber learning that is perceived as worthwhile. For Hélène, re-constructing
Picasso’s artwork required attention to essences of a subject that Hélène
perceived to be important (e.g. conflict between protagonist and foe,
metaphoric relationships between toreador and wizard, and death). This
compelled her to explore how a master artist had manipulated composi-
tional parts to effectively convey similar themes. Importance of the subject
invited Hélène to enter into art thinking and making as holistic experience –
that is – as a synthesis of conceptual idea, design, and manipulative skill. In
short, it required the processes of thinking in and through that are experi-
enced by the apprentice as she evolves toward master craftsman.

Learning in fan community

The social group, or fan community, was recognized by over 73 per cent of
the subjects of this study as critical to their emerging sense of self and the

12 Marjorie Cohee Manifold

ETA_5.1_02_art_Mabifold 12 6/6/09 2:05:21 PM

 development of their craft making skills. They reported that as members of 8. Although it is a
commercially-made
online fan communities, they engaged in in-depth discussions of favorite model, I suggest the
phenomenon. They debated the meanings of nuanced phrases in a text, dis- latest Batman movie,
cussed what passages or visual details meant, and studied images of char- Batman the Dark
Knight, as an example
acters for cues about internal motivation. In this way, participants of the of a masterfully
group developed ideas about cause and effect that they could internalize. reinterpreted Batman
Social interactions of fans within the group are critiqued, as are works of that changes audi-
ence’s ideas about
art created by fanartists. Fans, who are not also fanartists, rarely give construc- the Batman character
tive criticism of technique but tend to be highly complimentary of fanartists’ and story.
efforts to accurately reproduce images from favourite visual narratives. Non-
art making fans are also quick to aim negative criticism at images that do not
adhere to canonical representations of characters. Here there is comparison
to the apprentice craftsman’s relationship to community. Because the crafts-
man creates for community, the community determines what is or is not an
acceptable product in terms of functional and aesthetic expectations (Sennett
2008: 65). Although the craftsman will look to more skilled peers or the mas-
ter craftsman for technical instruction and critique, the possibility of praise
and recognition from all members of the fandom (that is, from the guild of
fellow craftsmen as well as the larger community) motivates the fanartist to
develop increasingly acceptable skills of representation.
Once a fanartist has become acknowledged for her expertise in accu-
rately representing the model, she may elevate her status in the commu-
nity of fellow fanartists by tutoring or offering advice through off-site
emails and communications with novice fanartists. She may also gain
prestige in the larger community (of non-art-making fans) by convincing
people of new aesthetic possibilities through the powerful authority of her
artistic skill and unique narrative twists to the popular story. In this way,
fanartists may come to reinterpret original narratives. Fan-made reinter-
pretations are evident, for example, in images that depict feminized male
characters, juxtapose characters in non-canonical relationships (Figure 2)
or suggest, through visual representation, new complexities of character
psychologies. The degree to which alterations of original models are
accepted by members of the general community influences aesthetic
understandings and sensibilities of others within that community.8

Fanart as creation of culture

By the time a fanartist has developed basic skills and some confidence in
her abilities to create competent fanart images, she is less likely to see the
characters she illustrates as extensions of her own persona. ‘Now I’m more
interested in drawing and understanding characters that are not like me.
For example, I do some commissioned work for other fans,’ writes Camilla
(personal correspondence, August 17 2005). The fanartist becomes inter-
ested in learning to make excellent artworks to be appreciated and con-
sumed by others of the community. This suggests the accomplished
fanartist as craftsman rather than artist, unlike the artist who, according to
Sennett (2008: 65), turns increasingly inward for inspiration, the craftsman
turns outward to his community for direction. Nevertheless, the fanartist as
craftsman may also be drawing upon deep inner reserves. She may be inter-
nalizing knowledge of self and the media, and processes of art making.
These become embedded as tacit knowledge or instinctive responses to the

Fanart as craft and the creation of culture 13

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 Figure 2: Harry Draco Fanart, by ‘Rans’, (age 22, Thailand/Japan). CG painting in
Photoshop. http://rans.deviantart.com/art/Harry-draco-fanart-43286358?offset=30

stories and images of popular culture. ‘When we speak of doing something

“instinctively”’ says Sennett (Sennett 2008: 50), ‘we are often referring to
behavior we have so routinized that we don’t have to think about it’.
What the accomplished fanartist does think about is how she might
improvise on the model and make something new of what is known. A
goal expressed by 89 per cent of the subjects is to develop a unique style
that allows her to be recognized or known by members of the general
fandom and lauded by peer fanartists. This reveals a way fanartists might
function as culture-creators – that is – as influencing aesthetic sensibili-
ties of the larger community. In order to become noticed in the fandom, each
fanartist must bring something new from her real-life cultural experience
to the group. It is this that gives unique style to her fanart expressions.
So, an Indonesian student may use elements of wayang kulit folk puppetry
in creating an image (Figure 3); a Filipino youth may re-interpret a figure

14 Marjorie Cohee Manifold

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 9. Harry Potter is a series
of seven books by
British author J. K.
Rowling. Between
the release of the
first book of the
series in 1997 and
June 2008, over
400 million copies of
the books, written in
65 different languages,
had been sold to a
market of worldwide
consumers (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Harry_Potter).
10. Naruto is an ongoing
manga (Japanese
comic) series by
author/artist Masashi
Kishimoto. First
published in 1999
as manga, Naruto
was premiered as
an anime produc-
tion in 2002 (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Naruto).

Figure 3: Wayang Kulit Characters in Anime Style, by Jia-Ling Tan,

(age 14, Indonesia). Watercolor, http://www.elfwood.com/art/j/i/jialing/
wayangkulit.jpg.html

from the colonial history of his country in manga-style imagery; a Lebanese

high school student may illustrate a story from her culture in a style that
combines elements of manga and western illustrative traditions.
Thus mass media conveyed images from culture-specific stories seep
into culturally diverse and geographically remote local communities, and
elements of local culture or personal taste and experience enter into the
global fandom. There is a trans-cultural exchange of styles – an invigorating
mix of imagery and ideas. To paraphrase Sennett (2008: 40), fanart images
become pictures of possibility for the fanartist, members of the fandom,
and the real communities to which fans belong.
Because the most technically skilled fanartist will desire to be known not
only as an excellent fanartist within a particular genre of favourite stories, such
as the Harry Potter9 or Naruto10 series, but also as an artist who produces

Fanart as craft and the creation of culture 15

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 Figure 4: Naruto- Zaku-kun, by ‘LadyCallisto” (age 16, Germany). http://ladycallisto.deviantart.com/
art/Naruto-Zaku-kun-9794021

16 Marjorie Cohee Manifold

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 unique Harry Potter or Naruto imagery (Figure 4), I assumed that all the highly
acclaimed fanartists would also want to pursue careers as artists and be rec-
ognized as creating original, idiosyncratic works. Yet, this was not the case.
I was surprised to find that, while a few of the most accomplished fanartists
expressed a desire to be acknowledged for creating original art – nearly half of
the study subjects indicated that they had no expectation or aspiration of pur-
suing careers as artists, and were content to create fanart for their own pleas-
ure and as a contributory gesture within the context of the fan community.
Here, I began to see distinctive differences between the goals and pur-
poses of the medieval guild and the crafting work of young fanartists. While,
the guild craftsman expected to earn a living from the sale of his work, strict
copyright regulations prohibit fanartists from benefiting financially from
their efforts. Even if this were not the case, these fanartists indicated satis-
faction and, in many cases, preference for the intrinsic rather than extrinsic
rewards of their art-making endeavors. Accomplished fanartists created
their art as a ‘pleasurable escape from everyday’, ‘to make sense of the
world’, ‘balance life’, or as a way of ‘contributing to conversations’ with
members of communities to which they had chosen to belong. While mas-
ters of medieval guilds imposed strict standards for crafted items, the works
of fanartists were judged by members of the fandom as having value, not
only insofar as they bore resemblance to canonical models, but also insofar
as they evidenced the makers’ distinctive styles and expanded – without
altogether disregarding – the parameters of the fandom. Fanartists
described the genesis of their activities as quests of self-discovery, couched
within mutually embraced narratives, rather than as preliminary to art
careers. Ultimately they strove to produce skillfully crafted works in order to
push boundaries, extend conversations, explore, and contribute personal
interpretations of shared stories. In this regard, they might be understood,
not as mere craftsmen fulfilling prescribed roles in a fixed society, but as
participant crafters of the cultural societies to which they subscribed.

Considering the purposes of art education

The results of this study open a window on the role of art in the lives of some
fan youth, and may cause art educators to wonder how this view fits into
notions regarding the goals and purposes of art education in schools. In the
United States, where education tends to be defined in terms of economics,
secondary school learning is understood as preparatory work for immediate
transition into adult careers or as a foundation for higher education. As
school systems suffer from financial cutbacks and administrators and teach-
ers are pressed to focus on standardized tests, programmes that cannot be
justified as contributing to test scores or preparing qualified workers for
adult careers are at risk (Fowler 2001). Art educators advocate a place for art
in the curriculum by insisting the value of the arts surpasses that of quantita-
tive assessments or practical careers. Efland (2002) protests, ‘the purpose
of art education is not to induct individuals into the world of the professional
fine arts community. Rather its purpose is to enable individuals to find
meaning in the world of art for life in the everyday world’ (Efland 2002: 77).
Yet, suggestions that the arts help us understand and expand our experi-
ences, learn tolerance, or inspire creative and critical thinking, have failed to
secure the place of art education in American schools (Fowler 2001). The

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 problem may not be that policy makers, administrators, and parents do not
see the arts as important in the grand scheme of things, but that we as art
educators do not fully comprehend the role of art in the lives of youth or the
potential this holds for art education in the twenty-first century.
It should be of concern to art educators that two thirds of the study par-
ticipants did not find secondary-level art education helpful to their art learn-
ing. A third insisted that their artistic skills had been ‘self-taught’ and nearly
three fourths valued learning from other fanartists as much, or more, than
learning from instruction in school contexts. If fanartists can develop expert
skills of craftsmanship without the benefit of formal art education, what
should be the role and purpose of art education in schools? Findings of this
study support educational goals that focus on students as participants in and
creators of culture. Strategies that persuade students to study art and
approaches used in instructing art must be compatible with this focus. Art
educators must address issues related to how, why, and toward what ends
students might mould cultures of the future.
Perhaps art programmes that appropriated certain characteristics of the
medieval guild model might present effective and meaningful modes of
contemporary art education. The young people who participated in this
study interacted with media, processes of making, master fanartists, peer
fanartists and fans, in ways that contributed to their feelings of success and
satisfaction. These interactions bore similarity to enacted relationships
between the medieval European craftsman, his craft, guild and community.
Other aspects of the medieval guild model, however, including its strict
regulations of apprentices and its purpose of preparing youth for careers as
craftsmen, were not reflected by the study and would not be appropriate to
contemporary art education. Freedom to choose a favourite popular story
was fundamental to fan participation, and – although all the study partici-
pants indicated that they hoped to continue creating fanart as adults – pre-
paring for art careers was important to only half of them. Still, learning
through crafting was foundational to each of these youths’ understanding
of themselves and their place in particular cultural communities.

Implications for art education

The young people who participated in this study were fans of diverse
popular phenomena. Not all the participants appreciated the same popu-
lar stories. Students’ differing preferences and interests might make it
difficult for art teachers to find a single popular phenomenon that would
appeal to all students. Furthermore, the internal drives that urged these
fanartists to practice and relentlessly seek feedback in order to improve
their work, might not come naturally to all students. Nevertheless, the
information provided by these youth regarding strategies of learning art-
making support a number of current theories and practices of art instruc-
tion in classroom settings. For example, Andrews (2005), a high school
art teacher in the Midwestern United States understands the important
role personal choice plays as learning motivation. She advocates a
student-driven curriculum, which encourages students to select media
and topics they find personally intriguing. She finds students, who are
motivated by their own eclectic interests, intuitively begin to place these
interests in the larger world.

18 Marjorie Cohee Manifold

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 Egan (1998) tells us students’ minds are awakened to learning by narra-
tives that engage passionate emotions. Such narratives may feature themes
of wonder and awe, transcendent heroism, extremes and limits of human
possibility, and revolution or ideal justice as content – themes that partici-
pants of this study also found engaging. Egan has suggested ways teachers
might identify these themes in the ordinary content of curricula, and struc-
ture learning experiences around investigations of them (Egan 2005).
Self-motivated engagement with powerful popular narratives com-
pelled fanartists to build upon habits of learning (Hetland et al. 2007;
Winner and Hetland 2007), which are central to craft making. These
include the development of crafting skills through engagement and per-
sistence, an ability to draw connections between academics and everyday
experiences, observation, envisioning, innovative thinking, reflection, and
self-expression. Habits of mind as elements that integrate into principles
of learning (Perkins 2009). Although Perkins uses gaming analogy in
describing these principles, they might just as easily be aligned to the way
craftsmen learn their craft. Fanartists, as craftsmen, begin with an aware-
ness of a completed model. They study the way parts interact, affect one
another, and fit together in finished works. They test the results of their
work against group standards by seeking feedback from peer fanartists
and non-artist fans. They relentlessly copy, recopy, study, reflect upon,
and practice difficult aspects of creating fanart. They discuss and debate
others’ interpretations of favourite narratives. In-person and through
Internet connections, they become peer teachers of one another.
Because they may not aspire to pursue careers as artists or work in art
related fields, permitting youth to engage with others of like-interests through
online communications can open opportunities for students to discuss and
think deeply about aesthetic issues from diverse points of view. This is espe-
cially important for students who may not find others in the classroom or local
community with whom to share their specific interests (Clark, Manifold and
Zimmerman 2007). In this way, students can experience interactions within
several guild-like communities with differing aesthetic agendas (i.e. the learn-
ing community of the art classroom, the fandom or like-interest group, the
local cultural community, and diverse cultural communities around the world).
By contributing and exchanging aesthetic exemplars and ideas with others
across many cultures, students, who have crafted individual interpretative
styles, may influence the aesthetic sensibilities of youth across cultures.
Fanartists remind us that a significant goal of the art education of ado-
lescent youth is empower them to become contributors to and crafters of
culture. Art educators might consider ways to assist students in becoming
excellent craftspeople who derive deep personal satisfaction from art mak-
ing, contribute their artistry to their local communities, entertain narratives,
aesthetic imagery, and ideas from other cultures and nations, and engage
with people from diverse cultural backgrounds in discourse about topics
that are relevant to many. It is important that there be a few extraordinary
artists whose work it is to invent enlightened stories and images that appeal
to the masses and project parameters of culture. Yet, the work of the every-
day craftsman who engages with images and ideas created by others, makes
them personal, expands upon them and recycles them back into commu-
nity, is culture crafting – and this too is important and meaningful work.

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Suggested citation
Manifold, M. C. (2009) ‘Fanart as craft and the creation of culture’, International
Journal of Education through Art 5: 1, pp. 7–21, doi: 10.1386/eta.5.1.7/1

Contributor details
Marjorie Cohee Manifold is Assistant Professor of Art Education in the Curriculum
and Instruction Department, School of Education and Affiliate Faculty with the
Center for the Study of Global Change, Indiana University. She teaches graduate
and undergraduate students in the teacher education program. In her research,
she explores the relationship between aesthetic experience and learning in real and
online environments, and the interface between individual artists and their commu-
nities. She is particularly interested in how youth learn about art and art making in
extracurricular environments. She is active in national and international art and art
education organizations, including NAEA, USSEA, and InSEA.
Contact: Marjorie Cohee Manifold, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Art Education Indiana
University, School of Education, Bloomington, IN 47405-1006, USA.
Tel: 1-812-856-8133 (wk) 1-812-825-4013 (hm)
E-mail: mmanifol@indiana.edu

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 COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

TITLE: Fanart as craft and the creation of culture

SOURCE: International Journal of Education through Art 5 no1 Je
2009
PAGE(S): 7-21

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