Being able to see some of the most innovative craft exhibitions of the 20th century is by far the best part about scanning materials from the Your Portable Museum collection for our new digital image database. The main curator of the Museum of Contemporary Craft's exhibitions was Paul J. Smith, who explained in a recent interview for American Craft magazine that he often took risks by building shows based on the nonconformist culture of the time. One of the 1965-66 exhibitions he uses as an example, which also happens to be a favorite around the ACC library, is Cookies and Breads: The Baker's Art.

With dough as the medium and baking as the method, Cookies and Breads explored the visual interest of breads and cookies through their shapes and decorations. Smith states in the exhibition catalog, "Dough is inexpensive and available; the technique of baking is simple and immediate." While considered very controversial at the time, the straightforwardness of the concept resonated with the audience, and the show was well received. Smith also notes, "The artist is attracted to dough as a medium expressive of today's concern with impermanence." Living for the day and expressing oneself in unconventional ways reflected the mentality of the youth in the 50s and 60s, and could explain why the exhibition was particularly popular with the younger generation. The attention brought to Cookies and Breads gave Smith and his staff the confidence to continue curating outside the box for the following two decades, which brought shows with titles such as Mind Extenders (1969), Furs and Feathers (1971) and Denim Art (1974). 

Cookies and Breads is just one of more than 125 exhibitions that will be documented and available online as part of the American Craft Council Library Digital Collections. A PDF of the catalog is included below, and be sure to look for the official launch of the database two weeks from today on September 1st, right here on the ACC blog!

The Portable Library explores the American Craft Council Library and Archives Digital Collections, launching September 2011. This open-access online compendium will contain more than 8,000 unique images, documents, and media detailing the history of contemporary craft in America. From ACC newsletters and photographs to firsthand documentation of major national craft exhibitions, the digital collections offer makers, scholars, and craft appreciators a glimpse at some of the ACC library's most invaluable resources.