I recently completed my first year at the American Craft Council and have now experienced a full cycle of programming at our national craft shows, American Craft magazine, Aileen Osborn Webb Awards and our fabulous craft library. It has been an amazing learning experience, and I am pleased with the progress we have made in each of these areas. But we still have a lot to do. These are exciting times, and we are working hard to reinvigorate existing programs and develop new ones to meet the changing needs of the field.
I am delighted to tell you that attendance and sales at our craft shows are up. ACC membership numbers have steadily increased, which means more folks are reading American Craft magazine. All these things mean more people have the opportunity to connect with craft. And the more people who experience and understand the beauty and importance of handcrafted items, the better the chance for the craft community to grow and thrive. If your experience is like mine, you know that once you are hooked on craft, you can't imagine life without the beauty of handmade items.
The Council is committed to the success of the craft field and want to ...
At American Craft, we try to keep up with all of the wonderful craft shows and events going on. We publish a curated selection - "Shows to See" - in each print issue. Here are some of our Fall favorites from that list. Make sure to check them out if you're in the area.
GA / Marietta
Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art
Moulthrop: A Southern Legacy (Sep. 24 - Dec. 18)
A showcase of turnings completed in the past 30 years by three generations of the legendary Moulthrop family (Ed, Philip, and Matt).
MA / Brockton
Fuller Craft Museum
All Things Considered VI (to Dec. 11)
In concert with the National Basketry Organization's August conference, this show contains 70 pieces from invited and juried artists, such as George Fitzpatrick (above).
ME / Rockport
Messler Gallery/Center for Furniture Craftsmanship (to Nov. 22)
Regeneration: Fine Woodworkers Under 30
Co-produced with Fine Woodworking, this national juried exhibition displays woodworking by top young artists.
NJ / Newark
Newark Museum
Patchwork from Folk Art to Fine Art (to Dec. 31)
More than two dozen quilts from the ...
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Get out your calendar - and get excited. Three weeks from now, on October 12, "Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design" opens at New York's Museum of Arts and Design.
The exhibition, which traces the handcrafted object in the postwar era, has been years in the making - in more ways than one. Its roots go back to the early '90s, when Janet Kardon (then director of MAD, then called the American Craft Museum) launched the Centenary Project, a series of exhibitions chronicling decorative arts and craft in the 20th century. Three shows came to fruition - as you'll read below - before MAD put the historic series on hold.
Under director Holly Hotchner, MAD renewed the project in 2008, tapping curators Jeannine Falino and Jennifer Scanlan to lead the charge. Three years (and, clearly, no shortage of devotion) later, the women have organized what promises to be a thrilling exhibition, the first Centennary Project installment at MAD's new Columbus Circle location. There's also a book-lust-worthy scholarly catalog, shipping in October and published by Abrams, and an intriguing timeline still to be unveiled (more details below!).
As busy as they've been, Falino and Scanlan generously made time to ...
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John Lara and David Trophia's Crimson Laurel Gallery, founded in 2002 in a small North Carolina town, has developed a national reputation among both buyers and artists. The gallery owners have not arrived at this good place by chance. They cite their approach to customers, their collection, the Internet, and their community as keys to their success. We set out to understand how they've grown and flourished in a tough economic climate.
American Craft: How did you and John join forces?
David Trophia: We had worked together in Key West for my brother at a butterfly sanctuary. John was an entomologist and biologist, and I ran the business. We were both jewelers, and we decided to move to North Carolina and open up a little jewelry studio. So in 2000, we moved to Bakersville and in 2002 set up a little jewelry studio, doing our own work and selling the work of other artists on the side.
AC: Almost a decade later, studio jewelry remains a focus of your gallery, though you've since added ceramics. Do you and John still make jewelry?
DT: We do. We have a working jewelry studio in the gallery, and we supply jewelry for ...
Today's interview is with Timi Bliss, development associate for the American Craft Council.
What is your favorite/most-read art or craft book in your personal collection?
The Doll by Carl Fox, photographed by H. Landshoff. I collected dolls as a child, and this book was given to me on my 10th birthday from my mom. It's a photographic tribute to the doll's folklore, craftsmanship, and culture. I remember being really spooked yet fascinated by the image and story of the tiny coffin containing two voodoo dolls that washed ashore on a beach. Getting this book as a gift meant the world to me and would be one of the items I'd try to grab if my house was on fire and I had to get out now. I was happy to see it in the Council's library, too!
What book or magazine would you like to sneak out of the ACC Library?
1000 Rings: Inspiring Adornments for the Hand, published by Lark Books. It's daring, clever, and extreme hand jewelry. For me, thumbing through the pages is reminiscent of looking through the Sears catalog at Christmas time..."Ooh, I want this one! No, wait, I ...
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Penina Meisels
Ever made beads with Sculpey or Fimo? If you have, you know polymer clay is an easy material to use. Alas, it's a hard material to perfect. If you looked closely at your beads, you probably saw fingerprints or fingernail indentations. Maybe, despite your best efforts, your beads were slightly out of round. Or the millefiori pattern you tried got smushed beyond recognition when you compressed it.
Polymer's barriers to entry are low, but its mastery threshold is high. That's why, as I researched a feature on the rise of polymer for our October/November issue, I was so impressed by the work of North American polymer masters, among them Dan Cormier, Jeffrey Lloyd Dever, and Lindly Haunani. Cormier's Vessel trio, with its subtle stripes and crisp edges, looks stamped out of a machine; but every minute detail was fashioned by hand. And consider the perfect color gradations of Dever's and Haunani's pieces; that's hard-won skill at work.
Polymer masters are coming into their own with the first-ever major polymer collection at the Racine Art Museum, opening in mid-October. It's time.
Can't get enough craft? Neither can we. Heck Yes Craft is a series of visual blog posts ...
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If you haven't had a chance to check out the ACC Library Digital Collections, now is a wonderful time to take a peek. Nearly 2,500 images, newsletters, and exhibition catalogs are currently available for your viewing pleasure. The latest addition to the Your Portable Museum Image Collection is the OBJECTS: USA filmstrip. OBJECTS: USA was a seminal late 1960s to early 1970s traveling exhibition featuring materials collected by the S.C. Johnson and Son Company. OBJECTS: USA was exhibited throughout the United States at places like the Smithsonian, the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, and the Seattle Art Museum before moving to international venues like the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and Museo de Arte Contempóraneo in Madrid. Featured were objects from the most well-known makers in America at the time, including Anni Albers, Robert Arneson, George Nakashima, Arline Fisch and many others.
In addition to the filmstrip images we've made available online, the ACC library houses a plethora of complimentary resources related to the OBJECTS: USA exhibition. We have archival files with original documents describing the provenance of the works, press clippings, the OBJECTS: USA exhibition catalog and book compiled by curator Lee Nordness, ...
Hired to work at an Indian trading post north of Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1968, Steve Beiser discovered a life vastly different from his youth in New Jersey. Six years later, with $800 saved and a BA degree in anthropology from Northern Arizona University, he opened a business selling Southwest Indian art in historic downtown Flagstaff.
Minus the beef jerky and soda pop he sold the first year, Beiser's business, Puchteca Indian Goods, reflects the character of a trading post. A little bell rings as the door opens. I step inside. Beiser stands behind a row of glass cases displaying jewelry and hand-coiled pots made of clay from the Hopi mesas and fired outdoors. Behind him are Navajo paintings and Hopi kachina dolls carved from cottonwood. "Just looking?" he asks.
Beiser has succeeded in weaving paths of communication and healing between artists and collectors for almost 40 years. I set out to discover how he has done that.
You have taken pains to educate yourself about American Indian culture and spirituality. How is that knowledge helpful to you as a business owner?
Steve Beiser: People who buy this work want to know all of that, and they ...
