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Craft Today: The Poetry of the Physical
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12167 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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2 / 1987 |
2,071 Words |
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Karen S. Chambers
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Craft Today: The Poetry of the Physical at the American Craft Museum in New York is a blockbuster exhibition in every sense of the word. It is mammoth: more than 300 objects by 286 craftsmakers and artists from thirty-six states. It features the best work of the leading crafts practitioners: Mac-Arthur Award winner Sam Maloof in wood; American studio glass movement founder Harvey Littleton; the grand old man of clay, Pete Voulkos; and the grand old ladies of fiber, Lenore Tawny and Claire Zeisler; the country's best known blacksmith, Albert Paley, to name just a few of the established craftspeople. Emerging craftspeople were not overlooked either with hot young talents like Michael Lucero in clay, Amy Roberts in glass, furniture maker Thomas Loeser, and many other younger artists. It showcases precious materials: Gold and silver are always crowd pleasers. In October on the gala opening nights for the new museum building, so many people lined up outside the exhibition that passersby were unable to resist looking through the clear glass of the façade. No one can refuse an invitation to a birthday party like Craft Today: The Poetry of the Physical, which celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of the American Craft Museum, founded by the American Craft Council, to present work by contemporary American craftspeople.
Nationwide Impact
Craft Today is the first major survey of the American craft scene since the 1969 Objects/USA (The Johnson Collection of Contemporary Crafts), and its impact will be felt across the country when it travels to six other sites over the next two years. Paul Smith, director of the museum since 1963 and organizer of Craft Today, believes it "is significant in showing the skill, imagination, and vitality evident in the vast range of object making today in America. The show brings together at one time some of the best work by many of the most exceptional craft artists of our era, from those who have been working for more than fifty years to emerging younger talents." Craft Today is an ambitious exhibition attempting to present the exciting state of crafts to a public too frequently thinking of crafts as street fair macramé and stoneware bean pots.
In an attempt to provide a coherent organizational framework for this massive exhibition, Smith divided Craft Today into four sections: The Object as Statement, The Object Made for Use, The Object as Vessel, and The Object for Personal Adornment. Though these divisions are arbitrary and not even parallel, mixing intent and form, they pinpoint for Smith some of the major trends in crafts today.
The largest section is The Object as Statement, which is perhaps the most problematic because it raises the old question: "What is the difference between art and craft?" The works in this section are not designed to be used and do not fulfill one of the traditional criteria for crafts - function. Technique, another distinguishing characteristic of craft versus art, is not glorified. Technique is subordinated to intent: The hand serves the head. Smith chose 108 objects for this section, selecting works that illustrate how craftsmakers can take traditional craft materials and techniques, and create pieces that transcend them and comment on them. Pamela Studstill's Quilt &##35; 53 utilizes the traditional technique of quilting, but the maker intended it to be a wall hanging that functions as a painting, not a bed covering. The vivid colors and lively patterns reflect the traditions of quilting and remind the viewer of the source of inspiration
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