Critics Page
Guest Critic
BEYOND THE HORIZONS OF CRAFT
Diversity in the Global Art Market
By Lowery Stokes Sims
If the notion of “diversity” suggests the fostering of a variety of expressions on an equal footing, then in the visual arts our scrutiny would have to be directed toward the situation of craft.
ALL TOGETHER NOW: Craft Across Boundaries
By Glenn AdamsonWhat is the place of craft in the global marketplace? It is hardly a new topic. In fact, handmade objects were once the world’s most important cultural ambassadors. Ceramics, textiles, and other goods traversed linguistic barriers in a way no written text could.
WHAT CRAFT IS MISSING: Conversation to Continue…
By Namita Gupta WiggersA longtime volunteer at our museum recently expressed discomfort with the content of the current exhibition. She explained that as a third generation American, the way in which America is represented in the exhibition disturbed her. Surprised at her reaction, I applaud her for expressing her own view.
The Margin You Feel May Not Be Real
By Sheila PepeIdentify the act of making as a form of visual, tactile, and spatial speech. Art is made when the maker is willing to take a position in a dialogue larger than her own conscious ruminations.
WE ARE ALL CORALS NOW: A Crafty Yarn About Global Warming
By Margaret WertheimStretching along the coast of Queensland, Australia, in a riotous profusion of color and form, the Great Barrier Reef is the first living thing that can be seen from outer space.
CORPOREAL IMPULSE: Contemporary Artists Working in Clay
By Allyson UnzickerIn an age where technology tends to form more physical detachments than connections, there is a cultural longing to experience something tangible and handmade.
Parallel Closets
By Aaron McIntoshPatchwork quilts of polyester pants and feedsacks filled spare rooms in a rough-hewn house full of hand-carved cradles, toys, and cabinets with smooth poplar floors.
In Conversation
CRAFTING OUT OF HAND
RON LABACO with Lowery Stokes Sims
Out of Hand explores the role that digital fabrication, or computer-assisted manufacturing, has played in our built world, in art, design, and architecture since 2005.
THE POTTER IS PRESENT
Alex Matisse’s Creative Cycle of Intention, Accident, and Community
By Keith Recker
Snow. An old black dog. A worn white house tucked into a mountain valley. Across a small field, flames rocket upward from the brick chimney of a massive wood fired kiln protected by a shed roof. The red-orange flare means East Fork Pottery is in the midst of a firing, a seven day cycle of heat, smoke, and gradual cooling that produces over 1,000 pots ranging from monumental forms and dynamically patterned chargers to simple vases, bowls, and cups.
