Goldstein Museum of Design

Few materials have experienced a similar revaluation in contemporary art as clay has in the past few years. This timely publication accompanies a large-scale exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London, exploring how contemporary artists are using clay and ceramics in inventive and surprising ways, and pushing the boundaries of the medium. Featuring the work of over 20 international artists-from Grayson Perry to Woody De Othello-an introductory essay by curator Cliff Lauson, a text on the history of fine art and ceramics by writer and critic Amy Sherlock, and a round table discussion with artists from the exhibition, this catalogue is a meaningful contribution to the ongoing conversation about the relationship between art and craft.

This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World showcases American craft like never before. Accompanying a 2022 exhibition of the same name, it features artists' stories of resilience, methods of activism, and highlights craft's ability to spark essential conversations about race, gender, and representation. This book marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery, the nation's preeminent center for the enjoyment of American craft. It honors the history of the American studio craft movement while also introducing progressive contemporary narratives. This Present Moment highlights the often-overlooked histories and contributions of women, people of color, and other marginalized communities. The volume features many of the more than two hundred recently acquired artworks to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection. Named after Alicia Eggert's 2019-20 neon artwork, This Present Moment looks at American craft "in the whirlwind of now," revealing possibilities for contemporary makers to show us a more empathetic future. Featured artists include Tanya Aguiñiga, Nick Cave, David Chatt, Sonya Clark, Cristina Córdova, Cindy Drozda, Alicia Eggert, J. Paul Fennell, Aram Han Sifuentes, Carla Hemlock (Kanienkeháka), Sharon Kerry-Harlan, Ron Ho, Katie Hudnall, Pat Kramer, Stephen Young Lee, Linda Lopez, Roberto Lugo, Wendy Maruyama, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, Tom Loeser, John Mascoll, Connie Mississippi, George Nakashima, L. J. Roberts, Judith Schaechter, Preston Singletary, Polly Adams Sutton, Toshiko Takaezu, Gail Tremblay (Mi'kmaq and Onondaga), Nancy Worden, Consuelo Jiménez Underwood, and many more. The cover of this volume is printed in 50 color variations; a purchased copy may be different from the image pictured.

In this tribute to today's vibrant quilting community, prize-winning quilter and teacher Thomas Knauer showcases a stunning collection of quilts from a wide range of contemporary makers, accompanied by their testimonials about what inspires and imbues their craft with meaning. From temperance quilts to the AIDS quilt, there's a rich history of individuals and communities using fabric and thread to connect with others and express themselves, both personally and politically. Why We Quilt blends bits of this history with the stories and work of today's leading quilters, highlighting themes of tradition, community, consumerism, change, and creativity. With a unique die-cut cover and a richly layered design, this book will enthrall designers, quilters, and all types of handcraft enthusiasts.

Crafting Democracy: Fiber Arts and Activism calls upon craft, during an era of political disruption, as a creative force to voice dissent, express hope, critique the curtailment of civil rights, and to restore dignity to the human experience. The essays and artwork featured in this exhibition catalogue are framed within the context of American democracy and disclose how we, as individuals and as a culture, "craft democracy" and ultimately question what democracy means today. This is the catalogue of an exhibition held at Harold Hacker Hall, Central Library of Rochester [New York] & Monroe County: August-October, 2019. Juilee Decker is associate professor of museum studies at Rochester Institute of Technology. Her publications include the 3rd edition of Museums in Motion: An Introduction to the History and Functions of Museums (2017) and the four-volume series Innovative Approaches for Museums (2015). Hinda Mandell is associate professor in the School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology and is a co-editor of Nasty Women and Bad Hombres: Gender and Race in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election (University of Rochester Press, 2018). She is editor of Crafting Dissent: Handicraft as Protest from the American Revolution to the Pussyhats (forthcoming with Rowman & Littlefield).

This book is an essential and practical tool for designing and creating fashion accessories for men and women. Intended for fashion students and professionals, the book includes different pattern techniques for each accessory and explains production processes so that readers can incorporate them into their professional practice, in addition to identifying and providing the information needed to recreate a wide range of accessory models. It includes descriptions of materials, examples of patterns and designs and different possible finishes through illustrations, photographs, technical drawings and texts that clearly explain the production process of each artisanal and industrial piece. As items that provide personality and originality to one's personal style, fashion accessories have become essential to completing the "look" for each occasion. With the help of this manual, having in-depth knowledge about the creation of different pieces, from a bag to a pair of shoes to hats, gloves, ties and buttons -even clothing for dogs-, is a great way to get started in this branch of the fashion field.    

From the former director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, a timely and passionate case for the role of the well-designed object in the digital age. Curator and scholar Glenn Adamson opens Fewer, Better Things by contrasting his beloved childhood teddy bear to the smartphones and digital tablets children have today. He laments that many children and adults are losing touch with the material objects that have nurtured human development for thousands of years. The objects are still here, but we seem to care less and know less about them. In his presentations to groups, he often asks an audience member what he or she knows about the chair the person is sitting in. Few people know much more than whether it's made of wood, plastic, or metal. If we know little about how things are made, it's hard to remain connected to the world around us. Fewer, Better Things explores the history of craft in its many forms, explaining how raw materials, tools, design, and technique come together to produce beauty and utility in handmade or manufactured items. Whether describing the implements used in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, the use of woodworking tools, or the use of new fabrication technologies, Adamson writes expertly and lovingly about the aesthetics of objects, and the care and attention that goes into producing them. Reading this wise and elegant book is a truly transformative experience.

Sculpture is no longer limited to materials like stone or metal. Sculpting in fabric is shown in ingenious detail here, with more than 350lavish photographs of 3-D cloth configurations along with insightful profiles of the 78artists who created them. The images and text capture the currents that are powering these works, like thedo-it-yourself (DIY) movement established in the 1990s and the currentrevival of the revolutionary sculptural cloth of the 1960s. Works are approached through five themes: investigating nature, capturing the ephemeral, playing with space, telling a story, and "Take Heed." In her foreword, renowned fiber art expert Josephine Stealey helps us put this art form in context, from its origins in 1880 England's arts and craft movement to today. This is essential reading and inspiration for collectors, students, home artists, and anyone who appreciates innovative artwork.

Ancient records of canoes are found from the Pacific Northwest to the coast of Maine, in Minnesota and Mexico, in the Southeast and across the Caribbean. And if a native of those distant times might encounter a canoe of our day--whether birch bark or dugout or a modern marvel made of carbon fiber--its silhouette would be instantly recognizable. This is the story of that singular American artifact, so little changed over time: of canoes, old and new, the people who made them, and the labors and adventures they shared. With features of technology, industry, art, and survival, the canoe carries us deep into the natural and cultural history of North America. In the foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winner John McPhee, we dip into the experience of canoeing, from the thrilling challenges of childhood camp expeditions to the moving reflections of long-time paddlers. The pages that follow are filled with historical photographs and artwork, authors Neuzil and Sims describe the dugout and birch bark craft from their first known appearance through the exploration of Canada by fur traders, to the recreational movements that promoted all-wood and wood-and-canvas canoes. Modern materials such as aluminum, fiberglass, and plastic expanded participation and connected canoeists with emerging environmental movements.  Finally, Canoes lets us hear the voices of past paddlers like Alexander Mackenzie, the first European to cross North America, using birch bark and dugout canoes a decade before Lewis and Clark went overland, Henry Thoreau, Eric Sevareid, Edwin Tappan Adney, and others. Their stories are a tribute to the First Peoples who, 500 or 1,000 or even 5,000 years ago, built a craft designed to such perfection that it has plied the waters fundamentally unchanged ever since. 

Floral Journey: Native North American Beadwork is the compelling story of why Native floral beadwork became both a major means of artistic expression and a symbol of cultural resilience. It is also an important example of how two differing cultures ? Native and European ? established a common ground of economic and creative exchange.

Glenn Adamson's last book, Thinking Through Craft, offered an influential account of craft's position within modern and contemporary art. Now, in his engaging sequel, The Invention of Craft, his theoretical discussion of skilled work is extended back in time and across numerous disciplines. Adamson searches out the origins of modern craft, locating its emergence in the period of the industrial revolution. He demonstrates how craft was invented as industry's

The practice of handmade craft has undergone a huge resurgence in recent times. This book captures the new mood--a return to the unique and the artisanal. The first part of the book profiles over seventy international artisans who represent an astonishing array of crafts. The profiles include information on what inspires each artisan and how they create their products, often in innovative or eco-conscious ways. The second part of the book consists of an invaluable directory of products, divided into categories: art, ceramics, furniture, glasswork, jewelry, lighting, metalwork, paper and woodwork, stationery, tableware, and textiles. More than 800 color photographs illustrate the huge variety of design work on offer--exquisite paper flowers, handthrown pots and jugs, beaded necklaces, folk-inspired knitted scarves, handblown chandeliers, wooden table lamps, embroideries, and more. Resources include: contact details for the artisans, recommendations of shops, websites, and blogs to visit.

This book explores craft practices in both North America and Britain, revealing an astonishingly rich and diverse picture of artisanal work today. The text ranges across both urban and rural crafts and analyzes how the country/city dichotomy creates differing approaches, practices and objects. Analyzed in the context of their environment and its localized history, crafted objects are shown to embody or critique particular urban/rural myths and traditions. Covering both traditional and cutting-edge crafts from the small-scale domestic to large outdoor works, Contemporary Crafts demonstrates how crafts-people today are responding to the changing creative contexts of culture and history.

'Tweed' includes 20 projects, arranged by difficulty, that are specially designed for tweed yarns while also covering a variety of stitch patterns and techniques to help readers take advantage of the appealing nubby texture of tweed woollen yarn.

Craftsmanship, says Richard Sennett, names the basic human impulse to do a job well for its own sake, and good craftsmanship involves developing skills and focusing on the work rather than ourselves. The computer programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen all engage in a craftsman's work. In this thought-provoking book, Sennett explores the work of craftsmen past and present, identifies deep connections between material consciousness and ethical values, and challenges received ideas about what constitutes good work in today's world.   The Craftsman engages the many dimensions of skill--from the technical demands to the obsessive energy required to do good work. Craftsmanship leads Sennett across time and space, from ancient Roman brickmakers to Renaissance goldsmiths to the printing presses of Enlightenment Paris and the factories of industrial London; in the modern world he explores what experiences of good work are shared by computer programmers, nurses and doctors, musicians, glassblowers, and cooks. Unique in the scope of his thinking, Sennett expands previous notions of crafts and craftsmen and apprises us of the surprising extent to which we can learn about ourselves through the labor of making physical things.  

Co-published in Association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London This book is a timely and engaging introduction to the way that artists working in all media think about craft. Workmanship is key to today's visual arts, when high 'production values' are becoming increasingly commonplace. Yet craft's centrality to contemporary art has received little serious attention from critics and historians. Dispensing with clichéd arguments that craft is art, Adamson persuasively makes a case for defining craft in a more nuanced fashion. The interesting thing about craft, he argues, is that it is perceived to be 'inferior' to art. The book consists of an overview of various aspects of this second-class identity - supplementarity, sensuality, skill, the pastoral, and the amateur. It also provides historical case studies analysing craft's role in a variety of disciplines, including architecture, design, contemporary art, and the crafts themselves. Thinking Through Craft will be essential reading for anyone interested in craft or the broader visual arts.

In a response to the sleek forms and perfect angles of most late twentieth century design objects, many of today's artists and designers are returning to handmade work such as hand lettering, hand drawing, and hand sewing.By Hand features an international collection of the most noteworthy artists and shows their work in detailed photography and insightful texts. From books to pillows to T-shirts to toys, the pieces in this volume define an alternative view of contemporary design. Personal craft is emphasized over perfection and the personality of the artist is put forth as a key element of the finished product. From Kiki Smith's lovingly etched birds to Barb Hunt's knitted land mines to dynamo-ville's one-of-a-kind puppets to Evil Twin's hand-stitched publications, today's art revels in the care and consideration of craft.

"I can think of no recent book about traditional crafts which has delighted me more than Joel Monture's Complete Guide to Traditional Native American Beadwork. All too often, books of this nature are either as boring as a repair manual, or obscure and inaccurate. Monture's triumph is that his book is not only the best and most complete book about virtually every aspect of Native American beadwork tools, materials, styles and methods, it is also clear, interesting reading. Written from the point of view of a Native master craftsman who is also a gifted teacher, and accompanied by striking full-color photos, it can serve as either a beginning point or a lifelong reference tool. I am confident that Monture's book will bring him wide praise, not only from beadworkers, but also from any person who delights in knowing more about the meaning and the history of an indigenous artform which is finally attracting the sort of critical attention and informed appreciation it deserves." --Joseph Bruchac, author of Keepers of the Earth * Includes all the basic stitches and designs * Contains a special section on natural tanning methods * Extensive glossary * Full-color photos of authentic Native American beadwork