One of the early catalysts of the Studio Craft Movement came from an unexpected source: the US Government. The financial stability of teaching gave many artists opportunity to develop their own work. Many of the artists whose work is represented in the show (including Robert Rauschenberg, William Parry, Ramona Solberg, Peter Voulkos) were veterans who benefited both from the support of the GI bill and academia. This influx of some two million veteran students led to the rapid creation and expansion of programs in ceramics, fiber, metal, and wood around the country.
There’s a Zen comment that I don’t know what they call these things in their philosophy, but the comment was, “Go slow, reach fast.” And the way I interpret that is that you just keep working at it, working at it, and then suddenly it happens. But it takes years, and you keep trying to keep consistent with what you believe, and then something happens and you get there.
“Part of the joy of putting together an exhibition like Crafting Modernism is discovering amazing objects. I’m particularly pleased to share this pamphlet with you today since ephemera didn’t make it into the show. This pamphlet, with its funky design and typography (the invite is a mirror image) is an example of the creativity that surrounded the pioneers of the Studio Craft Movement.”
Crafting Modernism (opening October 12, 2011) covers a 25-year period that begins in 1945 with the intersection of craft with post-War Modern design , and concludes in 1969 with innovative works of art that upended traditional concepts of craft. The artists featured include leaders of the 1940s and 50s such as Ray and Charles Eames, Jack Lenor Larsen, and Isamu Noguchi whose designs reflected a growing interest in the handmade, as well as the artists of the 1950s and 60s such as Peter Voulkos, Alexander Calder, and Richard Artschwager.
A recent comment on the “Making It Real” blog was “What is the Making it Real exhibition about and when will it take place?” The short answer is: Making it Real will be at MAD from October 12, 2011, until January 15, 2012, and will look at the emergence of the American Studio Craft Movement in the period after World War II. But that begs the question—what was the studio craft movement? So today’s blog is a (short, I promise) history lesson about how and why crafts went from being a necessity to being a choice. Along the way, I will also explain how we came up with the title.
Today’s post is written by a guest blogger, Sarah Archer, who is the Director of Greenwich House Pottery. She writes about their current exhibition, “Mid-Century Style and Studio Pottery,” up now through February 10. The exhibition is a must-see for mid-century modernism addicts (I personally would like to move right into the period room she installed), who can also get a fix at tonight’s program at MAD, organized by Sarah.
As you may have heard, Robert, MAD’s fabulous new restaurant with its spectacular view of Columbus Circle, has finally opened. You may not know that the restaurant is named after Robert Isabell, the famed events planner involved in the project who died unexpectedly in 2009. In reading articles about his death in the New York Times , and later information about the auction of his property at Sotheby’s, we realized another link we had with Robert—he loved many of the artists that we are including in Making It Real.
When we visited San Francisco to do research for this exhibition, a visit to the Heath Ceramics factory in Sausalito was a must. Heath Ceramics was represented with a stoneware saucepot in Craftsmanship in a Changing World, the Museum of Art and Design’s inaugural show (at the time it was called the Museum of Contemporary Crafts).
The church (and by “church” I mean all religious groups) has historically been an important patron of the arts, and we found that this was especially true in the postwar period when many new churches and synagogues were built. So, we are including a section in Making it Real of “Craft in the Service of Worship.”
One of the best parts of being a curator, other than all the curating, is attending really gorgeous art and design fairs for research. Last month the Modernism + Art20 fair was on at the Armory on the Upper East Side. Each of the curators involved in our exhibition went to take a look.
Next Posts
Previous Posts
