November 8 and 9, 2012
This symposium is free and open to the public, and held in conjunction with the exhibition 40 under 40: Craft Futures.
of the Renwick Gallery as the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s branch
museum for contemporary craft and decorative arts, this program seeks to
broaden the dialogue surrounding craft’s recent histories, and to
articulate rapid changes to the field since the beginning of the current
century.
Research presented by both senior and emerging scholars will complicate
our understanding of modern craft as a response to mass culture, and
probe the evolution of the field beyond the studio movement. Themes
include: the politics of craft within the museum, new directions in
technology and education, craft at war, converging practices in craft
and contemporary art, changing aesthetics, craft’s role in industry, and
the burgeoning DIY movement.
The title of this symposium references modern craft’s history as a
regenerative (and often political) force in society, but also
20th-century political theorist Hannah Arendt’s assertion that what
fundamentally distinguishes us as a species is our capacity for
“world-building.” The value of craft as evidence of diverse human agency
and its impact on the American experience is at the heart of this
project.
The symposium will be webcast live and archived.
Selections from the proceedings will be published in print form in 2013.
Schedule
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Welcome and Keynote
Watch the live webcast
- Nicholas R. Bell, the Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator of American Craft and Decorative Art,
Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum - “Goodbye Craft” Glenn Adamson, Deputy Head of Research and Head of Graduate Studies, Victoria and Albert Museum
- “America at Home: Crafts and Craftsmanship in the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair Shelter Exhibits”
Elizabeth McGoey, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of the History of Art, Indiana University - “Institutionalized: Craft in the Museum” Julie Muñiz, Associate
Curator of Decorative Arts & Design, Oakland Museum of California,
and Jennifer Scanlan, Associate Curator, Museum of Arts and Design, New
York - “Taste, Money, Museums and the Subversion of
American Craft” Ulysses Grant Dietz, Senior Curator and Curator of
Decorative Arts, The Newark Museum
- “Craft as a Response to War” Bibiana Obler,
Assistant Professor, Department of Fine Art and Art History, George
Washington University - “Making an Impression: Craft and Material Culture
Scholarship in Military Reenacting” Maria Shevzov, Independent Material
Culture and Decorative Arts Scholar
- “A Hackerspace of One’s Own: Curriculum and the Maker Movement” Garth Johnson, Assistant Professor, College of the Redwoods
- “Digital Fabrication: Implications for Craft and
Community” Neil Gershenfeld, Director, The Center for Bits and Atoms,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stuart Kestenbaum, Director,
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and Phyllis Klein, Director, DC Fab
Lab
Reception, Kogod Courtyard
10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Aesthetic Frontiers
Watch the live webcast
- ” ‘He is Survived By His Longtime Companion.’ The Representation of Feeling
in the Work of Josh Faught.” Elissa Auther, Associate Professor of
Contemporary Art; Director of Art History Program, University of Colorado,
Colorado Springs - “Contemporary Art and the Craft Tradition” Joanna Marsh, James Dicke
Curator of Contemporary Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum - Panel: “Media, Process, History: Craft beyond
Crafting” Moderator: Maria Elena Buszek, Associate Professor of Art
History, University of Colorado, Denver. Panelists: Sonya Clark, Chair,
Department of Craft/Material Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University;
Elaine Reichek, artist; Michael Strand, Associate Professor and
Department Head, Visual Art, North Dakota State University
- “Homespun Nylon: Dorothy Liebes and the Crafting
of DuPont” Regina Lee Blaszczyk, Professor of History and Chair in the
History of Business and Society, University of Leeds, UK - “Craft Goes to Disney!” Sandra Alfoldy, Professor of Craft History, Historical and Critical Studies Department, NSCAD University
- “The Politics of ‘Ordinary Manufacture’ in the
Post-Industrial State” Ezra Shales, Associate Professor of Art History,
the Massachusetts College of Art and Design - “Craft-like: The Illusion of Authenticity” Jenni Sorkin, Assistant
Professor, Contemporary Art and Critical Studies, University of Houston - “DIY Detroit” Gabriel Craig, metalsmith, writer, craft activist
4:45 p.m.
Closing Remarks”
