November 8 and 9, 2012

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

• 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

• ” ‘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”

www.americanart.si.edu/renwick/symposium