American Craft Forums
American Craft Forums are free online conversations that bring the community together to explore new ways of thinking about craft. Tying into the themes of each issue of American Craft, these discussions feature diverse voices working together to move the craft field forward.
Forum Details
American Craft Forum: Highlights from the Spring Issue, “Emerge”
Thursday, May 1, 2025
7 p.m. ET | 6 p.m CT | 5 p.m. MT | 4 p.m. PT
Presented in conjunction with the Spring 2025 issue of American Craft.
Meet She Bends, an artist collective that is transforming the iconic (and notoriously challenging) tradition of neon for a new era. Tour the New Mexico home of Paula Wilson and Mike Lagg, where a rug is a painting, a door is a sculpture, and every square foot is overflowing with creative energy. Ever wonder what doesn’t make it into an issue? Listen in on the stories behind the stories with American Craft editor-in-chief Karen Olson.
American Craft Forums bring the stories of American Craft magazine to life. Featuring artist spotlights, archival explorations, process insights, and timely topics in contemporary making, join us for this dynamic online program and deepen your connection to the craft community.
In Conversation: Kelsey Issel, Meryl Pataky, Mike Lagg, Paula Wilson, Karen Olsen
Check back soon for free registration!
Participants
Kelsey Issel
Kelsey Issel is a culture worker and maker whose work centers on the ethos of craft—learning through doing, valuing attention, and connecting material with social responsibility. She leads Opie Project (space), an arts and culture firm developing cross-sector programs that invest in cultural capital, including projects with the de Young Museum and San Francisco’s Culture Forward initiative.
With a background in alternative photography, sculpture, and neon, Kelsey’s hands-on material practice informs her approach to curating, programming, and public projects. Her work bridges art and infrastructure, aiming to sustain both cultural ecosystems and community connection.
Meryl Pataky
Meryl Pataky is a multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work explores the relationship between hands and material. Working with neon, welding, and mixed media, she creates abstract sculptures that reflect on connection, transformation, and the spirituality of craft. Her recent work, shaped by motherhood, delves into themes of resilience and personal evolution.
A dedicated mentor, Meryl teaches neon bending in her San Francisco studio and has led youth and community programs through organizations like Synergy School, Southern Exposure, and YBCA. Her work has been exhibited widely and is held in the Museum of Glass collection. She is a 2024 SECA Finalist and a 2022 Women in Lighting, Light Art awardee.
Mike Lagg
Mike Lagg (Delmont, SD, b. 1958) is a self-taught woodworker whose furniture, buildings, sculptures, and kinetic pieces are engineered to move with the wind, body, sun, and hand. He works with hardwoods and recycled material to make pieces with refined craft and inventive recreation. Lagg’s woodworks are in hundreds of homes and have been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States. From his studio in Carrizozo, New Mexico, he collaborates with his spouse, visual artist Paula Wilson, and plays an integral role in the creative and communal spirit behind MoMAZoZo and the Carrizozo Artists-in-Residence program.
Paula Wilson
Paula Wilson (Chicago, IL, b. 1975) is a multidia visual artist whose paintings, prints, videos, and installations layer figuration, pattern, and storytelling to explore the intersections of the body, nature, and lived experience. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in the collections of the Studio Museum in Harlem, Yale University Art Gallery, and the New York Public Library, among others. She lives and works in Carrizozo, New Mexico with her spouse and collaborator, woodworker Mike Lagg. Together they co-founded MoMAZoZo in 2010 and the Carrizozo Artists-in-Residence program in 2015, which has welcomed over a hundred artists to this high-desert town.
Karen Olsen
Karen Olson is the editor in chief of American Craft. Previously, she was editor in chief of Public Art Review and Utne Reader. She’s also worked as a freelance writer, leadership coach, bookstore manager, and firefighter. Karen holds a BA in art history and literature, an MA in creative writing, and an MFA in fiction, and she’s taught writing at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Colorado State University, and Northern Arizona University. She loves exploring big ideas, being in and on water, and the process of turning her urban backyard into a food forest.
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She Bends
She Bends is an organization dedicated to supporting historically marginalized craftspeople in neon and advancing the medium as a vital form of contemporary art.
The organization has curated museum exhibitions centering women and gender non-conforming artist benders, including at the Museum of Craft and Design, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and the Museum of Glass. Its programs make the craft more accessible through education, public engagement, and collaborations with leading institutions to steward the evolution of neon within the contemporary framework of studio craft and fine art.
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