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Winter 2024

Winter 2024

Magazine cover of American Craft Winter 2024 issue

Light. When winter takes hold, I find myself grateful to be surrounded by warmth at home: the softness of simple, natural textiles, the steam of hot tea rising from a pleasing cup, the delight of seeing sunlight glistening through blown glass. We need such comforts when the snow or rains arrive. And for those of you in warmer climes, the shortened days may lead you to appreciate extending the light with a lamp or candle.

In this issue we explore light in craft from different angles. On the cover you’ll see a sculptural lamp by Rogan Gregory. This Malibu, California–based artist, also known for his furniture, is one of eight artists and designers included in our story about lamps that take illumination to new heights. We also feature a collection of light houses—sculptural works made of various materials that emanate and bend light, providing a beacon or soft glow—and the translucent, candy-like resin furniture of artist Ian Alistair Cochran, who lives in Chicago.
You’ll also find works in lofty wool. Textile and visual artist Amber M. Jensen writes about finding inspiration in her light-filled Minneapolis studio. And we feature an adapted excerpt from Sofi Thanhauser’s book Worn: A People’s History of Clothing that traces the story of wool from the sheep ranches of Wyoming to Rabbit Goody’s small weaving mill in upstate New York.

In addition, we bring you the second installment of our feature called The Scene. This iteration focuses on New Orleans and tells the story of this vibrant city, bursting with craft, through the eyes of six artists who live and work there. Two other locals—a wonderful writer and an inspired photographer—helped bring this story to life.

There are so many more artists and makers, not to mention mediums and works, we would have liked to include in these pages. Rest assured, we at American Craft are hard at work planning ways to bring you more stories that shed new light on craft—from how we make it to how we live with it. Keep an eye on us in the coming year. It’s going to be exciting.

 

karen signature

 

KAREN OLSON / Editor in Chief
 

American Craft Council publishes American Craft on a quarterly basis but reserves the right to change the number of issues in an annual term, including discontinuing any format and substituting and/or modifying the manner in which the subscription is distributed.

Feature Articles

This 2023 table lamp is from the Ontologia collection and is made of aluminum, brass, and mahogany-stained birch, 9.5 x 10 x 10.25 in. Photo by Graham Tolbert.

The Illuminators

Blending sculptural elegance and everyday practicality, craft artists and designers transform earthy materials into imaginative and luscious lamps
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Ian Alistair Cochran holds a piece from his Dew Drops series. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Like Candy

Ian Alistair Cochran discusses how resin allows him to make furniture and objects that play with light.

More
String Theory Theater founder Dirk Joseph performs with a crankie. Photo courtesy of Creative Alliance.

Hand-Turned Tales

For centuries, craftspeople have created backlit moving scrolls to tell stories. Intimate and expressive, the “crankie” tradition is thriving thanks to a growing troupe of enthusiasts
More
At her loom textile and visual artist Amber M. Jensen weaves fine blue and ivory woolen threads into a classic Whig rose pattern.

Immersed in Beauty

A Minneapolis-based textile and visual artist describes finding inspiration and introspection in her warehouse studio during winter.
More
Detail 1: Surviving as the anomaly created by white supremacy, 2021–2022—made by vanessa german, Ché Rhodes, and the collective Related Tactics—is part of the exhibition Disclosure: The Whiteness of Glass at the Corning Museum of Glass. Photo courtesy of Related Tactics.

Craft Happenings: Winter 2024

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More from This Issue

Cofounder Christopher Schwarz shows students how to make wedges with a band saw. Photos courtesy of Lost Art Press.

A Hardworking Press

Founded by two craftspeople, Kentucky-based Lost Art Press preserves and presents deep knowledge of hand tool woodworking.

Ayumi Shibata’s Konjiki no No, 2022, paper, string, 8.25 x 5.5 x .25 in.

Light Houses

Four artists light up their architecturally influenced works to tell stories, create moods, and explore ideas—all with the mysterious poetry of illumination.
The gold horizontal stripes across the top of Arleene Correa Valencia's Un Momento Mas are reflections on the sculpture's mirror-like surface. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Light Unites Us

Correa Valencia, who lives in Napa, California, came with her family from Mexico in 1997 when she was 3. She calls her body of work—which includes textile pieces, some made with US flags, and oil paintings—a “love letter” to her father, who migrated first.

Ceramic Meltdown’s Colorblast Cups. Photo by Kyle Lee.

Market: Tea Time

These four contemporary ceramists make vessels worthy of any tea ceremony you’d care to invent.

Stoneware and porcelain tableware by Miro Chun, 2022. Photo by Miro Chun.

The Queue: Miro Chun

With an architect’s eye, Miro Chun creates minimalist, functional tableware. In The Queue, the Phoenix, Arizona-based ceramist shares about the beauty in commonplace materials, the other artists in her family, and her dream collaboration.

Watertower, 2012, salvaged acrylic and steel with arduino programmed light, 22 x 10 x 10 ft. Photo by Guerin Blask.

The Queue: Tom Fruin

Tom Fruin turns found materials into vivid public sculptures. In The Queue, the Brooklyn-based sculptor shares about the discarded items that find their way into his work, his favorite tools, and two visionary South American artists with recent shows in New York.

Charles DuVernay, a Black Masking Indian, in his home with a spread of his beaded works. Photo by Cedric Angeles.

The Scene: Charles DuVernay

DuVernay grew up in the 7th Ward in downtown New Orleans, a cultural hub for Black Masking Indians, also known as Mardi Gras Indians.

Hannah Chalew at work in her studio. Photo by Cedric Angeles.

The Scene: Hannah Chalew

Chalew’s family moved from Baltimore to New Orleans when she was 12, so “I can’t claim to be a native but I definitely consider myself to be ‘from’ New Orleans.”

MaPó Kinnord works on a new sculpture in her studio. Photo by Cedric Angeles.

The Scene: MaPó Kinnord

Chair of the Department of Fine Arts at Xavier University of Louisiana, Kinnord has shared her love of clay as an artist and teacher for over 40 years.

Matthew Holdren works on a plan while flanked by two handmade chairs. Photo by Cedric Angeles.

The Scene: Matthew Holdren

Holdren grew up in Vermont, where his dad built the family home and his mom owned an antique store. He’s lived in New Orleans for 16 years.
Pippin Frisbie-Calder applies watercolor to her 2017 woodcut Contemporary Heroes, which references Operation Migration and supports conservation groups, 69 x 39 in. Photo by Cedric Angeles.

The Scene: Pippin Frisbie-Calder

Frisbie-Calder was born on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain in Hammond, Louisiana, northwest of New Orleans, but mostly grew up in Maine.

Located in a former church, Mo’s Art Supply & Framing promises, “You will be converted." Photo by Cedric Angeles.

The Scene: Places and Spaces

“Most of us get our clay from Alligator Clay Company in Baton Rouge,” says MaPó Kinnord. The company manufactures and distributes over 30 kinds of moist clay...

Seguenon Koné strings a handmade bolon. Photo by Cedric Angeles.

The Scene: Seguenon Koné

Koné grew up in northern Ivory Coast, in a village called Gbon. He moved to New York City and then to Orlando, Florida, where he worked at Disney World and toured with the late singer Jimmy Buffett before moving to New Orleans in 2008.

Jason Preston at an Antiques Roadshow event in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

What It's Worth?

Jason Preston on becoming an appraiser, the Antiques Roadshow scene, and how to put a price on inherited jewelry.

Illustration by John Jay Cabuay.

Wild and Woolly

The author of Worn: A People’s History of Clothing traces the story of wool, from Mesopotamia to Wyoming to a small weaving mill in upstate New York.

Stack of ACC magazine covers with Fall 2023 issue on top.

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The Soul of Gift Wrapping book cover by Megumi Inouye