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American Craft Forums

Conversation and community.  

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.

 

Photo by Kelvin Bulluck

Crafting ideas.

Watch recordings of past Forums or register for upcoming events below.

  • THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2024

    Knives Out: Craft of the Bladesmith

    Presented in conjunction with the Summer 2024 issue of American Craft.

    Join our speakers in conversation, guided by James Beard Award finalist Chef Yia Vang of Union Hmong Kitchen (Minneapolis, Minnesota)—and Iron Chef fame—for a deep dive into the art of bladesmithing and all things knives. We’ll explore history and use, various making techniques—often ancient and honed over centuries—the thinking that goes into choosing design and materials, and how those materials and techniques come together to produce a tool to be used at home, as well as some of the world’s greatest restaurant kitchens.

  • THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2024

    Simple Pleasures: Crafting Our Daily Rituals

    Presented in conjunction with the Spring 2024 issue of American Craft.

    Join bookbinder and journal-maker Megan Winn, wrapping artist Megumi Inouye, and The Clay Studio Curator and Director of Artistic Programs Jennifer Zwilling, who also collects mugs, for a conversation about the daily rituals that delight us and how adding a bit of craft to our everyday routines can elevate simple pleasures and create meaningful moments.

  • THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2024

    Vibrant & Vivacious: Conversations in Craft from New Orleans

    Presented in conjunction with the Winter 2024 issue of American Craft.

    What comes to mind when you think of New Orleans? Mardi Gras? Bourbon Street and the French Quarter? The birthplace of jazz? The Garden District and stunning architecture? Hurricanes and rising water levels? All of the above? We invite you to join ceramist and educator MaPó Kinnord, Mardi Gras suit maker and visual artist Charles DuVernay, installation artist and printmaker Pippin Frisbie-Calder, and master plasterer Jeff Poree for a broad conversation around the multifaceted arts community in New Orleans, exploring what it’s like to live and practice there, and reflecting on the joys and hardships intrinsic to a city with so much individuality, culture, and history.

     

  • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2023

    The Violinmaker & The Virtuoso: Craft from the Workshop to the Concert Hall

    Presented in conjunction with the Fall 2023 issue of American Craft.

    Join us for a conversation between virtuoso violinist Vijay Gupta and luthier Eric Benning who share a love of, and connection through, music and the instruments that give that music voice. They will discuss the symbiotic relationship between player and maker, explore ideas around how moments of transition and transformation can lead to great joy, and share the ways music can be employed to help other people. What kind of power and promise is inherent in this craft of making beautiful tools for another type of creative energy and expression?

  • THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2023

    Foragers: Making Connections Between Place and Materials

    Presented in conjunction with the Summer 2023 issue of American Craft.

    Materials carry meaning. When artists forage or gather their own materials and tools as part of their practice, that adds another layer in an already complex dialogue that individuals are having with themselves, and with others in the field. Artist and pigment researcher Melonie Ancheta, fiber and clay artist and one of the 2023 recipients of the Maxwell/Hanrahan Award for Craft Adebunmi Gbadebo, and photographer and sweetgrass basketmaker Donovan J. Snype are not strangers to the significance and responsibility their material choices hold. Oftentimes, it’s the materials themselves that tell the story.

  • THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2023

    Woven Through Water: How Boatbuilding Connects Communities and Cultures

    Presented in conjunction with the Spring 2023 issue of American Craft. 

    Almost every land that touches water has a tradition of boatbuilding or watercraft. How do those skills, traditions, and history—different as they may be—build community and connect us across cultures? Dr. Anton Treuer, an accomplished professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota, and a celebrated author, will guide us through a discussion with Daniel Creisher from The Apprenticeshop, a boatbuilding and sailing school in Rockland, Maine, as well as birchbark canoe maker Jim Jones about the power and history of watercraft.

  • THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2023

    Houses into Homes: How Craft Makes a Difference

    Presented in conjunction with the Winter 2023 issue of American Craft.

    Join us for a conversation exploring an inspiring partnership between The Furniture Society’s Craft for a Greater Good program and BeLoved Village. Through this collaboration, craft artists are contributing handmade furniture, home goods, and more to a set of tiny homes being built in Asheville, North Carolina, for those who struggle with housing insecurity. Community is stronger with craft, and this partnership is a true, feet-on-the-ground example of the handmade making a difference in building stronger, more engaged communities.