Craft Think Tank
2014
Craft & Curating
Center for Craft
Link to Report: Craft Think Tank 2014 Craft & Curating
Summary
The Center for Craft held its 12th Craft Think Tank on October 16-18, 2014 in Asheville, North Carolina. This year’s intimate gathering posed an opportunity to focus on the specific needs of the curatorial community, bringing together a select group of national and international, emerging and experienced curators, artists, and critics.
Conversations focused on questions such as: what are the obstacles and opportunities for exhibiting objects and making in the 21st Century, what does it mean to be a “craft” curator in a post-disciplinary creative landscape, and how can we strengthen the display, documentation, and preservation of objects? Participants also considered how matters like diversity, technology, and interdisciplinary inform the future of craft curating.
Participants:
Glenn Adamson, Director, Museum of Arts and Design, New York
Nora Atkinson, Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
Elissa Auther, Adjunct Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver and Associate Professor of Contemporary Art, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Daniel Charny, Co-Founder and Director, From Now On and Professor of Design at Kingston University, London, UK
Edward Cooke, Charles F. Montgomery Professor of American Decorative Arts, Yale University, Connecticut
Garth Johnson, Curator of Ceramics, Arizona State University Art Museum, Arizona
Elizabeth Kozlowski, Curator, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Texas
Stephanie Moore, Executive Director, The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, North Carolina
Danny Orendorff, Curator-in-Residence, Charlotte Street Foundation, Missouri
Jenelle Porter, Mannion Family Senior Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Massachusetts
Cat Rossi, Senior Lecturer in Design History, Kingston University, London, UK
Sarah Schleuning, Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, High Museum of Art, Georgia
T’ai Smith, Assistant Professor in Art History, The University of British Columbia, Canada
Cindi Strauss, Assistant Director of Programming and Curator for Modern and Contemporary Decorative Arts and Design, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
David Wilson, Artist, California
Namita Wiggers, Director/Co-Founder of Critical Craft Forum, Adjunct Curator, Museum of Contemporary Craft, and Adjunct Instructor, Oregon College of Art + Craft | Pacific Northwest College of Art, Oregon
Marilyn Zapf, Assistant Director, The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, North Carolina
Emily Zilber, Ronald C. and Anita L. Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Craft Think Tank
2016
Craft & Academia
Center for Craft
Link to Report: Craft Think Tank 2016 Craft & Academia
Summary
On June 19-21, 2016 the Center for Craft, in partnership with Warren Wilson College, convened a two-day, special-topic Craft Think Tank, bringing together a select group of experts across disciplines to assess the state of craft in academia. During the first day, the group met to consider, adopt, or reject new strategies to further the study (and thereby the practice) of craft.
Contributors developed a list of potential initiatives and prioritized the following:
- Scholarly national craft conference
- NEH course/workshop on teaching craft studies
- Strategically diversifying the field
- Supporting universities to develop a craft studies minor using existing resources
The second day focused on developing a master’s-level program in critical and historical craft studies. The group discussed and made recommendations concerning the content, format, approach, audience, and resources needed to create a relevant and successful program.
Participants
Elissa Auther, Windgate Research and Collections Curator, Bard Graduate Center, Center for Craft, Museum of Arts and Design
Julie Levin Caro, Professor of Art History, Warren Wilson College
James Darr, Professor of Art, Warren Wilson College
Anne Dunning (Facilitator), Principal Consultant, ARTS Action Research
Paula Garrett, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, Warren Wilson College
Anna Helgeson, Grants & Programs Coordinator, Center for Craft
Leah Leitson, Professor of Art, Warren Wilson College
Jay Miller, Professor of Philosophy, Warren Wilson College
Sequoia Miller, Historian, Curator, and Studio Potter
Mira Mohsini, Cultural Anthropologist, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology, Eastern Michigan University
Stephanie Moore, Executive Director, Center for Craft
Lara Nguyen, Professor of Art, Warren Wilson College
Kirsty Robertson, Associate Professor of Contemporary Art and Museum Studies, Western University, Canada
Stacey Sloboda, Associate Professor of Art History, Southern Illinois University
Sarah Teasley, Head of Programme, History of Design, Royal College of Art
Namita Wiggers, Independent Curator, Writer, and Educator; Director and Co-Founder, Critical Craft Forum
Catherine Whalen, Associate Professor, Bard Graduate Center
Marilyn Zapf, Assistant Director and Curator, Center for Craft
board of directors
I served on the Board of Directors, Center for Craft from 2012 to 2017.