Exploring craft's collaborative practices, Craft Front & Center: Conversation Pieces brings pioneering twentieth-century craft artists into dialogue with contemporary artists who are rethinking craft techniques and materials. The exhibition draws from MAD's permanent collection and includes more than sixty historic, recently acquired, and commissioned works in a range of artistic media; most prominently, the central craft materials of ceramic, glass, and fiber.
Three overlapping thematic sections illuminate craft’s collaborative approaches to learning and working. The “Teachers and Students” section presents works by artist educators alongside works by their pupils. “Collaborations” provides an expansive view of artistic partnerships. “Generational Dialogues” section examines how the creative resonances of the studio craft movement continue to influence artists and designers today.
Artists on View
Anni Albers AYDO Studio (A young Yu and Nicholas Oh) André Azevedo Eve Biddle Dale Chihuly Katherine Choy Rachelle Dang Kira Dominguez Hultgren Ruth Duckworth Marguerite Friedländer-Wildenhain Françoise Grossen Maija Grotell Trude Guermonprez Marie Herwald Hermann Sheila Hicks Tony Jojola Jun Kaneko Liliana Ovalle & Colectivo 1050º Harvey Littleton Gertrud Natzler Otto Natzler Pedro Barrail & Aritsans of Pai Tavytera Anders Herwald Ruhwald Kay Sekimachi Toshiko Takaezu Peter Ting Vadis Turner Mary Ann Unger Peter Voulkos Claire Zeisler
Craft Front & Center: Conversation Pieces, part of the Craft Front & Center exhibition series, has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Museum of Arts and Design together: Democracy demands wisdom. The exhibition is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Research was supported by a Craft Research Fund grant from the Center for Craft. Additional support from The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.
Images: Claire Zeisler, Red Wednesday, 1967. Photo: Eva Hyed. Vadis Turner, Red Relic Vessel, 2022. Courtesy the artist and Sam Angel Photography.
