As I moved from Plains to Atlanta to Washington and back again, the value of the handmade has always had a special place in my heart.ĭuring my presidency, I always had the desire to somehow recognize the skill and singularly American style that was present in handcrafted objects. It wasn’t that we could not afford store-bought items, but using materials that were all around us-gifts of nature-was a way to be more in touch with ourselves and our talents. The recipients knew they possessed something that was filled with love- worth more than money could buy. These were people who took pride in their work and signed what they made with their names or with their special look or design.
I watched over their shoulders and gained an early appreciation for anyone who created things with their hands. We invite you to find out more about the crafts that attract you, to learn about the techniques involved in their creation, to meet the artists, and to enjoy the pleasures derived from your explorations.Īs a child in rural America, I grew up surrounded by family and friends who made things-women who came together in quilting bees carpenters who built furniture, carved whirligigs, and made pull toys blacksmiths who forged raw iron into objects of beauty and utility.
Consider this book a starting place for your own route of discovery. The story of craft in America is too big to be condensed into one television series, or one exhibition, or one book. Craft in America celebrates both men and women remembered by name and those who worked anonymously, country dwellers and city people, self-taught amateurs and university-trained professionals-artists all. It is about functionality, about identity, about conceptual thinking, about fun and experiment. It has always been about our things, our inheritance, our personal collections. This book will show that craft has never been just about pretty things. Today we are a country rich in men and women who transform the ordinary object into the extraordinary. Our communities and schools, our ethnic and religious groups have all played a part in this ongoing story. The past two centuries in particular have provided a stimulus for craft artists-artists who work with clay, fiber, metal, and wood, rather than paint or watercolor-who find a wide and varied audience and market for their creations. All three are the outcome of a ten-year project designed to start a conversation about the crafts and to elucidate their importance to our twenty-first century culture.Īmerican craft, with a history that begins before the written word, continues to evolve.
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The book you are reading is a companion to the Craft in America PBS television series and to the traveling museum exhibition of the same name. Potter is a trademark and Potter and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.ģ INTRODUCTION: THE EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN CRAFTSĥ RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES AND THE HONORING OF THE HANDMADEĦ THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT IN AMERICA, 1890 – 1930ħ NATIVE COMMUNITIES – INDIGENOUS CRAFTS BY AMERICAN INDIANSĨ COMMUNITIES OF HERITAGE – SOUTHERN CONTRIBUTIONSġ3 SCHOOL FOR AMERICAN CRAFTS, ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYġ8 SHAPING CRAFT IN AN AMERICAN FRAMEWORK Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.Ĭlarkson N. Grafe, Jill Beute Koverman, Maile Pingel, Emily ZaidenĬopyright © 2007 by Craft in America, Inc. Craft in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects bookĬontributions by Mark Coir, Jonathan Leo Fairbanks, Jeannine Falino, Steven L.
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