Crafting a Legacy
Contemporary American Crafts in the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Rutgers University Press
Published to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Philadelphia Museum of Art craft show, Crafting a Legacy showcases the Museum's burgeoning collection of contemporary American crafts. More than one hundred color plates illustrate many of the Museum's prime holdings in ceramics, wood, fiber, glass, metal, and furniture. Entries on sixty-four featured artists, including Dale Chihuly, Wharton Esherick, Sheila Hicks, and Peter Voulkos, place their work in the context of the dynamic field of American crafts. Suzanne Ramljak reveals the valuable role that crafts play in contemporary culture and artistic practice. In a world of bland, mass-produced consumer goods and technologically mediated virtual experience, Ramljak argues that crafts-one-of-a-kind handmade objects-can reawaken our senses. In his introduction, Darrel Sewell, the Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Curator of American Art, outlines the history of the crafts collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as the vital role Philadelphia has played as a center for innovation in contemporary crafts. The book also includes an illustrated checklist of the Museum's more than three hundred holdings in contemporary crafts.
Crafting a Legacy will be of interest to artists, collectors, and anyone who appreciates the beauty of finely crafted handmade objects.
Suzanne Ramljak, a writer, art historian, and curator, is editor of Metalsmith magazine. She was previously curator of exhibitions at the American Federation of Arts, editor of Sculpture magazine and Glass magazine, and associate editor of American Ceramics magazine. Ramljak has contributed to numerous catalogues and publications, including One of a Kind: American Art Jewelry Today and Turning Wood into Art: The Jane and Arthur Mason Collection. She has lectured widely on twentieth-century art and served as guest curator for several exhibitions, including Seductive Matter and Elie Nadelman: Classical Folk.Darrell Sewell is the Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Curator of American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Ceramics : Robert Arneson, Bennett Bean, William Daley, Richard DeVore, Ruth Duckworth, Viola Frey, David Gilhooly, Wayne Higby, Jun Kaneko, Michael Lucero, Ron Nagle, Gertrude and Otto Natzler, William Perry, Kenneth Price, Richard Shaw, Paul Soldner, Rudolf Staffel, Toshiko Takaezu, Robert Turner, Peter Voulkos, Robert Winokur, Beatrice Wood, Betty Woodman
Fiber : Sheila Hicks, Lewis Knauss, Richard Landis, John McQueen, Michael Olszekewski, Ed Rossbach, Cynthia Schira, Joyce Scott, Thomas Stearns, Lenore Tawney, Evelyn Svec Ward, Claire Zeisler
Furniture : Wendell Castle, John Cederquist, Wharton Esherick, James Krenov, Sam Maloof, Wendy Maruyama, Judy Kensley McKie, George Nakashima
Glass : Howard Ben Tre, Dale Chihuly, Dominick Labino, Harvey Littleton, Richard Marquis, Tom Patti, Judith Schaechter, Toots Zynsky (Mary Ann Zynsky)
Metal : Chunghi Choo, William Harper, Stanley Lechtzin, Albert Paley, Richard Hoffman Reinhardt, Olaf Skoogfors
Wood : David Ellsworth, Gyongy Laky, Mark Lindquist, Edward Moulthrop, James Prestini, Robert Stocksdale
Fiber : Sheila Hicks, Lewis Knauss, Richard Landis, John McQueen, Michael Olszekewski, Ed Rossbach, Cynthia Schira, Joyce Scott, Thomas Stearns, Lenore Tawney, Evelyn Svec Ward, Claire Zeisler
Furniture : Wendell Castle, John Cederquist, Wharton Esherick, James Krenov, Sam Maloof, Wendy Maruyama, Judy Kensley McKie, George Nakashima
Glass : Howard Ben Tre, Dale Chihuly, Dominick Labino, Harvey Littleton, Richard Marquis, Tom Patti, Judith Schaechter, Toots Zynsky (Mary Ann Zynsky)
Metal : Chunghi Choo, William Harper, Stanley Lechtzin, Albert Paley, Richard Hoffman Reinhardt, Olaf Skoogfors
Wood : David Ellsworth, Gyongy Laky, Mark Lindquist, Edward Moulthrop, James Prestini, Robert Stocksdale
