The centerpiece of our efforts at Craft in America is the production of a nationally broadcast PBS documentary series. The intention of the television series is to celebrate craft by honoring the artists who create it. In three episodes entitled Memory, Community and Landscape, Craft in America television viewers will travel throughout the United States visiting America’s premier craft artists in their studios to witness the creation of handmade objects, and into homes, businesses and public spaces where functional art is employed and celebrated. One of the main objectives of the series is to convey to a national audience the breadth and beauty of handmade objects in our culture. MEMORY How do we remember our history? We may try to capture it in words, but it is in objects that our truest history is revealed. Objects can survive their time and their creators and, long after lives have been lived, may come to stand in homes and museums as immutable evidence of our past. And it is sometimes in the most humble objects that our history is most vividly recalled. Craft objects - being made by hand to use, to collect, to be part of our everyday lives - become more than just a reminder of dates and names. They recall personal stories of the maker, of the collector, and of who we are as people. They are more than our history - they are our memory. This hour takes a very personal tour through craft's history in this country by looking at some of the pioneers of the new craft movement in America. The intimate stories behind some of American craft's most prominent artisans will be set against the larger historical context of craft itself. The phenomenon of craft is at least 40,000 years old. It is an integral part of human history and this hour will look at how craft artists both carry on these historical traditions and create new, uniquely personal work that reflects where we are today as people. Ultimately, this hour will also ask if craft's history is one that can continue into tomorrow. Many of today's craftspeople have devoted their lives to this calling and wonder how their chosen path fits into an increasingly fragmented, technological world. We will see what some of these artisans are doing to ensure that this most basic form of human expression - creating from nature with one's hands - does not become a thing of the past. Memory will include visits to: Sam Maloof, the patriarch, the renowned, self-taught woodworker who is continuing the system of apprenticeship that is an historical method of learning a craft. Sam is a member of the post WWII new crafts movement. George Nakashima, who embodied the notion of craft intersecting with history because he perfected his woodworking skills while detained in a Japanese internment camp during WWII. George believed in the anonymous craftsman, created his own environment and lifestyle, and devoted himself to world peace. Garry Knox Bennett, second generation artist of the new crafts movement who reacted against the "preciousness" of craft, introduced new materials to furniture making, started his career during the tumultuous sixties and embodies American self-expression and individuality. Mary Jackson, basket maker, who comes from a culture that was brought here in slavery, is an artist working in a tradition that was brought from Africa and which remains an identifying cultural practice for a people who were cut off from their own history. Tom Joyce, who chose the path less-traveled, and decided to dedicate himself to learning and rediscovering the art of metalsmithing. Tom's work proves the statement that "objects are our only real events from history." He has studied objects from the past and reinvented ways of making them. Pat Courtney Gold, Wasco Indian, from Oregon's Columbia River, who grew up in a culture that had been removed from its traditions and who has, through her craft of basketry, re-established that history. Basketmaking techniques are among the earliest techniques known to humans, and baskets tell a story that links North and South America during pre-historic times. The Wasco basket that was given to the Lewis and Clark Expedition is another example of objects holding great meaning. COMMUNITY Throughout time craft has been an activity done in communities - it has often been a social activity where gossip was shared or stories passed down to the next generation even as the art of the craft itself was being taught and passed down. This hour will focus on the spiritual connection artisans have to their community through their craft. It's about our deepest emotional connections to our culture, our families, and our community. For the artisans in this hour, community is a central theme to their craft. Some express the ideas, beliefs, desires of their particular community through their craft. Some use their craft to pay homage to the community from which they've sprung. Some actively participate in the craft community at large through craft fairs and conferences. Some actually perform their craft as a community project. Their mode of expression may differ, but all of these craftspeople honor the notion of community in their work. The personal stones of gifted artisans and passionate amateurs alike will reveal the deeply held belief that craft is about more than just the making of an object. It is about connecting to one another across social and geographical divides as members of the human race. In the Community hour we will highlight: Sarah Jaeger, potter creating functional ware in Helena, Montana. Sarah was a student at Harvard when she discovered clay. She speaks of making pots for her community: "The greatest compliment someone can pay to me is 'We open the cupboard in the morning, and we always reach for your cups when we are going to make coffee.' I'd rather know that than know that a piece is on a pedestal in a museum." Denise Wallace's jewelry is a visual representation of her emotional connection to her Native Alaskan roots. Her pieces depict people, places, animals and symbols of her native culture. Dona Look and Ken Loeber live in Algoma, Wisconsin. Dona is a basketmaker who uses the bark of the region's birch trees to construct unique, sculptural baskets. Ken is a master jeweler who has received many awards for his pieces which rely on natural materials such as pearls and coral. Ken and Dona have exhibited at the American Craft Council fairs for over twenty years, and they are a vibrant part of the professional crafts community. LANDSCAPE Craft artists depend on their natural environment for both materials and inspiration. The work that craft artists create often embody the power, beauty, and fragility of the natural world. And often their work is both a reflection of and commentary on the environment in which they live. Landscape will examine the interdependent and often tumultuous relationship craft makers have with their physical environment. By definition, those in the craft field rely on nature for their materials. The media they create in make use of materials with centuries of tradition behind them. But while working so closely with the natural world, in such traditional manners, artisans are capable of bringing a unique perspective to their craft, and can use their work to express how they see and relate to the world around them. Many of the artisans in this hour have had to take an active role in protecting and preserving the natural materials with which they work. Many of them are fiercely concerned with issues of human impact on the natural world, and of the state of our planet as a whole. This hour will look at the sublime and complex relationship between craft artists and their environment. It will examine the processes through which natural materials become finished works of craft, as well as some of the deeper messages that creators hope to attach to their work. Some artists use their craft to pay tribute to a vision of an untarnished world that has already slipped through our fingers. Others cry out for a change in our modern attitudes towards the often unseen natural world around us. All insist on treating the natural world with the deepest respect and humility. Landscape will include: Kit Carson, artist, jeweler, engraver, cowboy, lives and works in New River Arizona. Influenced by Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts Movement, Carson pays homage in his work to the romanticism of the 1950s American West - the nostalgia of escape to a natural, simple life. "When I engrave an old-time cowboy song inside a turquoise-studded gold bracelet, the corporate executive from Chicago gets to carry his connection to the Wild West and the longing of his own soul, right there on his wrist." Jan Yager, master jeweler living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who uses urban cast-offs, such as crack vials, to create jewelry that comments on contemporary society. She also uses urban flora, such as the parslane weeds that grow through the cracks in the pavement, to embellish her silver and gold tiaras, brooches, earrings and necklaces. Richard Notkin, ceramic artist. Notkin's teapots are functional as well as being environmental and political commentary on the world we live in. "I think it's really important that an artist is in touch with some very deep inner conviction or drive that causes them to create the work they make." David Gurney, painter, naturalist and ceramic artist influenced by Mexican folk art who paints his central California landscape as well as mythical "landscapes".