Boris Huang’s exquisite featherwork on display at Craft in America Center
1/18/25
Read original post on Art Daily here.
Huang’s recent feather work, made expressly for this exhibition, are on display at the Craft in America Center.
In Hawaiian culture there is a long tradition of feather garments made to protect and distinguish royalty, and more commonly known, feather leis are used to symbolize welcoming and compassion.
Boris Huang settled in Hawaii when he landed a good job after his education there. Taking interest in the local culture, he took a workshop on Hawaiian featherwork and became so enamored with the craft that he asked to apprentice with Hawaiian Feather Lei Master, Aunty Mary Louise Kekuewa. Over the five years of working with her, he mastered the laborious technique of individually tying single feathers to a net base to create leis, capes and other adornments.
The feathers Huang uses for his work are sustainably sourced from molting and other harmless means of gathering. Feathers from different parts of the bird have different qualities and these subtle variations become the basis for symbolic and aesthetic decisions.
Being from Taiwan, Huang’s work is set apart by his skillful blending of Eastern and Western featherwork traditions and aesthetics. Before passing away, his mentor gave him the encouraging words, “You’re not in the box; keep doing your amazing work.”
“What makes my feather artwork different from others is the skill passing and culture crossing between two different ethnicities. Thereʼs love, encouragement and home for a stranger like me to settle in, and thereʼs respect for [the Hawaiian] land and culture.” —Boris Huang
Feathers as symbols of yearning: Chris Maynard’s art at Craft in America Center
1/18/25
Original post on Art Daily here.
Imagine carving into a single bird feather with a surgical scalpel to cut several individual bird outlines. That is the art practice of Chris Maynard. Over his career, he has carved hundreds of tiny birds and arranged them into delicate configurations both contained in shadow boxes and scattered over wall installations. These configurations allude to a range of bird activities, from dynamic murmurations to the ecosystems they are part of. A selection of Maynard’s work, including an in-situ wall installation, will be on display at the Craft in America Center starting January 18, 2025.
Maynard carves feathers into intricate art and creates elegant arrangements in order to heighten awareness of their natural beauty. His work highlights the subtle patterns and colors of the feathers themselves, inviting the viewer to look deeply. For him, feathers represent flight, transformation, and a bridge between our present lives and our dreams.
“We want to fly but cannot.” he says. “But birds can, so their feathers become symbols of this yearning.
Feathers are perfect by themselves.” Presenting them slightly altered but still retaining their featherness, he encourages people to see feathers in new ways, promoting beauty and new connections.
Maynard works with feathers gathered sustainably from birds such as turkeys, parrots, peacocks, and many more. A conservationist at heart, many of the feathers are sourced from natural shedding, which means that the birds they came from may still even be alive today.
Birds were always a part of Maynardʼs childhood. As a young person, he took refuge in the woods around his home in Washington State where, his head nestled in moss, he observed the birds high up in the trees. He first began working with feathers at age 12.
Beverly Press: Craft in America Center opens colorful exhibit on paper art
9/12/24
Original post in the Beverly Press here.
The Craft in America Center is holding “Erik and Martin Demaine: Puzzling with Paper” from Saturday, Sept. 14, through Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025.
Father-and-son Martin and Erik Demaine are featured in the upcoming Craft in America episode, “SCIENCE.” The duo has a stimulating generative practice that blends disciplines from math to zoology.
They fold pieces of paper by hand along geometrically derived lines and transform flat sheets into intricately curved constructions. The works at the same time prove math theorems. They plot out the pattern of a sunflower’s face, improvise pathways of hot glass on paper, extract Shakespeare’s words and write programs that generate threedimensional and animated fonts.
The Craft in America Center also presents “Lorraine Bubar: Papercut Perspectives” from Sept. 14-Jan. 4. Bubar creates lush imagery reflecting the hierarchy and intricate patterns of nature through the cutting and layering of fine Asian colored papers.
Decorative Arts Trust – Understanding Craft: A new digital tool debuts
8/2/24
Read the full article by Emily Zaiden on DecorativeArtsTrust.com
Three years in the making, Craft in America is launching the first ever Craft Video Dictionary (CVD), thanks to support from the Decorative Arts Trust’s inaugural Prize for Excellence and Innovation. The CVD (accessible at craftvideodictionary.org) is a free online resource that gives the public direct, close-up views of the craft processes and techniques behind the decorative arts. Instead of words and images, CVD definitions are conveyed via video. Clear and concise, these segments are edited to focus strictly on the artists’ movements and the transformation of their materials. By providing an intimate lens into the artist’s studio, each video entry is an accurate look at how the objects in our world come to be and the skills handcraft really entails.
The CVD consists of techniques demonstrated by artists with expertise across the spectrum of the crafts and decorative arts. Ceramics, metal, wood, fiber, glass, and other materials are among the represented media. Terms range from sgraffito to shaping hot glass and from coiling fiber to fullering. Each video features an artist shaping their work through methods that are historic and also very much alive. These videos provide a bridge to the past and shed light on how people have created objects over the centuries. Craft is a continuum that spans time and connects cultures.
The roll-out of this new reference tool includes an initial batch of 100 video definitions, and 100 additional videos will be posted later this year. The first collection of videos begins to flesh out the specifics of art and craft making across materials and media, and there is so much more to be recorded. The CVD has the potential to include hundreds of additional videos featuring the work of artists from across the country and beyond.
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Sunday “Gayle on the Go!”, June 9th, 2024
June 9, 2024
KTLA 5
Woodworking Network: Craft in America Launches Craft Video Dictionary
5/13/24
Full, original article by Dakota Smith on Woodworking Network here.
Craft in America has launched the first-ever Craft Video Dictionary (CVD). The CVD is an online resource that gives the public a direct, close-up view of craft processes and techniques. Instead of words and images, CVD definitions are conveyed via video. Clear and concise, these videos are edited to focus on the artists’ movements and the transformation of materials. The project was initiated with support from The Decorative Arts Trust through their Prize for Excellence and Innovation in late 2020.
The first rollout of this new reference tool includes an initial batch of one hundred video definitions. This initial collection of videos begins to flesh out the ins and outs of art and craft making across a range of materials and media. Two hundred videos will be posted in total later this year.
The CVD includes techniques as demonstrated by artists with expertise in ceramics, metal, wood, fiber, glass, and more. Each video captures an artist manipulating material with their hands and tools through methods that are traditional, historic, and also very much still alive. “The CVD videos are intended to clearly define a craft technique, rather than demonstrate a how-to process. We hope this project will be useful to educators, museums, and everyone interested in craft,” says CVD project producer Denise Kang.
Thus far, 14 artists have been filmed across Southern California, and many of them are teaching artists at colleges in the region. The CVD includes definitions of terms ranging from sgraffito, which is a ceramics process, to glass blowing, and from cabinet making and joinery, to spindle turning, and blacksmithing.
By providing an intimate lens into the artist’s studio, CVD video definitions provide a sense of how the objects in our world come to be and what their craft entails. On creating the videos, CVD Project Director Emily Zaiden noted, “each artist during filming was able to take a step back from their second nature process and think about what someone unfamiliar with their craft might need to see and understand their work.”
Woodworking Network: Craft in America Announces New Exhibition
April 26, 2024
Original post by Dakota Smith on Woodworking Network here.
LOS ANGELES, CA — The Craft in America Center has announced Building Blocks: Process and Wood, a group exhibition highlighting Southern California woodworkers who use tradition to create contemporary interpretations.
Craft in America is organizing an exhibition of woodwork and furniture-based sculpture made by the artists who were consulted and filmed for the new Craft Video Dictionary (CVD) definitions. The exhibition will consist of approximately two dozen recent works made by six artists in the field who are based across the Los Angeles basin. Ranging in styles and perspectives, these artists are unified by formal innovation coupled with a unique understanding of materials and techniques.
The Craft Video Dictionary is a new digital tool for understanding how objects are made. Launching in early 2024 with an initial exemplary array of video definitions that span media, material, process, and discipline, the CVD will continue to expand and develop over time. New, additional video definitions will be added at later intervals in 2024 and beyond. Especially for those who are not makers or artists, the CVD provides a chance to gain awareness about the crafting of objects, in real time. These educational videos are intended to clarify, elucidate, document, and explain craft techniques.
Participating Artists: Reuben Foat, Martin Alexander Hernandez, Ryan Taber, Lauren Verdugo, Larry White and Maxwell Wilson
American Folklore Society: Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026
Original, full post by American Folklore Society | Events, News from the Field here.
Craft in America is pleased to announce the launch of Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 , a national semiquincentennial initiative to showcase the importance of the handmade, both throughout their history and in contemporary life. Handwork 2026 will be a year-long collaboration among organizations, educators, and makers to celebrate the diversity of the crafts that define America, bringing compelling stories and underrepresented art and artists into the spotlight.
The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the national museum dedicated to American craft, is the lead partner for the initiative and will host the core exhibition for the project. Americans for the Arts, a leading non-profit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, is the Awareness partner for this project.
Americans For The Arts: Americans for the Arts Teams Up With Handwork 2026 To Celebrate Legacy of America Craft in Lead-up to U.S. Semiquincentennial
Full article by the Americans for the Arts here.
(WASHINGTON, DC— April 18, 2024)—Americans for the Arts (AFTA) announces its participation in Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a national Semiquincentennial initiative to showcase the importance of the handmade, both throughout our history and in contemporary life. Handwork 2026 is a yearlong collaboration among organizations, educators, and makers to celebrate the diversity of the crafts that define America, bringing compelling stories and underrepresented art and artists into the spotlight.
“Americans for the Arts is honored to serve as an awareness partner for Handwork 2026,” said Nolen Bivens, President and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “Handmade artistry holds a special place in U.S. history, and we are eager to highlight the diverse stories and work that represent American craftsmanship. Handwork 2026’s yearlong initiative aligns with the values of Americans for the Arts by promoting vibrant arts communities and fostering dialogues to strengthen our unique, collective cultural identity.”
AFTA is pleased to join Handwork 2026 lead partners Craft in America, the national organization promoting and advancing original handcrafted work through programs in all media, and the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the national museum dedicated to American craft, which will host the core exhibition for the project, opening in 2026.
“As the flagship museum of American craft, the Renwick Gallery is the driving force in the national conversation about the dynamic landscape of contemporary craft,” said Stephanie Stebich, the Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “We are delighted to be a lead partner with Craft in America for Handwork2026. Together we will showcase the artworks being created now by innovative makers that help us better understand ourselves, each other, and the world around us.”
Woodworking Network: Craft in America Announces Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026
5/13/24
Original post by Dakota Smith at Woodworking Network here.
LOS ANGELES – Handwork 2026 will be a year-long collaboration among organizations, educators, and makers to celebrate the diversity of the crafts that define America, bringing compelling stories and underrepresented art and artists into the spotlight.
Craft in America announced the launch of Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a national Semiquincentennial initiative to showcase the importance of the handmade, both throughout our history and in contemporary life.
Handwork 2026 will be a year-long collaboration among organizations, educators, and makers to celebrate the diversity of the crafts that define America, bringing compelling stories and underrepresented art and artists into the spotlight.
The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the national museum dedicated to American craft, is the lead partner for the initiative and will host the core exhibition for the project.
Americans for the Arts, a non-profit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, is the Awareness partner for this project.