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

Read the full listing here

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

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

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.

Urban Glass: John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards return to Los Angeles

4/23/24

Read the original article by Kinshasa Peterson on Urban Glass.

John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards return to Los Angeles for an exhibition and discussion at the Craft in America Center

The Craft in America Center in Los Angeles, which is exhibiting a dual-artist exhibit entitled “Between the LInes” through May 25, will host a conversation with the artists John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards on Saturday, April 27 from 3 PM to 4 PM PST. Both in-person and streamed on Zoom and Facebook Live, the talk will bring together two prolific creators who shaped a legacy of glassmaking in Southern California, and who are regarded nationwide as influential educators and artists. Moderated by Craft in America curator Emily Zaiden, the discussion will provide perspective on the major retrospective of their work now on view at the museum. 

Luebtow and Edwards both create artwork at differing scales, from intimate forms to powerful works in the public sphere. In addition to their artistic careers, Luebtow and Edwards are both well-known educators who have a shared passion for glass with generations of students in California and New York State, where they established programs for learning in the medium, respectively. Their first meeting, in fact, came when Luebtow was Edwards’ high-school teacher, and the two formed a bond that has spanned decades.

Excerpts from Luebtow’s recently published monograph, Glass: A Lifetime of Creating, were featured in the Spring 2024 issue of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly, on sale at newsstands and online. The article can be purchased along with our digital edition. 

The accompanying exhibition, Between the Lines: John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards, is on view at the Craft in America Center through May 25. 

ArtCentron: Stunning Glass Artistry of Two Outstanding Master Glass Sculptors

4/16/24

Read the full article by Kazeem Adeleke on ArtCentron

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA- Transforming glass into exquisite and alluring art requires skill, creativity, innovation, and glass artistry. Currently, the Craft in America Center hosts an extraordinary exhibition that showcases these important elements. Titled Between the Lines, the exhibition highlights the remarkable work of master glass sculptors John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards. It offers a profound exploration of the captivating world of glass artistry from their unique perspectives and techniques.

In addition to showcasing their existing works, Between the Lines features new pieces created specifically for this exhibition. These new sculptures demonstrate the ongoing creativity and innovation of both artists as they push the boundaries of their craft.

John Luebtow is revered amongst his contemporaries for his precision and creativity. His ability to shape molten glass into intricate works of art reveals an exemplary and rare skill. His sculptures often feature intricate patterns and shapes, showcasing his mastery of the glassblowing process.

One of Luebtow’s notable works is “Venus Vitae,” located in Century City, California. This captivating public art integrates glass elements into water features, creating a unique visual relationship between internal and external geometries. At night, when illuminated, the sculpture assumes a spiritual essence, dispelling dark shadows.

Glass Sculpting and the Transmutation of Matter

“Linear Form Series,” is an another important example of Luebtow’s creativity. A Maquette Study for Nestlé/Carnation Commission created in the late 1980s, Luebtow combines wavy glass strands with solid shapes and stainless steel to capture the relationship between light, people, and the environment. This piece reveals not just his deep understanding of form and shape, but also how they exist and interact with their surroundings.

Stephen Edwards approaches glass sculpting with a focus on the transmutation of matter and his medium. He draws inspiration from nature to create massive sculptures that balance structure and fragility. His meticulous process involves using molds carved from styrofoam to cast molten glass, creating surfaces that mimic textures found in nature, such as water ripples and cliff faces.

Vulnerability to Hubris

Edwards’ ability to create exceptional sculptures rich with symbolism is evident in many of the works on display in this exhibition. One of them is “Icarus 2024.” Crafted from cast glass and steel, the sculpture vividly portrays the repercussions of hubris using a saturated red hue. Drawing inspiration from the myth of Icarus, Edwards depicts a figure bursting forth. Adorned with wings on his back, the artist creates the illusion of Icarus poised for flight, heedless of the warnings that his wings, fashioned from wax, will melt if he ventures too close to the sun. The sculpture’s reflection of viewers serves as a poignant reminder of our shared vulnerability to hubris.

Edwards’ impact on the world of glass artistry extends far beyond his own creations. As a teacher and mentor, he has influenced countless aspiring artists, helping to shape the future of the medium. His work can be found in public collections and prestigious institutions around the world, including prestigious institutions. They are in National Art Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution and the Corning Museum of Glass.

Celebrating Glass Artistry of Two Master Glass Sculptors

Between the Lines is a rare opportunity to appreciate the beauty and complexity of glass sculpture through the lens of these two masterful artists. It celebrates their enduring contributions to the world of glass sculpture, inviting viewers to experience the transformative power of art.

The juxtaposition of Luebtow’s precise, geometric forms with Edwards’ organic, nature-inspired sculptures creates a dynamic visual experience. It allows viewers to appreciate the beauty and complexity of glass artistry. Above all, it serves as a poignant reminder of the marvels within the natural world and the transformative power of art.

ArtDaily.com: ‘Between the Lines’ opening reception opens today at Craft in America Center

Original article on ArtDaily.com here.

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Craft in America Center is opening Between the Lines, a two-person exhibition featuring master glass sculptors John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards. These two maverick sculptors have shaped the field of glass through potent artwork and technical prowess. Constantly innovating, they use glass in ways that defy expectations— bending, casting and cutting it into astounding forms that push the material to its limits. Over the decades, both their intimate and monumental works address relationships with nature, spirituality, and family.

Line is the guiding force shaping the form of each work. Line and form relay philosophical signifiers stemming from the artists’ personal experiences and outlooks. Responding to concepts through abstraction, glass becomes a material for echoing dynamics of the natural world.

This exhibition pairs these two luminaries who are also tied by a teacher/student relationship: Edwards was once a student in Luebtow’s high school art classes. Insatiably curious about process, both artists consistently push the boundaries of technical development and have created significant facilities, both of their own and at institutions. In addition to illustrious art careers, the two masters have been instrumental in creating education programs and facilities in glass, and have taught scores of art students; Luebtow at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, and Edwards at Alfred University in New York.

With more than a century of knowledge between them, these objects are a glimpse at how these artists create abstract forms with powerful, transcendent ideas about beauty, conflict, tension, nature and existence.

John Luebtow has become one of the most respected names in contemporary glass sculpture over the past forty years. He developed innovative techniques in glass-making, introducing and incorporating gestural and expressive qualities into impeccably finished sculptural components. He holds a BA from California Lutheran College, and two MFAs from UCLA (one in ceramics and one in glass).

Stephen Edwards built one of the largest hot glass programs in the nation at Alfred University, where he taught for 22 years. Prior to that, an early stepping stone was working as an artist-in-residence at the Penland School of Crafts. Near Penland, he established his first private glass studio in Micaville, North Carolina in 1982. Edwards graduated from Illinois State University with a Master of Fine Arts Degree in 1980.

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 9, 3:00–5:00pm PST Artist talk: Saturday, April 27, 3:00pm PST