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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Decorative Arts Trust Grants
IDEAL INTERNSHIP GRANTS
The Trust offers grants to museums and historic sites in support of internships that improve and promote inclusivity, diversity, equity, access, and leadership (IDEAL) in the museum field. The Trust seeks to fund summer and academic-year internships beginning in the summer or fall of 2024 for high school and undergraduate students. Internships should focus on the decorative arts and object-based research, exhibitions, installations, and educational programs. IDEAL Internship Grants can be up to $5,000.
Application Deadline: August 31, 2023
CURATORIAL INTERNSHIP GRANTS
The Trust underwrites curatorial internships for recent Masters or PhD graduates in partnership with museums and historical societies. These internships allow host organizations to hire a deserving young professional who will learn about the responsibilities and duties common to the curatorial field while working alongside a talented mentor. The goal is to provide mutually beneficial opportunities that will nurture the next generation of museum curators while providing essential staffing for the host. For this grant cycle, the Trust is offering a two-year grant with $45,000 available per year for the intern’s salary.
Application Deadline: September 30, 2023
DEAN F. FAILEY GRANTS
Dean F. Failey Grants support noteworthy research, exhibition, publication, and object-based conservation projects that present new scholarship on the decorative arts, craftsmanship, and historic preservation. Preference is given to projects that employ or are led by young professionals in the museum field, and the Trust aims to support colleagues and projects that represent the full diversity of the field. The Trust will award up to $25,000 during the upcoming cycle. The funding is typically divided among multiple recipients, with grants ranging from $5,000 to $15,000.
Application Deadline: October 31, 2023