» Library Updates

Winter ‘25 FEATHER EXHIBITIONS : ART LIBRARY DISPLAY

This winter / spring the Craft in America Center is exhibiting innovative feather-based artworks by Boris Huang, a Taiwanese-Hawaiian featherwork artist and Chris Maynard, a biologist/birder feather artist. Our Education Coordinator, Sam Sermeño, has curated an interactive library display to accompany technically distinct and cross-cultural approaches to feather art. During the exhibition opening, the Center was fortunate to have both artists present. Maynard gave an in-depth presentation on his work and Huang gave a detailed feather lei demonstration which will be featured in our Craft Video Dictionary, a new learning resource for craft and art techniques across mediums.

Several of the displayed magazines and books highlight long standing featherwork art forms, from Mardi-Gras to Hawaiian lei-hulu art traditions shared by renown matriarchs. This collection explores the dynamism of feather work’s niche art culture, craft techniques, and its deep impact on different regions’ community expression; from the ornately feathered and beaded regalia and parade culture of New Orleans, to several schools of Hawaiian indigenous featherwork traditions, to more contemporary and fiber-cut dimensional feathered installations.

We hope you enjoy browsing this selection of reading materials, and please know that the invitation to browse our library remains open-ended. Thanks to generous book donations and ongoing curatorial scholarship, our library warmly welcomes the curious passerby, armchair art historian, artists & creatives across all mediums and practices.

photo of feathers and bird diagram next to a red black and yellow "Royal Hawaiian Featherwork" book — Royal Hawaiian Featherwork: Nā Hulu Aliʻi (2015) by Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco & Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum et. al; and example feathers provided by artist Boris Huang

Royal Hawaiian Featherwork (2015) dives into various museology research, curatorial insight, and cultural critique of what is considered the origin of Hawaiian featherwork among royalty ranging from the 18th to 19th centuries. This book pays homage to the hand-techniques required in constructing these various feather cloaks and adornments. Ample parts of this book share accounts and research about the cultural recognition of fetherwork’s craft and how this featherwork secured Hawaiian chiefs spiritual protection and prosperity for centuries. According to most art historians, few royal feather artworks (known as nā hulu ali‘i) are known to survive outside of various art museum and private collection settings. Viewers will learn much about the surveyed seventy+ rare examples of royal featherwork capes and cloaks (‘ahu’ula), feathered royal staffs (kāhili), helmets (mahiole), feather leis (lei hulu manu), and various feathered deity iconography (akua hulu manu) in paintings and other paperworks. Deeply rooted in cultural significance, this book explore how various featherwork are detailed, along with their recorded historical-social functions; many of these items were central to Indigenous Hawaiian diplomacy, from securing political alliances and agreements, to battlefield armor and regalia, used as their own form of martial currency, to eventual trading and foreign visitor cultural gifts. This dense volume also serves as the catalogue accompanying one of the first Hawaiian featherwork exhibitions on the U.S. mainland, via the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (2015).

Cover for the book "House of Dance and Feathers: A Museum Book" — The House Of Dance And Feathers: A Museum book, By Ronald W Lewis (Rachel Breunlin and Helen Regis, 2009)

Vivid orange feathered and beaded New Orleans parade dancers smile and prepare for their festivities down the city's streats with musical accompaniment — The House Of Dance And Feathers: A Museum book, By Ronald W Lewis (Rachel Breunlin and Helen Regis, 2009)

The House Of Dance And Feathers: A Museum By Ronald W Lewis (Rachel Breunlin and Helen Regis, 2009).

This book was published nearly a decade before Ronald W. Lewis, an illustrious New Orleans culture-shaper, passed away. Lewis helped assemble the “House of Dance & Feathers” museum found in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. Readers will enjoy the museum displays, festival and parade photos, interview excerpts and insider knowledge sourced from the posthumous Lewis himself and close knit communities. This work highlights and honors the different worlds Lewis inhabited, and these communities’ cultural impacts on Black history and New Orleans’ social fabric; recognizing New Orleans’ various Bone Gangs, Parade Krewes, Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs’ continued legacies amidst decades of change.

Colorful photo of Revised edition of "Feather Lei As an Art" — Feather Lei As an Art book, revised ed. (Mary Louise Kaleonahenahe Kekuewa and Paulette Nohealani Kahalepuna, 2005)

Colorful photos of people wearing feathered lei on straw hats, with brief table of Hawaiian color and feather significance — Feather Lei As an Art book, revised ed. (Mary Louise Kaleonahenahe Kekuewa and Paulette Nohealani Kahalepuna, 2005)

Feather Lei as an Art (2005) by the late and renown Elder Mary Louise Kaleonahenahe Kekuewa and her daughter Paulette Nohealani Kahalepuna.

The native Hawaiian press Mutual Books released this revised and expanded edition 15 years after the original was self-published by the authors to bring it to a wider audience. Boris Huang’s featherwork mentor– Elder Mary Louise was renown as one of the main Matriarchs of lei hulu feather arts, and various diasporic Hawaiian heritage-arts revival movements. This book generously shares layers of history, cultural insights, spiritual symbology, and technical diagrams and approaches to this traditional art practice. Sharing practical criteria for knowing one’s feathers (hulu manu), to feather preparation stages, to making traditional lei (Wli) or more contemporary Humu Papa lei with feathers, and respectfully storing and preserving these iconic feather adornments and uses.

Two diagonally stacked Recent issues of American Craft magazine (Winter 2024-Spring 2025) — Recent issues of American Craft magazine (Winter 2024-Spring 2025)

open magazine spread with ornate feathered amorphous. installations spilling over an old fashion looking kitchen, close up of feathered layers as well — Recent issues of American Craft magazine (Winter 2024-Spring 2025)

The Craft Center’s library proudly houses over 2,000 periodicals and decades of various art and craft magazines. Librarian Sam has pulled a handful of articles from Surface Design and American Craft Magazines? featuring featherwork and related cultural art history articles. Readers will enjoy short features about Kate MccGwire’s mind-bending feather installation sculptures (Surface Design, 2014, Jessica Hemmings) to New Orleans contemporary mixed media artists to further explore; such as Charles DuVernay, Pippin Frisbie-Calder, Mapó Kinnord, Seguenon Koné, and the late Sylvester Francis, founder of Backstreet Cultural Museum (American Craft, 2024, Katy Reckdahl and Jennifer Vogel).

The library is open to the public: Tuesday – Saturday, from noon to 6pm.

The Craft in America Center Library proudly houses over 3000 books, exhibition catalogs, and more than 2000 periodicals dedicated to the art of craft and related topics.

For further Lbrary or Craft in Schools inquiries, please visit our Library page or contact Education Programs and Library Coordinator sam@craftinamerica.org

feather leis on display next to the Craft Center's book cases — Craft Center Library and Boris Huang’s feathered leis on display, 2025.

Library in the Summer: Woodwork, Design & Craft Video Dictionary

This summer Craft in America invites you to the Center’s woodwork, furniture, and historic design exhibition. Our Building Blocks: Process in Wood show highlights both regional and international artistry across cultures and time periods, focused on handworked wood fabrication. Complementing this dynamic show, we encourage visitors to learn more about our dynamic and educational Craft Video Dictionary woodworking videos and library-magazine woodworking displays.

Library Highlights on Woodworking

Our easy-access craft art library features regularly rotating displays, and our range of materials span from rare books, artist monographs, exhibition catalogs, art-magazines, to craft-techniques/technical manuals.

This summer’s featured woodworking books on display range from the 18th Century American Shakers woodworking and legacy designs, to American Mid-Century Modern legacy schools of woodworking (a la The Furniture of Sam Maloof, header image), to more internationally renown sculptural/vessel focused approaches to wood fabrication (a la Keiko Hirohashi’s design book Wood Package). We’ve also pulled woodworking periodicals dating back decades, including magazine runs from 1970’s-2020’s American Craft, 1980’s Woodworker’s Journal, 1980’s Fine Homebuilding, Fine Woodworking 1980’s-90’s, Woodworker West (2007-2023), and more — all previewed below!

The American Shakers and Their Furniture in (1982) black and white format, boasts fascinating historic perspectives on this ascetic, minimalist-design oriented religious community’s contributions to woodworking and design over the last 200 years. This book features dynamic, near timeless diagrams, measurements, and instructions for recreating their highly functional and visually stunning wood-based pieces centuries later. Nodding to this lineage, our Woodwork exhibition also features artist Ryan Taber’s Stofa Pattern #2 after Tony Smith’s Batcave 1969-1971 and the Shaker Super Heater, 1820-1830; made from White Pine.

Hand-caned geometric seat cushions found within The American Shakers and Their Furniture book, by John G. Shea — The American Shakers and Their Furniture book, (John G. Shea, 1982)

diagram and gridded measurement instructions for how to build a candle sconce-shelf from the book The American Shakers and Their Furniture, by John G. Shea — The American Shakers and Their Furniture book, (John G. Shea, 1982)

Wood Package, highlights innovative Keiko Hirohashi’s design and surreal woodwork. Much like Martin Alexander’s own cultural woodwork homage and nod to the playful interpretation of wood as both a sculptural and playfully reverent “Florecita” vessel, Hirohashi’s work explores whimsical and diasporic design of wood containers. Wood Package asks each viewer to consider how woodworking forms and their outer layers are just as important (vessels) as to what is housed within.

book cover of Wood Package by Keiko Hirohashi — Wood Package (Keiko Hirohashi, 1987)

multicolored, surreal colorful wood boxes with various wheels and bauble details; from Wood Package book, by Keiko Hirohashi

black and red/maple ornate figurine boxes in the shame of silhouettes, body parts, and jumping cats; from Wood Package book, by Keiko Hirohashi

Come visit us and browse our extensive craft library! With over over over 3000 books, exhibition catalogs, and more than 2000 periodicals dedicated to the art of craft and related topics — there’s something here to delight any curious reader. Come visit us this summer and explore the expansive world of craft art and woodworking!

Colorful magazine covers of Crafts, Woodwork, Fine Woodworking, and various Furniture woodworking journals — Periodical Sampling: Crafts, Woodwork, Fine Woodworking, and various Furniture woodworking journals

Craft Library Update: Special Collections + Back to School with Craft in America

Despite these last couple weeks of lingering heat, things are feeling very autumnal and back-to-school at the Craft Center. Our Craft in Schools team led by (me) Sam Sermeño and LAUSD school partnerships have kicked into full force as we host teaching-artist workshops, art tours, and field trips.

Lately, during field trips curious students have been asking me about our significant craft-art library, so we figure now is a good time to share some library announcements.

Special Collections

All are welcome to visit and browse our newly added Special Collections materials. Over the summer, thanks to generous art and literary patrons, we’ve integrated and catalogued four cubic feet of notable library donations. These recently added materials include books now blended into our general Dewey-Decimal organized shelves; along with a variety of niche art catalogs and unique artist paper ephemera found in our “Special Collections” labeled magazine boxes.

As always, we invite all craft enthusiasts and the wider public to enjoy our current art exhibitions and to browse our in-house library. We’re happy to collaborate with artists, curators, and fellow art nerds in general craft research and information resourcing as well. Currently, our gallery/library space (previewed below) features an interactive/browsable display of magazines, books, and manuals around fiber arts connected to the work of our Fall 2023 Influences-Influencers: California Fibers Exhibition.

The library is open to the public: Tuesday – Saturday, from noon to 6pm.

The Craft in America Center Library includes over 3000 books, exhibition catalogs, and more than 2000 periodicals dedicated to the art of craft and related topics.

For further library or Craft in Schools inquiry, please visit our Library page or contact Education Programs and Library lead sam@craftinamerica.org

A glimpse of newly acquired "Special Collections" materials, featuring artist books, catalogues, and paper ephemera. — September-November Library Display of books and publications highlighting artists from Fall 2023’s California Fibers exhibition.