Craft In Schools & Community Outreach
An educational outreach program that connects students to professional artists through field trips at the Craft in America Center where students experience hands-on workshops and artist talks.
Our Program
We bring the mission of Craft in America to public, underserved schools in the greater Los Angeles area through visitation to our center exhibitions and hands-on workshops with acclaimed contemporary craft artists working in various media. Craft in America seeks to provide our community with needed supplementary art education, especially to those students who need it the most.
Who We Work With
In 2012, Craft in America initiated a pilot program with LAUSD’s Fairfax Magnet Center for Visual Arts to bring artists into the classroom and students into the Craft in America Center. We then added Van Nuys High School to our school outreach program in 2015. In 2016 the Craft in America Center began working with Rosewood Elementary and Clinton Middle School, which expanded the age range of the students we reach. We welcome collaboration with schools across Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley who wish to visit our Center and meet with artists. We strive to give local, underserved public school students the chance to meet some of the leading working, professional artists in the field and to hear personally about these artists’ careers and how they create their art. Our hope is to continue to grow this program in order to serve more schools and educate young students about the power of the handmade and the meaning of craft.
Participating Artists
Some of the artists who have participated so far include potter Jeff Oestreich, collage artist Hidde Van Duym, illustrator JT Steiny, glass artists Paul Marioni, Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend and Therman Statom, metalsmith Jaydan Moore, book artist Catherine Alice Michaelis, fiber artist Consuelo Jimenez Underwood.
Higher Education
Since 2012, Craft in America has partnered with Otis College of Art and Design’s Integrated Learning class, Clay in L.A.:1945 to Present as a site partner. Students visit the Center every semester to discuss the current exhibition, watch episode footage and draw connections to their class work and personal practices. The students also utilize the library resources at the Center to investigate the importance of craft on a regional level. In one particular project, they examined the history of the Otis Ceramic Department and specifically the impact of Peter Voulkos on the early studio clay artists in the 1950s.
Primary Faculty: Joan Takayama-Ogawa
These activities are supported by:
