“State of Craft: Exploring the Studio Craft Movement in Vermont, 1960-2010”
Bennington Museum
75 Main Street
Bennington, Vermont
Through October 31
THE BENNINGTON MUSEUM CAPTURES THE PASSION, IDEALISM AND ARTISTRY OF THE VERMONT CRAFT MOVEMENT, WHICH GREW FROM A RURAL, HOME-BASED PRACTICE INTO A PROFESSIONAL, OUTWARDLY FOCUSED STUDIO MOVEMENT.
In a world subsumed by the suffocating homogeneity
of mass-produced goods, it is not often that we
think of our walls, our rooms, our bookcases — even
our bodies — as pedestals for fine art. But every so
often there is that one piece with a story. For me,
it is a pearl-and-hemp necklace I discovered at the
small, shoebox-sized studio of a Florentine artisan.
It does not fail to inspire conversation.
What makes “State of Craft” such a pleasure to
experience is the myriad and rich stories it tells
through more than 120 beautifully-wrought craft art
objects that collectively patch together a historical
quilt stitching together the complex story of the
Vermont craft movement.
The show was hewn out of a partnership between
Anne Majusiak, guest curator and also former
director of the Frog Hollow Craft Center, the Vermont
Folklife Center, the Vermont Craft Council and
independent arts organizers to celebrate the 20th
anniversary of the council. Homage is paid to Aileen
Osborne Webb, a leading force for the studio craft
revival in America.
But as any quilter will tell you, creating objects
of organic simplicity is deceptively complex. The
curatorial process for “State of Craft” started in
2006 — and there were 1,000 Vermont craft artists
to consider.
“Instead of starting with a list of artists, we started
to brainstorm the important big picture ideas and
concepts about craft in general and Vermont in
particular over the span of the last 60-plus years,”
said Jamie Franklin, curator of collections at the
Bennington Museum. The exhibition is framed into three categories: “Living by ‘Making,’” “Inspirations,”
and “Communities and Connections.”
“Living by ‘Making’” examines the cultural roots
of the craft movement with an emphasis on how
crafters built a professional career in Vermont.
“Inspirations” digs into artistic influences, which
are derived from such diverse subjects as Vermont’s
rural landscape and agricultural past, pop culture,
and the aesthetics of faraway worlds such as Japan,
Sweden and Africa. “Communities and Connections”
explores the creative enclaves, galleries, religious
retreats and educational programs craft artists
developed.
The connecting thread throughout is Vermont, both
as a symbol of creative freedom and means of escape.
As artist Nancy Wickham Boyd said: “Vermont is a
magical word. Almost everyone in New York dreams
ideally of getting to the country.”
There is also a political and socio-historical
undercurrent. “The values of individualism, political
activism, and self-sufficiency found in the 1960s
counter-culture movement have been core values
of craft artists since the movement began in the
1940s, and [they] continue to be embraced by
many craftspeople today,” explained Franklin.
“These values are reflected in where the artists live
— Vermont, a rural state away from the rush and
mechanization of modern life — and how they make
a living — creating objects from ‘real’ materials.”
Traditional materials take on new lives in the hands
of artists such as Michelle and David Holzapfel and
Alan Stirt, who elevate woodworking materials from
the merely functional. Debora Coombs’ modern
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