What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1339492
8 WHAT'S UP! FEBRUARY 14-20, 2021 COVER STORY Conversation On Craft Exhibition weaves new threads into American story JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette E ntering the gallery space for the new temporary exhibition at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, the alluring gleam of two silver figures is the first sight to greet visitors. John Prip's "Silver Coffeepot" and Myra Mimlitcsh-Gray's "Melting Teapot" offer an immediate opportunity to compare and contrast in a conversation that lays the foundation for the rest of "Crafting America." The two works — Prip's Danish-inspired modern coffee pot and Mimlitcsh-Gray's trompe l'oeil of a solid melting to a liquid — were each created by a master metalsmith, of the same material, using nearly the same exact technique. The pairing, and all those that follow in the exhibition, illuminate key concepts in the genre of craft, which is explored for the first time at Crystal Bridges in the new exhibit. "One of the goals that we had for the exhibition was to tell the story of craft and American art, and to assert its place as an integral component of the unfolding story of American art," offers co-curator Jen Padgett. "Crafting America" is the first temporary exhibition of 2021 at the museum after its debut, originally scheduled for last year, had to be postponed due to covid-19. "It fits so well with our mission to expand those stories in our galleries, and this show, in many ways, acts as a kind of catalyst for what will be a really deep and rich and complex further engagement with artists who work in a variety of craft practices," Padgett says. Comprising more than 120 objects from 98 creators, the exhibition ambitiously delves into the complexity of the American experience through the nuances of modern contemporary craft and the ways in which it has been a means to access American ideals. The five primary materials are wood, glass, fiber, ceramics and metal, but visitors will also encounter a few unexpected and found materials as well as some larger-than-life forms. Each of these materials has its own unique history and organizers knew viewers would come to the exhibition with myriad perceptions of the field. So the curators decided to take a straightforward interpretation of craft: skilled making at human scale. It's a form that, regardless of medium, requires intensive training and technical skills that are learned, Padgett clarifies. This framework distinguishes "In this section, we also bring attention to the lives of makers because the time that artists spend honing their craft and making an individual object create a tie between the biography of the artist and the work that they're making," Jen Padgett says of the "Life" section, where Sabrina Gschwandtner's "Hands at Work Film" is included. "And, even more deeply, the sense of connection between craft and the human element — that humanistic quality when you're in the presence of an object that speaks so strongly to that lasting relationship between artists and material — is something that's really present throughout the show." (Courtesy Image/Crystal Bridges Museum, Photo by Joshua White Photography) FAQ 'Crafting America' WHEN — On display through May 31 WHERE — Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville COST — $12; free for members, veterans, SNAP participants and those younger than 18 INFO — crystalbridges.org or 418-5700