Can A Craftsperson Succeed Today?

American Craft Oct/Nov 2012 issue

It’s not realistic for most craftspeople to make a living working alone (on their craft). That was the provocative argument made by Garth Clark, award-winning historian, writer, dealer, and auction specialist in ceramic art, in the Oct/Nov American Craft Magazine. In the interview by Monica Moses, Garth urges crafters to emulate designers who partner with industry as a way to find success. American Craft asked him to elaborate in the interview – a few samples from the interview: 
You’ve said “the crafts are a threatened field,” suggesting that purely handmade work can’t compete with more scalable, cost-efficient work. What is threatening craft now? The big weakness is a failing economic studio model. Overheads rise constantly, but each maker has only two hands and can’t make more work to bring in more money. There is an output ceiling. This threat is self-imposed, coming from adherence to a medieval concept of craft and refusal to employ low-key industrial techniques to produce more inventory. Another threat: Craft galleries are withering and in some cases closing. Then, of course, there is the damage to the brand of craft done when institutions such as the flagship American Craft Museum [predecessor to the Museum of Arts and Design], drop the term craft and seek to join the fine arts world.

As you’ve suggested, for a number of years craftspeople aimed to be accepted in the fine art world, with limited success. Your view is that, in general, the design world is a more promising avenue for craftspeople. Why? Most crafters are not fine artists, even when they use fine art as their muse. The ones who have crossed over are about .0001 of the craft community. It’s a tiny handful: Ken Price, Josiah McElheny, Betty Woodman. The odds are hardly encouraging. On the other hand, designers and crafters do exactly the same thing; they make vases, jewelry, furniture, mugs, hats, fire irons. It’s exactly the same class of objects. Both are designed. The difference is the means of production: Crafters work by hand, while designers employ industry. Designers have learned to have it all – some unique works, some limited works, and some mass-produced works. Crafters can do the same. And the market is gigantic and growing.

What advice would you offer today’s aspiring craftsperson?

Decide what you want to be – be it fine artist, designer, or for that matter, crafter. And live there. If you believe you are, say, a sculptor and not a crafter, then the day you leave college, take the strengths of your craft education and head to a sculpture community and make your home there. Don’t remain in the relatively protected world of the crafts and whine that you are a misunderstood artist trapped in the craft world. Leave the nest, and learn to fly. 

Click here to jump to the full online version of the article – or look for in the Oct/Nov hard copy magazine at the shops. That American Craft issue also has a great review of the Smithsonian's 40 Under 40 Craft Futures exhibit.

Garth Clark at lecture on Ai Weiwei at University of Sunderland, March 2012

Garth Clark is one of the leading experts on design and craft. The blog has posted previous lectures that Garth has had on the changing nature of craft. 

While at the University of Sunderland, the WGS Fulbright directors were able to attend Garth Clark’s lecture on Ai Weiwei Ceramics. The lecture was most interesting and gave great insight into Ai Weiwei's work with clay.

Sloppy Craft... but is it Art?

Nicolas Bell, Curator of the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery talked about the rise of “Sloppy Craft Movement” during his talk on influences of the 40 under 40 exhibit (currently on exhibit thru Feb 3^rd 2013).  This concept has been talked about in the Glass School for a while, as many of the artists here come from diverse backgrounds - often from outside the glass craft world... and it is a great subject that deserves more attention in the art blogdom world.

“Sloppy Craft” – is this an oxymoron? I thought that many may not understand the concept of sloppy craft, and a cynically-minded person, could view much of the work – often designed to maximize the shock value – as a transparent bid for attention in the contemporary art world, which has long made a point of embracing my-kid-could-do-that aesthetics.

Mixed Media/Glass sculpture by the De La Torre Brothers 
Einar and Jamex De La Torre derive their gutsy imagery from such diverse influences as Jose Posada, television, the Vatican and the darling of modern comics, the huge eyed Anime characters.

In 2009, Glen Adamson, the Deputy Director of Research at the Victoria and Albert Museum coined the phrase "Sloppy Craft" which he defined it as "the unkempt product of a post-disciplinary craft education."

The origins of “Post Disciplinary Craft” begin in the early 2000’s when new ways of thinking about craft began to form and many saw a need for a more relevant understanding of current craft practice and objects. The earlier models of understanding craft, which relied on either the Arts and Crafts Movement or the Back to the Land counterculture movement that had influenced studio craft in the 1960s and 1970s, would have to be replaced.

The youngsters of craft no longer felt connected to the past - or rather, are not referencing the history of the mediums - that is not their focus.  They didn't learn in apprenticeships with masters and a growing number had abandoned classrooms. They weren't wed to techniques or materials. University art programs found that the students did not want to be categorized as “glass artists” or “clay artists” and, as the students just want the media skills as part of their repertoire, sought to merge curriculums under the term “Material Studies”. Young crafters also learned from other sources - such as their peers or the Internet. The digital age would be to craft what the sexual revolution was to feminism. This is an approach to craft that resonates with the times, linking craft to the wider concerns of today's society (ie: think global,act local; feminism; gender politics; social justice and ecological concerns).  The don't be precious DYI movement response of current craft students were a couple of other aspects of “sloppy craft.” One was the recycling of materials — found or “trash” art, one might call it. It’s everywhere these days, certainly if you looked at the works at DC's semi-annual artfest Artomatic - and no one bats an eye at the exhibits. The other aspect of this kind of casual crafting is that it appears most often in assemblages and collage. Assemblages and collage have clear ancestors, dating back to Picasso through Rauschenberg and are seen and made by thousands of people who may not even think of themselves as artists. 

Textile art by Josh Faught.

Faught's textiles appear to have accrued in a piecemeal fashion. To the surface he's appended labels, nail polish and sequins, all materials culled from the realm of the amateur crafter.

Traditionally, a craftsperson would spend years polishing their craft, working at the highest level until one was so good that one could let it go - forgetting technique and working from the heart intuitively; the crafter/artist would have behind them all the knowledge needed to return to “fineness” if the artwork required it. 
To some extent Josh Faught fits that mold. He self-identified as a Fibers Major at the Art Institute of Chicago, while his fellow students in fibers always made clear they were “Fibers-and-…” “…and performance,” “…and installation,” “…and assemblage,” “…and collage.” But at some point Faught let go of the fine work of Fiber Craft and turned to rawer work.  

Einar and Jamex de la Torre

But making things, it turns out, is still quite difficult. Indeed, the one thing that seems to bind the majority of contemporary art together is the lack of skill required to create it. Glen Adamson also explored the popular notion of what defines "craft" and why some may think that craft always has to be finely made. He states," On the one hand, skill commands respect. We value the integrity of the well-made object, the time and care it demands. Therefore, what we most want out of our craft is something like perfection. On the other hand, though, we value craft's irregularity-- it's human, indeed humane, character. We want craft to stand in opposition to the slick and soulless products of systematized industrial production." With this in mind many people would want to consider something very well made to be craft and not something considered to be sloppy craft.

What about the name of the movement – “sloppy craft”? “Sloppy” is really a sound bite kind of name, irresistible once spoken out loud. The reference was used extensively with textile and fabric art, but examples can be found in all the crafts. “Sloppy” indicates intentionality, which might not be the case with the art. “Sloppy Craft” is an unfortunate phrase — perhaps other names like “informal” “casual” or “raw” would be less jarring than “sloppy” to describe contemporary art that has some base in traditional crafts.

Artists need to examine these historical approaches and goals –whether it is humility, authenticity, expressiveness, shock value and impact – to see if they are useful in understanding and contextualizing sloppy and post-disciplinary craft.  At the very least, it will help demonstrate whether contemporary craft is an evolution (of its prior forms) or a revolution.

The term impressionist was first used by French art critic Louis Leroy in 1874 based on Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise. Leroy found the term fitting to describe the loose, "sloppy", undefined and "unfinished" style that Monet and several other artists applied to their paintings. Numerous famous artists threw out fineness a long time ago and we are used to the aesthetic now.

The Death of Craft - Whodunnit?

Craft committed suicide, but it was under the influence of art.

The victim pulled the trigger on itself, detective Garth Clark says, but it was under the influence of Art.

That’s Art, no last name, sometimes known as Fine Art. And though the corpse keeps getting tricked out for public events like the stiff in the movie comedy Weekend at Bernie’s, the actual time of death was, oh, somewhere around 1995.

Garth Clark

This was the premise of a fantastic and provocative lecture that was held at Portland's Museum of Contemporary Craft last October titled "How Envy Killed the Craft – An Autopsy in 2 parts", given by Garth Clark - a leading international writer on modern and contemporary crafts today. In the talk Clark dryly assessed the current state of American Craft, and conducted an examination of how aesthetics, economics and art-envy have "killed" this 20th century movement. The talk is available online as a podcast from the museum - the details are at the end of this posting.

What is this art envy? Good question.

Surely it has something to do with money. Clark quoted one excellent potter of his acquaintance who says he and his friends have a word for potters who make a living entirely from their craft. It’s unicorns, “because we’ve never seen one.”

And surely it has something to do with reputation, with being taken seriously. Artists are simply thought of more highly, as more creative beings, more intellectual, and therefore more important (and, let’s underscore, more worthy of high prices in exchange for their work).

Perhaps it has something to do with escaping an eternal past. “Craft has been overdosing on nostalgia,” Clark averred. “This is craft’s Achilles heel.” That’s not surprising, he added, since the modern movement (which he stretches back 150 years, a very long time for a movement of any sort) was born as a revival, and thus looking backwards from its beginning.

So, he said, somewhere around 1980 craftmakers simply started referring to what they did as art. Museums and other organizations began to drop the word “craft” from their names — sort of like snipping their horse-thieving uncle from the family tree. For a few genuine artists who were trapped by their association with craft — people like Jun Kaneko and Robert Arneson – it was an escape with just cause. For others, it was wishful thinking. “Craft was strongly and sometimes pretentiously influenced by fine art,” Clark said, “but it did not cross the line to become fine art.”

What did Clark mean by “craft,” anyway? One object-maker drew applause when she commented that, when she’s in the studio, she doesn’t even think about whether she’s making art or craft, she just thinks about what she’s working on. And there was some sentiment that Clark was making a fuss about something that was really just about words and categories, things that come after the fact. “Everything he’s saying is coming from a gallery owner’s point of view,” one member of the audience said.

And there might be some truth to that. Still, Clark insisted that categories are vital, and they are real. “Ultimately there is something called craft and there is something called art,” he said. “And there’s nothing wrong with that.”

What, then, is the difference? When it came right down to it, Clark had a tough time describing exactly what craft is. And in a sense, he blamed that on craftmakers, because they themselves had abandoned the word. After that, he said, “It was almost impossible to write honestly about a field that pretended to be something else.”

And craft’s stress on physicality, Clark said, is “part of its problem as art goes to multimedia, using all sorts of things.” In other words, while craft is reaching toward art, art is reaching toward craft — toward an acceptance of all sorts of materials as viable raw material for the making of fine art.

Then again, he says, fine art’s embrace of traditional craft materials has more to do with “postmodernism’s promiscuity” — hardly a marriage of minds. And, he pointed out, in the mid-20th century fine art underwent a more than equal and opposite reaction, “away from craft-based values” and toward conceptualism — a conspicuously idea-driven form of art (even if the ideas are sometimes half-baked) that gets big media play even as it often rejects the entire concept of craftsmanship as old-fashioned and irrelevant. No wonder crafters feel a little loss of self-esteem.

Still, the question remains: What do we mean when we say “craft”? Maybe it’s a little like U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s 1964 dictum on pornography: “I know it when I see it.” The borders are fuzzy, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

One man in the audience last night asked Clark whether we were using “craft” as a noun when we should be using it as a verb. Maybe so.

Either way, there’s something physical about the thing. “Craft is at its best when it is dealing with sensuality,” Clark said. “… (I)t grabs you by the throat and just thrills you.”

So maybe the more interesting question is, What is the relationship between art and craft? Does art require craft? If not, has the art world suffered for its loss? Clark says fine art doesn’t need craft. You can make great art without craft, he said, but you can’t make great craft without great skill. This is a far more significant question than many people in the art world will admit. For all of its history, from cave paintings on, art and craftsmanship have been intertwined. At what cost are they separated, if indeed they are?

For the 2-part podcast click HERE and scroll down to 10.16.2008 CraftPerspectives Lecture Garth Clark (Part 1 & 2)

Fuller Craft Museum Welcomes New Director Jonathan Fairbanks

The Board of Directors of Fuller Craft Museum has announce that Jonathan Leo Fairbanks has been named Fuller Craft's new Director. Founder and Curator Emeritus of the Department of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Fairbanks has had a long-standing relationship with the Massachusetts-based contemporary craft museum. In fact, he was honored recently by Fuller Craft (along with Sam Maloof in 2009) with a Luminaries award for his lifelong dedication to the arts. Fairbanks now joins New England's only museum dedicated to exhibitions that explore life through the art of contemporary craft.

Jonathan Fairbanks, Director

"We are so pleased to gain the leadership of such a distinguished museum veteran and artist," said Chris Rifkin, Chairman of the Board. "This is an exciting time for Fuller Craft. Jonathan has a profound understanding of the connectedness of craft to the artist, and to all of us in our everyday lives. This makes him the right person to lead our talented staff and make our museum a focal point, a mirror to what's happening in the studio craft world. His vision, experience, and national reputation as one of the country's foremost experts in craft will be tremendously beneficial to our museum."

Fairbanks, who has been working with museums for more than 50 years, is considered to be one of the nation's top authorities in arts and antiques. As a Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the MFA, Boston from 1970 - 1999, he added significant contemporary craft collections to the museum, including works by 50 contemporary studio furniture makers, plus hundreds of ceramic, glass, and mixed media artists.

"The new studio crafts movement is the most exciting thing going on in American art today. People relate to craft, the authentic creations of the hand, brain, and heart," said Fairbanks. "I have had the pleasure of knowing Fuller Craft since the early 1970s and believe that this nimble, soulful organization has a special opportunity to shine a spotlight on the important values of craft and shaping materials. Boston was the first large urban area in America with a great arts and crafts organization. Fuller Craft Museum built upon that tradition, and today is one of a handful of museums in the country dedicated entirely to showcasing fine contemporary craft. I am honored to be a part of the future of Fuller Craft Museum."

Craft Will Save The World: Renwick Gallery's 40 Under 40

Stephanie Liner, Momentos of a Doomed Construct (installation detail), 2012, plywood, foam, Dacron, cotton, adhesive, live model

The Smithsonian Renwick Gallery's Craft Futures: 40 Under 40 exhibit has just opened this week (on exhibit now thru February 3, 2013), and it is a must-see show! Nicholas Bell, the Curator of American Craft organized the exhibition which features forty artists born since 1972 - the year the Smithsonian established the Renwick Gallery. Evolving notions of craft within traditional media such as ceramics and glass, as well as in fields such as industrial design, installation art, fashion design, and mathematics are explored.

General view of gallery space - Artwork in foreground: Marc Maiorana, Renwick Gate, 2011, iron

Artwork in the exhibition was created since Sept. 11, 2001 and this new work reflects the changed world that exists today, one which poses new challenges and considerations for artists. Nicholas Bell talked about the work and the selection process at a noon lecture on Friday, July 20, outlining some concepts that included  underlying themes that could be seen within the works - including postmodernism, environmental and economic issues, and how the explosion in craft is based on a desire by artisans to try and fix the world via the process of creation. There was also mention of a topic at Nicolas' talk that I want to investigate more: the 'sloppy craft movement' (!) - but that is for a later blog posting.

Some of the standout works seen at the opening nite include:

Stephanie Liner, Momentos of a Doomed Construct (installation detail), 2012, plywood, foam, Dacron, cotton, adhesive, live model.

Stephanie combines clothing and furniture forms into Fabergé egg-like armatures that are as fascinating as they are unnerving. It's a rare opportunity to see them as they're intended, with living, breathing (beautiful) woman inside of the bubble, gazing back at you.

Andy Paiko, Spinning Wheel, 2007, blown glass, cocobolo, steel, brass, leather

Great to see Matt Szösz and his inflated fused glass. Matt was recently awarded the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant. 

Korean born Bohyun Yoon describes his work titled “Glass Tube”.

Opening nights are about networking. Above left image in center: Chris Rifkin, Fuller Craft Museum's board chairman and Right rear image: Perry Price, Director of Education at American Craft Council.

Cristina Córdova, Dulce, 2011, ceramic, paper

Mia Pearlman’s paper works dominate one of the gallery spaces with massive installations and a video.

Olek, Knitting is for Pussies,2005-2011, mixed media, 100% acrylic yarn, live models

Detail from Olek's 'Knitting is For Pussies' installation and of 'yarn-bombed' tricycle parked in front of Renwick Museum on Opening Nite.

The opening night gala was a spectacular event - very much with a retro art-happening vibe.

The fun, audacity, interesting & provoking attitudes of the show make it a winner and it should be added to one's list of gallery/museum to-do lists for Washington, DC this year. Click HERE to jump to the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery website.

Spring Craft Weekend is in the air!

National Building Museum

The melting mountains of snow are revealing jolly jonquils; the birds are returning and the days are getting longer - it can mean only one thing: Spring Craft Weekend is soon!

This April, there are many events planned that even the most jaded art lover, craft fancier, and media-specific aficionado can participate in.

The 28th Smithsonian Craft Show (Thursday April 22- Sunday April 25, 2010 www.smithsoniancraftshow.org ) is one of the country’s most prestigious juried exhibition and sale of fine American craft. The show features 120 top craft artists, each one reflecting the story of contemporary American craft in one of 12 categories: basketry, ceramics, decorative fiber, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, paper, wearable art and wood, and takes place in the historic National Building Museum in Washington, DC. There are also many lectures, demonstrations and tours sponsored by the Craft Show.

Want more? the The James Renwick Alliance has many activities and events planned, including dinners catered by major chefs, live and silent craft auctions, visits to galleries, a craft symposium, visits to private craft collections and artist studios. A special free event is the annual Saturday morning symposium sponsored by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the James Renwick Alliance. Special guests will be Mark Sfirri, Randy Johnston and Yoshiko Wada, who will receive the JRA's Distinguished Educator award, and the topic is How Craft Makes its Way into the World. Stay tuned for news on events and participating artists. All events are open to the public with ticket and offer fun, excitement and interest for those new to studio crafts as well as experienced collectors.

Want even more? Well, Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty has proclaimed the week to be "Craft Week DC" and there will be tours, special exhibitions and events at the Washington Glass School and the surrounding craft studios that weekend. Some celebrity guests will give awesome demos - like Matthew Szosz inflating float glass!

Save the dates! - More info to be posted soon!

2011 WGS Year-In-Review

Looking thru the Washington Glass School postings (both official school blog and the more casual Facebook page) and events from a few months ago seem like ages ago. The strange phenomena of time flying by is observed again. Many of the years past events were months - or years- in planning and preparation, and seemed like they would never happen, now seem faraway, and the impact, both good and bad will be here for a while. Some high points, some sad loss. Month by month - here is a quick review of Washington Glass School's 2011:

January 2011

The year started out with some new artistic directions.

Jeff Zimmer works on his layered glass imagery.
WGS Alum Jeff Zimmer worked on some new pieces for the school's 10th Anniversary show. Its been a great year for Jeff - his work was part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show in Oct.

artist: Christina Bothwell media:clay & glass.
The foundation for "Glass Secessionism" was outlined as a challenge for the aesthetics of the 21st century.

Matt (m l duffy) checks for tin side. The school's new-fangled digital tin-o-meter also arrived in 2011.
Matthew Duffy began working on fabrication of the Washington Glass Studio's public art project for Safeway Bethesda.

Susan documents Rob Kincheloe's lampwork process. Susan's strong photographic skills will be part of her book series.
Susan Lomuto (aka Daily Art Muse) arrived into the area to do a residency in the glass school and the surrounding ceramics studios.

February

artist: Kirk Waldroff media cast glass, led lighting, wood
Kirk Waldroff opens his mixed media/glass print exhibit at Glenview Mansion. Dr Claudia Rousseau reviewed his artwork.

March

photo by : Pete Duvall
American Craft Magazine has a large feature of the collaborative works by Tim Tate and Marc Petrovic.

April

This glass work is good enough to shout about.
Kirk Waldroff's printmaking with glass class is one of the stronger design class of the year, with a number of students taking off in creative directions.

Ready for framing and the Smithsonian.
Glass artist Judith Schaechter held a creativity workshop for the JRA at the Washington Glass School.

artist: Elizabeth Ryland Mears, Tex Forrest Crowds packed the gallery
The Washington Glass School 10th Anniversary exhibition opens at Long View Gallery in Washington, DC.

Post critic Michael O'Sullivan's in-depth review of the show.
The Washington Post reviews the Long View show, asking "Is Glass Only Pretty?".

June

Gallery 555 exhibit of WGS student work.
Gallery 555 also hosted an exhibition in honor of the 10th Anniversary of WGS, with a successful show of student works.

Rob Kincheloe coldworks the glass, evaluating the quality of the recycled float glass casting.
National Geographic commissioned the Washington Glass Studio to create a special "environment" award for singer Jack Johnson. The development of the award design and creation was documented in the blog's new feature column "The Process".

Tim Tate's work at Wheaton Arts. View of Maurine Littleton Gallery space during GlassWeekend.
Rising Star - Michael Janis
The Bi-annual "GlassWeekend" was this year with a huge show at WheatonArts The Creative Glass Center of America (CCGA and theArt Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG) named our Michael Janis a "Rising Star" at the event.

July

Tim Tate is filmed by PBS documentary crew as he speaks to the tour group.
Wendy Rosen brought a contingent of international guests - leaders of national craft federations and craft advocacy groups, as well as diplomats and government officials - as part of the World Craft Council held in Washington, DC.

yeah, hand-forged steel is nice and all... but what about the glass?
Chris Shea's forged metal and glass sculpture/furniture was added to the Smithsonian's permanent collection of the Renwick Gallery.

Conner Contemporary hosted a book release party in honor of F Lennox Campello's book "100 Artists of Washington, DC" - one of the more successful in the Schiffer Books line of artist reference series.

August

An unusual month in terms of "natural events". An earthquake hit DC, causing some minor damage to the glass display area in the student gallery of the school. Later in the month - a massive heatwave sent temps over 100 degrees F, and also Hurricane Irene hit DC.

Michael talks with art patrons about the imagery in glass. Michael Janis' solo show at Fuller Craft Museum opened. Perry Price - the Associate Curator of the Museum later commented that they had some of the highest media coverage of the show, and that the Docents worked the educational aspects of the show with the visiting school students.

Installation began on the Safeway public art project. Evan Morgan returned to help install.

WaPo columnist Kris Coronado interviews Erwin and share a laugh. Erwin Timmers was featured in the Washington Post Magazine on the "Art of Recycling".

Jason Burnett showcases Tim's video reliquary at the auction.
Tim Tate's artwork was part of the Penland School Auction - and sets a new record!

September

Architectural artwork by artists, instructors and students commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Washington Glass School was installed on the facade of the school.

Zenith Gallery hosted a book release exhibition for the "100 Artists of the Mid Atlantic" that featured each of the WGS directors.

The national organization Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG) held its annual meeting in Washington, DC this year. Part of the events included tours of glass spots - museum tours, collector's homes, gallery talks and a fun night at the Washington Glass School. A huge bar-be-que was on the menu that night, with an ice cream truck dispensing Good Humor to all.

October

Safeway's new public art lights up the Bethesda streetscene.
The public art and architectural installation created for Safeway supermarket in Bethesda opened in spectacular fashion.

DC's Seed Charter School had a class at WGS that mixed art, history, chemistry, mathematics and physics.

November

Maurine Littleton Gallery space at SOFA Chicago 2011. Marc Petrovic's work at Heller Gallery. Tim Tate's work at Jane Sauer Gallery.
The BIG show - SOFA Chicago. Allegra Marquart, Michael Janis, Tim Tate each did well at the huge international art fair this year, and the hope that the trend continues to the next year is held by all!

The United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) celebrated its centennial with glass. The organization commissioned special artwork for families of Edward Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower in memory of the work each had done. The red carpet gala event feature celebrities and performances by Wyclef Jean.

December

As Rob Kincheloe sets up a dedicated Torch work studio in Virginia, Mick Coughlan joined the school as the new studio coordinator.

The Fulbright Program named Tim Tate & Michael Janis each as recipients of Fulbrights. In 2012, both will be off to University of Sunderland starting in March.

Nicole Puzan, 1983-2011, Studio Coordinator, Artist, Friend

After a battle with cancer, our Nicole Puzan passed away in December.

There are so many stories from the last year, this posting started as a short list and there were so many events and shows that these are the ones that made it to this (almost) final posting for the year.

Here's to the hope that 2012 will be a good year for all!