Museum of Arts and Design

Now on view, Craft Front & Center: Conversation Pieces brings pioneering twentieth-century craft artists into dialogue with contemporary artists who are rethinking craft techniques and materials. Showcasing MAD’s permanent collection, more than sixty historic, recently acquired, and commissioned works illustrate craft’s history of collaboration and point to intriguing new directions for the field’s traditions. Explore the visual and material connections among the works of artists past and present whose unique personal relationships including: teacher and student, collaborators, and influencers, have been critical to craft’s advancement as an art form. The exhibition features work from the likes of University of California, Berkeley faculty #PaulVoulkos and students #JunKaneko and #MaryAnnUnger . Bauhaus alumni and colleagues #MargueriteFriedländerWildenhain and #AnniAlbers , founders of the artist collective AYDO Studio, A young Yu and Nicholas Oh(@aydo_studio ) and studio craft legends #SheilaHicks and #ClaireZeisler alongside those pushing the boundaries in craft today including Vadis Turner(@vadisturner )and Kira Dominguez Hultgren (@kiradominguezhultgren ) Tap the link in bio to purchase your tickets. #craftfrontcenter

“Hairdressers are my heroes. The poetry and politics of Black hair care specialists are central to my work as an artist and educator. Rooted in a rich legacy, their hands embody an ability to map a head with a comb and manipulate the fiber we grow into complex form. These artists have mastered a craft impossible for me to take for granted” - Sonya Clark (@sysclark ) Sonya Clark’s “The Hair Craft Project” was a unique collaboration between the artist and Black hairstylists, who embody their own distinct form of artistry. Recognizing the stylists as fellow textile artists, Clark has noted that hairdressing was the first textile art form. Using her own head as a canvas, she partnered with the stylists to dismantle the barrier between hair salons and art institutions, revealing both as spaces of craft, skill, improvisation, aesthetics, and commerce. Each meticulously crafted hair design was documented through photography and paired with a complementary textile panel that the hairstylists intricately created on canvas. “The Hair Craft Project” builds upon Clark’s previous work with sculptural fiber wigs, a practice she began as a student at Cranbrook Academy of Art while delving into the broader cultural significance of braiding. These works showcase Clark’s deep appreciation for hairstyling as an art form and bring to light the remarkable creativity inherent in this ritualized practice, which has been passed down through generations. See “The Hair Craft Project” on view in Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other, through September 22. #sonyaclark #weareeachother #sonyaclarkmad #Blackhair #haircraftproject

David Webb was alive and designing predominantly in the 1960s and 70s in New York City, when sharing one’s identity publicly wasn’t the status quo. He was a tall southern gentleman, charming and kind, and idolized by his clients, catering to the likes of Jackie Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, and Diane Von Furstenberg. Fashion editorials and society pages knowingly referred to men of his inclination as “confirmed bachelors,” thus allowing couturiers and designers of all sorts to remain close to their female muses and best clients by maintaining a non-threatening yet symbiotic relationship. The Monkey Brooch very closely aligns with the push and pull of the era of fashion in which it was created, the fabulous theatricality and cheekiness David Webb has come to be known and loved for, and the careful negotiation of revealing just enough about one’s most true inner self. - Levi Higgs, Head of Archives and Brand Heritage at David Webb. @levi_higgs See Webb’s piece now on view in Out of the Jewelry Box. #DavidWebb #pridemonth #queerjewelry

Born on this day in 1930, master metalsmith, artist, and educator Olaf Skoogfors was one of the pioneers of the American Craft Movement. The #MADCollection artist's innovative designs and craftmanship left a lasting mark on contemporary jewelry and metal arts. Skoogfors was best known for traditional techniques with modern aesthetics. He created designs that exuded creativity, precision, and a deep connection to materiality. Skoogfors pushed the field's boundaries and inspired countless artists to explore the endless possibilities of metalwork. _________________________ #OlafSkoogfors Pendant, 1972 Silver, ivory, moonstone

In Sonya Clark’s (@sysclark ) Wig Series, crafted using braided cotton fibers, the artist delves into the significance of hair as a cultural marker, drawing from African braiding traditions. These caps of braided patterns capture hairstyles worn by her and any number of other young Black girls and are like the sculpturally based African hairstyles captured by the Nigerian photographer J.D. ‘Okhani Ojeikere in the 1970s. Clark shares the incredible coincidence that the hairstyles she wore as a child in the early 1970s were created by her neighbors from West Africa, “The ambassador from Dahomey/Benin lived across the street from us, and his daughters often did my hair. This would have been the same time that Ojeikere was taking photographs of the popular hairstyles in Benin and Nigeria. When I did become aware of his photographs, they greatly influenced the Hair Craft Project.” This body of work examines the intertwined histories of hair, beauty, communication, and ritual. Women “wear” their hair in styles that speak volumes, and hairstyling methods ranging from braids to thread wrapping become sculptural forms that evoke nature by linking tree and plant roots to hair and cultural roots. Clark’s headdresses are like altars for the head, reflecting a deep, ritualistic connection to the seat of the soul. #SonyaClark 1.Wig Series, 1998 Cloth and thread 2.Triad, from the "Wig Series", 1998 Cloth and thread 3.Hemi, from the "Wig Series", 1998 Cloth and thread 4. Spider, from the "Wig Series", 1998 cloth and thread #sonyaclarkmad #weareeachother #blackhairstyling #africanbraiding

“The first time the artist Eve Biddle exhibited her work alongside her mother’s, she was a bit nervous. It was 2018, 20 years after she lost her mom, Mary Ann Unger, to breast cancer. Unger (@maryannungerestate ) used materials like bronze, marble, and steel to make her mammoth sculptures. “Mom’s work has a loud voice,” says Biddle(@biddlebiddle ), whose own work crosses disciplines and is often smaller in scale. But Alexandra Schwartz (@alixschwartz ), the curator of that 2018 show, knew it would be a powerful pairing despite the artists’ different styles. “She told me, ‘You can see two voices,’” Biddle recalls. One didn’t drown the other out—they harmonized. Since then, sculptural works from Biddle and Unger have continued to appear together in exhibitions, most recently in “Craft Front & Center: Conversation Pieces,” which opened in early June at the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan. Also curated by Schwartz, this third iteration of “Craft Front & Center,” on view through next April, places more than 60 works from MAD’s extensive collection in dialogue with contemporary artists. The works span more than 80 years, and most are composed of the core craft materials of fiber, ceramic, and glass. In organizing the show, Schwartz chose to foreground the personal connections among the artists in three overlapping sections: “Teachers and Students,” situating work from educators alongside that of their pupils; “Collaborations,” which highlights artistic partnerships, like the Korean American duo AYDO Studio (@aydo_studio ); and “Generational Dialogues,” which examines the ongoing influence of 20th-century greats—including #AnniAlbers , #SheilaHicks , and #ClaireZeisler—on the artists of today.” “It’s all about relationships,” says Schwartz. “Because craft has to be taught, there will always be those connections.” - @graceedquist for @Vogue.com Tap the link in bio to read the Edquist full piece on Craft Front & Center: Conversations Pieces.

Happy #summersolstice ! The #summer season is in full bloom! #MADCollection artist Paul Stankard (@paulstankard ), a pioneer of the studio glass movement, is the recognized master of flameworking, a technique in which small crystal sculptures are created using glass rods and an open gas flame. Stankard is known for creating clear glass orbs that feature reproductions and interpretations of awe-inspiring natural forms. Stankard’s impressive technical skills are particularly visible in the Orb series, which uses an encasing glass that magnifies the figures on the interior. Flowers from McFadden’s Field includes honeybees, turquoise morning glories and buds, low bush blueberries, yellow pineland pickerelweed, forget-me-nots, and “escaped” tea roses—ornamental tea roses that escaped into the field. ___________________________________________ #PaulStankard Flowers from McFadden's Field, 2008 Glass; flameworked, cold-worked

“Why is it that I know one of the many Confederate battle flags so well that I could draw it for you now, but I don’t know the piece of cloth that was pressed into service to end the Civil War? Why don’t I know that? And what can I do about it?” - Sonya Clark (@sysclark ) While #Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when Union soldiers finally arrived in Galveston, TX, and announced that the Civil War was over and slavery was abolished, Sonya Clark’s Monumental Cloth, The Flag We Should Know, shines a light on an obscure object that played an outsized role in ending the war. When Clark was a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow at the @amhistorymuseum , she came across a fragment of the Confederate flag of truce—a common dishtowel—displayed next to President Lincoln’s top hat. The dishtowel was used by Gen. Robert E. Lee to negotiate the Confederate Army’s terms of surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9th, 1865. Clark’s encounter with the humble cloth had a profound impact on the artist, and it inspired the Monumental Cloth, The Flag We Should Know series. The project forces us to ask, “What if this were the symbol that endured?” It challenges us to rethink the hateful legacy of the Confederate battle flag: what if the lasting symbol was one of the full defeat of Confederate ideology and recognition of slavery as a key cause of the war? What if Black humanity were celebrated rather than denigrated? The series of works that resulted reproduce the truce flag at different scales with the goal of challenging the pervasive visibility and power of the Confederate battle flag. We invite you to the Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other galleries today from 2-6 p.m. for activations of Clark’s interactive and tactile communal art projects, which challenge us to examine the country’s historical imbalances and racial injustices through material transformation.

Beadwork has been a part of Ken Williams Jr.’s lifeline since before he was born. Williams (@kennwilliamsjr ), who is of Northern Arapaho and Seneca heritage, learned the craft of beadwork from a long line of beadwork artists on his mother's Arapaho side. The artist combines contemporary influences with traditional techniques and experiences to create his unique pieces. “I consider myself a contemporary bead worker with traditional based knowledge and upbringings. My work is whimsical, colorful, playful yet can be serious, which mirrors my identity as a gay man. I am content with my identity and show this through the various pieces I create.” - Ken Williams Jr. See this work and more now on view in Out of the Jewelry Box. ___________________________________ #KenWilliamsJr Cheese Burger Thoughts, 2023 Beads #pridemonth #outthejewelryboxmad #queerartjewelry

Experiment with the beautiful, unpredictable effects of pigment dyeing and create your very own butterfly (or moth) t-shirt, a colorful symbol of transformation to wear for Pride Month. Next Tuesday, June 25, artist Sarah Davidson (@triceradee )will share their techniques for mixing dye with thickener, layering colors, and drawing with a brush in a workshop for all skills levels celebrating nature’s diversity. Tap the link in bio to register.

This weekend come visit Craft Front & Center: Conversation Pieces! The exhibition brings pioneering twentieth-century craft artists into dialogue with contemporary artists who are rethinking craft techniques and materials. Drawing from MAD's permanent collection, the exhibition includes more than sixty historic, recently acquired, and commissioned works in a range of artistic media; most prominently, the central craft materials of ceramic, glass, and fiber. Tap the link in bio to reserve your tickets. #craftfrontcenter

Join queer activist and fiber artist Michael Sylvan Robinson next Thursday, June 20, for a night of art activism and collaboration. Taking inspiration from protest art and socially engaged art practices, you will contribute to a new sculptural garment in Sylvan’s ongoing series #urbanfey protective wear for urban faeries. In this community art-making activity, you will have the opportunity to name sources of pride, both personal and communal, while acknowledging fears in facing current social issues. These sources of pride and fear will be hand-stenciled and embroidered into the textile collage work, creating the fabric for the sculptural garment. While you are here, be sure to view Identity is..., Robinson’s maximalist coat and train commissioned and worn at the 2021 Met Gala by theater producer and fashion enthusiast Jordan Roth, is currently on view in MAD’s lobby in celebration of #PrideMonth . Tap the link in bio to register. ____________________ #MichaelSylvanRobinson Bill Bull Dresses Identity Is..., 2021. Installation photo: Jenna Bascom