Choosing craft: the artist's viewpoint

"Choosing Craft explores the history and practice of American craft through the words of influential artists whose lives, work, and ideas have shaped the field. Editors Vicki Halper and Diane Douglas construct an anecdotal narrative that examines the post World War II development of modern craft, which came of age alongside modernist painting and sculpture and was greatly influenced by them as well as by traditional and industrial practices." "The anthology is organized according to four activities that ground a professional life in craft-inspiration, training, economics, and philosophy. Halper and Douglas mined a wide variety of sources for their material, including artists' published writings, letters, journal entries, exhibition statements, lecture notes, and oral histories. The detailed record they amassed reveals craft's dynamic relationships with painting, sculpture, design, industry, folk and ethnic traditions, hobby craft, and political and social movements. Collectively, these reflections form a social history of craft." "Choosing Craft ultimately offers artists' writings and recollections as vital and vivid data that deserve widespread study as a primary resource for those interested in the American art form."--Jacket.

PART 1. CHOOSING CRAFT. 1. Integrating Art and Life -- Anni Albers -- George Nakashima -- Marguerite Wildenhain -- Mary Carolina (M.C.) Richards -- Val Cushing, James McKinnell, Daniel Rhodes, and Robert Turner -- Paul Manners -- Miriam Schapiro -- Arthur Espenet (Art) Carpenter -- Scott Burton -- Robert Kehlmann -- Joyxe Scott -- Bruce Metcalf -- Consuelo Jimenez Underwood -- Inheriting a path -- 2. Inheriting a Path. Darrell Adams -- Nora Naranjo-Morse -- Diego Romero -- Mark Lindquist -- Sonya W.S. Clark -- Robert Ebendorf -- Mary Lee Bendolph -- 3. Responding to Materials. George nakashima -- Albert Paley -- Mary Lee Hu -- Paul Marioni -- Nick Cave -- Ann Hamilton -- Warren Seelig -- Erika Ayala Stefanutti and Gary Griffin -- Michael Lucero -- Leslie Dill -- Bruce Metcalf -- Dorothy Gill Barnes -- Sheila Hicks -- Gerhardt Knodel -- PART 2. GETTING AN EDUCATION. 4. Training with Masters. Tage Frid -- Paul Soldner -- Warren MacKenzie -- Richard Marquis -- Fritz Dreisbgach -- Tom Joyce -- 5. Studying in the academy. Harvey Littleton -- Marguerite Wildenhain -- Wendell Castle -- Lilliam Elliott -- Angela Fina --- Stephen DeStaebler -- Arline Fisch -- Harvey Littleton -- 6. Learnin…