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Making for the Seventh Generation

4/20/2017

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Susie Ganch is a jeweler, sculptor, and environmentalist who lives in Richmond, Virginia. She teaches in the Craft and Material Studies program at Virginia Commonwealth University, and she works frequently with Radical Jewelry Makoever and Ethical Metalsmith. Susie initially studied geology and only got into jewelry making when she decided to take what she thought would be an easy course on the side of her science labs. But jewelry making resonated with her, and she couldn't leave it behind. Since then, she has had a full career, recently moving back to the larger scale with sculptures made from trash as a part of her interest in the environment and the ecological impact of jewelry making. Stuart Kestenbaum joined her at VCU to talk about her path and her passion for ethical metalsmithing.

Make/Time shares conversations about craft, inspiration, and the creative process. Listen to leading makers and thinkers talk about where they came from, what they're making, and where they're going next. Make/Time is hosted by Stuart Kestenbaum and is a project of craftschools.us. Major funding is provided by the Windgate Charitable Foundation.

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The Craft School Experience: Changing Lives in Unexpected Ways

4/10/2017

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PicturePhoto courtesy of Bill Griffith
In the summer of 1983, I was a high school ceramics teacher living and working in rural Indiana in search and need of a summer creative experience.  I don’t exactly recall how I heard about or discovered Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, but fortunately I enrolled in a one week ceramic workshop taught by Paula Winokur-an artist whose work I admired.  At the conclusion of that magical week, I was offered a partial scholarship to enroll in the following two-week Anagama wood firing workshop.  I knew nothing about this Japanese wood kiln, process or aesthetic and even struggled with pronouncing the word Anagama.  I knew I wasn’t ready to return to Indiana and enthusiastically accepted the scholarship.
That workshop experience along with the artists, students and administrators I met, ignited a spark of change, creating connections and opportunities that have continued to impact my life in unexpected ways.
 
I returned to Indiana with new skills, feeling more confident and motivated as a teacher and artist-but also feeling a strong internal need to do something different.  The following spring of 1984, I applied for a sabbatical to attend a five-month post graduate residency at the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Tennessee, followed with a return to Arrowmont for six weeks as a summer studio assistant.  During that summer, I fired the Anagama kiln again, helped build a new soda kiln and made several connections that directly resulted in my 1985 summer travels to Japan attending the International Workshop for Ceramic Art in Tokoname.  That experience provided an invitation to live and work with Mr. Ikehata, a traditional Japanese wood fire potter.  My duties included splitting wood and preparing glazes for the firing of his traditional Anagama kiln.  I could finally pronounce the word correctly and understand its translated meaning and history.

Returning to Indiana, I decided to leave my full-time art teaching job in place of a part-time position and become a “local potter”.  At the time, it felt like the right decision, however, I soon realized that studio isolation was not the best fit for my personality and needs.  I was fortunate again to return to Arrowmont in the summer of 1986 as a summer studio assistant.  It felt like home.  I fired the Anagama kiln again, this time with much more clarity and devotion. 
 
In early 1987, I received a letter from Arrowmont inquiring about my interest in applying for the assistant director position. I applied, interviewed and 4 months later moved to Tennessee.  This July celebrates thirty years working at a craft school.  That initial 1983 Anagama workshop has now grown to numerous other firings and I’ve developed friendships with hundreds of artists whose work and lives I admire and respect.  For me, the craft school experience guided me and changed my life-making a full circle in unexpected ways- and ultimately becoming my community and a way of life.
 
Bill Griffith is an administrator, educator and ceramic artist. He has worked at Arrowmont as the assistant director, program director and currently part-time as the outreach and partnership liaison.
He has taught at, assisted or been a student at most all of the craft schools associated with the Craft School Experience.  www.billgriffithclay.com
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Learning Never Stops

4/4/2017

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Picture of Ms. Wiggers laughingListen to the podcast at http://www.craftschools.us/podcast.html
Namita Gupta Wiggers is a curator, writer, educator, and artist living in Portland, Oregon. A first generation American of South Asian descent, she is a keen observer of how people select and organize their lives. She began her career in museums, eventually serving as curator and then director of the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland. Namita sees curation as collaborative and empathic—that the curator's job is to make room for multiple narratives to exist within a project. A lifelong learner, she believes that when she comes across something she isn't familiar with—a culture, a tradition, an artist—the onus is on her to learn more. In keeping with that approach, Namita is a co-founder of Critical Craft Forum, which provides spaces for makers to discuss critical issues to the field of craft, including a recent symposium on Gender and Jewelry in New York City. After more than a decade of focusing on writing and curating, she joins Make/Time just as she returns to making jewelry with upcoming residencies with Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts and Ox-bow School of Art.

Make/Time shares conversations about craft, inspiration, and the creative process. Listen to leading makers and thinkers talk about where they came from, what they're making, and where they're going next. Make/Time is hosted by Stuart Kestenbaum and is a project of craftschools.us. Major funding is provided by the Windgate Charitable Foundation.

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