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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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. Before you get to Haystack Mountain School of Crafts on Deer Isle, Maine, you get to the end of the road—a gravel road ending in a parking area surrounded by spruce and fir trees. This might not seem remarkable, but I have worked for many years at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, which is almost as isolated as Haystack except that a two-lane, public road runs through the middle of campus. So getting to the end of the road before I could see the school was a good indication that while Haystack and Penland may be sisters, they are not twins. I was there in September 2015 to spend a few days taking pictures for the CraftSchools.us consortium, the group that facilitates joint marketing and other collaborative work by five craft workshop schools with similar programs: Peters Valley (New Jersey), Arrowmont (Tennessee), Pilchuck (Washington State), Penland, and Haystack. I had long admired Haystack from afar, and I was happy to finally be there. I walked through the parking lot and came to the Gateway building, which houses the school store and library on one side and a gathering space on the other. Passing between them I followed a path, some wooden steps, and a boardwalk and landed on the large, open deck that is seen in every Haystack catalog. This deck is connected by wooden stairs and walkways with almost all of Haystack’s buildings, which share a uniform design with gray wooden siding and distinctive, modernist rooflines. Forming the spine of the campus is a dramatic stairway that plunges down the hill to a small platform above Jericho Bay. All of this infrastructure is punctuated by tall evergreens that reach up between the buildings and walkways. I stood on the deck for a few minutes looking around and wondered—as I’m sure thousands of others have—if I was dreaming. My Haystack visit fell during a significant time of transition. Poet Stuart Kestenbaum, Haystack’s director of twenty-seven years, had stepped down in May, and his successor, ceramic sculptor Paul Sacaridiz, was not arriving until late September. The staff ran the school during the 2015 season with the help of visiting artists who served as hosts for each session. My tour guide was Session Six host Tim McCreight, a jeweler and long-time Haystack instructor. As we walked from studio to studio meeting instructors and students, I was struck by many things that distinguish Haystack and Penland from each other, but also by how familiar it all seemed. The tools and equipment used to teach clay or blacksmithing don’t vary much from one well-equipped studio to another, so there were many similarities in that regard. But more important were the people. While each workshop skewed a little differently (as they do at Penland), every studio group was a mix of ages, genders, and skill levels united by an intense interest in the subject matter, an often giddy appreciation for being able to do this particular thing in this amazing place, and the camaraderie that results from working together and sharing lovingly prepared meals in a communal dining hall. Any of these groups could have been plucked from a Penland workshop and dropped off at Haystack. And, in fact, I did see some familiar faces. This brings me to what I admire most about Haystack. Like a good artist, this institution has used its limitations as a creative catalyst. Selection of photos from Robin Dreyer's trip to Haystack in 2015 Michael Strand is a potter, an activist, and an optimist. A lifelong Dakotan, he is an Associate Professor and head of the Department of Visual Arts at North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota. Michael trained at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in ceramics, and he's a skilled artist who makes beautiful cups and bowls. As his career progressed, though, he realized that he wanted to make art that engaged people in dynamic ways. He crafts innovative projects that connect the handmade to the community, and that lead participants and the artist to new understandings of themselves and of the world. 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. See more at: http://www.craftschools.us/podcast.html Rosanne Somerson is a furniture designer and maker, with works in the permanent collections of the Yale Art Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She is also the President of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She has a long history with the school: she earned her BFA in industrial design there, with a focus on furniture making, and she joined the faculty of RISD in 1985. She was appointed its president in 2015, but she still maintains a studio in Fall River, Massachusetts. She still makes time for one or two design projects a year, a practice she feels is necessary to her work as president. Rosanne is passionate about arts education as a preparation for jobs that don't exist—a crucial skill in an ever-changing world—and about artists as the change-makers the world needs. 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 Cristina Còrdova is a sculptor and ceramicist living and working in Penland, North Carolina. She grew up in Puerto Rico, where she earned her Bachelors from the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez. Cristina then went on to earn her MFA in ceramics from Alfred University in New York. A trained dancer, she brings a sense of movement and musicality into her figurative sculptures. Recently, she has begun working on a larger-than-life scale, and she focuses on creating pieces that walk the line between representation and abstraction. She often works with her husband, Pablo Soto, who is a glass artist, and also recently collaborated with her brother Arturo, a video artist. She and her husband met at Haystack and she has worked with her brother Arturo at Penland. She talks about spirituality, belonging and art as well as the physicality of sculpture. 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 |
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