Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery

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Steven Young Lee, Vase with Landscape and Dinosaurs, 2014

This summer the permanent collection returns to the Renwick Gallery with a dynamic new presentation of 80+ objects celebrating craft as a discipline and an approach to living differently in the modern world. The installation includes iconic favorites alongside new acquisitions made during the museum’s renovation, which will be displayed at the museum for the first time. Nora Atkinson, The Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, selected the objects and conceived the innovative presentation.

Atkinson’s arrangement breaks from typical display formats based on chronology or material to instead focus on the interconnectivity of objects and the overlapping stories they tell. The installation does away with hierarchical distinctions and the idea of the curator’s voice as absolute authority, instead presenting works that engender ever-evolving associations and interpretations. Objects are loosely thematically organized to mimic an analog version of the Web, using an associative approach derived from the way we navigate today’s hyperlinked” world. Visitors are encouraged to find their own path through a vast network of possibilities that highlight explicit connections as well as subtle, unexpected resonances among the artworks on view.

Craft objects do not exist in a vacuum. Each artwork tells many stories, and each is made even more interesting through relationships to other objects and ideas. As that object continues to develop meanings and spawn questions through contact with other artworks, it remains vital in a changing world.”

Nora Atkinson, Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft

Description

In selecting both pioneering and contemporary pieces, Atkinson also explores the underlying current of craft as a balancing, humanistic force in the face of an ever-more efficiency-driven, virtual world. The exhibition highlights the evolution of the craft field as it transitions into a new phase at the hands of contemporary artists, showcasing the activist values, optimism, and uninhibited approach of today’s young artists, which in some way echoes the communal spirit and ideology of the pioneers of the American Studio Craft Movement in their heyday.

The artworks range from the 1930’s through today and span numerous media. New acquisitions such as John Grade’s Shoal (Bone Shoal Sonance), Judith Schaechter’s The Birth of Eve, Marie Watt’s Edson’s Flag, and Akio Takamori’s Woman and Child make their debut in the gallery while seminal works including Wendell Castle’s Ghost Clock, Karen LaMonte’s Reclining Dress Impression with Drapery, Albert Paley’s Portal Gates, and Lenore Tawney’s Box of Falling Stars return to view.

 

Visiting Information

July 1, 2016 — February 202018
Open Daily, 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m
Free Admission

Publications

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Craft for a Modern World
Craft for a Modern World presents 150 of the Renwick Gallery’s 2,000 artworks in a new light, celebrating the restoration and reopening of its historic landmark home. Encouraging readers to find their own connections—as they have come to expect in today’s hyperlinked world—curator Nora Atkinson describes some of her associations among these artifacts of makers, both contemporary and pioneer. Readers can engage the artworks through subtle linkages in the color plates, which introduce related works in black and white. According to Atkinson, the artworks in this catalogue, many of them newly photographed, “are a playground for the mind.”

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      “Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery” highlights the evolution of the craft field as it transitions into a new phase at the hands of contemporary artists, which in some way echoes the communal spirit and ideology of the pioneers of the American Studio Craft Movement in their heyday.

      Credit

      The Henry Luce Foundation and the Windgate Charitable Foundation generously support the reinstallation of the Renwick’s permanent collection.

      Online Gallery

      Lino Tagliapietra, Mandara, 2005, glass, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum, 2011.6, © 2005, Lino Tagliapietra, Inc.
      Mandara
      Date2005
      glass
      Not on view
      Dan Webb, Cut, Flamed, Spalted, 2013, maple, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Decorative Arts and Crafts Endowment, the Richard T. Evans Fund, and the Renwick Acquisitions Fund, 2015.10, © 2013, Dan Webb
      Cut, Flamed, Spalted
      Date2013
      maple
      Not on view
      Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, Green Balance, 2011, Mi-Teintes watercolor paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artists in honor of the fortieth anniversary of the Renwick Gallery, 2011.54.3, © 2011, Erik and Martin Demaine
      Green Balance
      Date2011
      Mi-Teintes watercolor paper
      Not on view
      Sebastian Martorana, Impressions, 2008, marble, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia A. Young in honor of the fortieth anniversary of the Renwick Gallery and the thirtieth anniversary of the James Renwick Alliance, 2012.20, © 2008, Sebastian Martorana
      Impressions
      Date2008
      marble
      Not on view
      Wendell Castle, Ghost Clock, 1985, bleached Honduras mahogany, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1989.68, © 1985, Wendell Castle
      Ghost Clock
      Date1985
      bleached Honduras mahogany
      Not on view
      Joan Parcher, Graphite Pendulum-Pendant, 1994, graphite, sterling silver, and stainless steel, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Renwick Acquisitions Fund, 1995.12
      Graphite Pendulum-Pendant
      Date1994
      graphite, sterling silver, and stainless steel
      Not on view
      Sam Maloof, Low-Back Side Chair, 1995, ziricote and ebony, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alfreda and Sam Maloof in honor of Michael W. Monroe, curator-in-charge, Renwick Gallery (1986-1995), 1995.29, © 1995, Sam Maloof
      Low-Back Side Chair
      Date1995
      ziricote and ebony
      Not on view
      Eric Serritella, Charred Split Birch Log Teapot, 2013, stoneware, stains, and oxides, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Howard Kottler Endowment for Ceramic Art, 2014.30A-B, © 2013, Eric Serritella
      Charred Split Birch Log Teapot
      Date2013
      stoneware, stains, and oxides
      Not on view
      John Grade, Shoal (Bone Shoal Sonance), 2003, limba and shedua, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Driek and Michael Zirinsky in honor of Sam and Elizabeth Davidson, 2015.28.2, © John Grade
      Shoal (Bone Shoal Sonance)
      Date2003
      limba and shedua
      Not on view
      Wendy Maruyama, Shadow of Amboseli, 2016, jelutong, milk paint, waxed linen thread, and finish, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Penland School of Crafts through contributions made by Fleur Bresler, the Cousins Foundation, Tom Oreck, Kaola and Frank Phoenix, Susan Parker Martin and Alan Belzer, Barbara McFadyen and Douglass Phillips, Diane Charnov, Lee Rocamora, John A. Thompson, Jr., members of the Smithsonian Women’s Committee, and the Collectors of Wood Art, 2016.54, © 2023, Wendy Maruyama
      Shadow of Amboseli
      Date2016
      jelutong, milk paint, waxed linen thread, and finish
      Not on view
      Kathryn Clark, Washington, D.C. Foreclosure Quilt, 2015, linen, cotton, and recycled thread, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Stephen D. Thurston Memorial Fund, 2015.40, © 2015, Kathryn Clark
      Washington, D.C. Foreclosure Quilt
      Date2015
      linen, cotton, and recycled thread
      Not on view
      Anni Albers, Ancient Writing, 1936, cotton and rayon, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Young, 1984.150
      Ancient Writing
      Date1936
      cotton and rayon
      Not on view

      Artists

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      Wendell Castle
      born Emporia, KS 1932-died Scottsville, NY 2018

      Born in Emporia, Kansas, Wendell Castle earned a B.F.A. degree in sculpture in 1958 and an M.F.A. in industrial design in 1961 at the University of Kansas.

      John Grade
      born Minneapolis, MN 1970
      Karen LaMonte
      born New York City 1967
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      Albert Paley
      born Philadelphia, PA 1944

      Albert Paley earned B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, in 1966 and 1969 respectively.

      Judith Schaechter
      born Gainesville, FL 1961
      Akio Takamori
      Japanese born Nobeoka, Japan 1950-died Seattle, WA 2017
      Lenore Tawney
      born Lorain, OH 1907-died New York City 2007

      In 1954 Lenore Tawney abandoned sculpture for weaving and in the process, transformed the ancient craft of the weaver into a new vocation—fiber art.

      Marie Watt
      born Seattle, WA 1967