Video and Books Pots of Promise: Mexicans and Pottery at Hull-House, 1920-40 The Beauty of Craft: A Resurgence Anthology Connections: International Turning Exchange 1995-2005 Inspired Shapes: Contemporary Designs for Japanís Ancient Crafts Quilt National 2005: The Best of Contemporary Quilts Furniture Studio 3: Furniture Makers Exploring Digital Technologies Archive
	Pots of Promise: Mexicans and Pottery at Hull-House, 1920-40 edited by Cheryl R. Ganz and Margaret Strobel, 2004, University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 800-537-5487. Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Chicago. 128 pages, essays by Ganz, Strobel and four contributors, illustrated. $60 hardcover, $30 paperback. Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr founded Hull-House in Chicago in 1889 as a social, educational and service center in a crowded immigrant neighborhood. In addition to alleviating the distressed living conditions of their neighbors, the resident reformers—young people of middle- and upper-class backgrounds—sought to better their lives through arts programs—clubs, classes, art exhibitions and the like. This inaugural volume in the projected series “Latinos in Chicago and the Midwest,” deals with the role of the Hull-House pottery in the 1920s and 30s, in helping Mexican migrant families in Chicago to better themselves and maintain ties with their craft traditions. As the historian Rick A. López writes, ‘The pottery program and Mexican fiestas sponsored by Hull-House linked the nationalist project in Mexico to the migrants’ search for identity, and institutions such as the Hull-House Kilns helped them learn about and celebrate emerging nationalist art forms.” Vintage photographs and color photographs of the ceramics, which combine modernist design with Mexican folkloric motifs, enrich the scholarly essays. TOP
	The Beauty of Craft: A Resurgence Anthology edited by Sandy Brown and Maya Kumar Mitchell, 2004, Green Books, Devon, England. Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, VT, 802-295-6300. 192 pages, illustrated. $40. Resurgence, a bimonthly magazine published in England for some 40 years, regularly offers articles on crafts, with an emphasis on their connection to spirituality, ecology and sustainable living. This handsome anthology designed by David Baker, the magazine’s designer, reprints 50 articles having the common theme of craft integrated into daily life. A sampling includes Tanya Harrod considering “What is the place of craft in a full world?” Robert Hughes on Amish quilts, Sarah Hudston on John Makepeace, Edward Hughes on Shoji Hamada, Louise Allison Cort on Kazuo Hiroshima, an interview with the knitter Kaffe Fasset and an open letter by Breon O’Casey to Bernard Leach. There are also articles on gardening, architecture and tribal arts. TOP
	Connections: International Turning Exchange 1995-2005 2005, the Wood Turning Center, Philadelphia, PA, 215-923-8000. 288 pages, in English and French, essays by Albert LeCoff, Tanya Harrod, Robert Bell, Glenn Adamson, et al., illustrated. $65. Ten years ago the Wood Turning Center, Philadelphia, launched the International Turning Exchange (ITE), an annual, eight-week summer program in which five wood and lathe artists from the United States and other countries are invited to become residents at the center to share techniques, processes, ideas, etc., along with a photojournalist and/or a scholar to record the group experience. This celebratory volume chronicling ITE’s first decade is also the catalog of a traveling exhibition organized by the center and at the Noyes Museum, Oceanville, New Jersey, through April 23. In addition to the snapshots documenting the program’s activities over the years, the images include works by the more than 60 participating artists, complemented by their statements and profiles of them by Glenn Adamson. The essays, by an international group of scholars, acknowledge the program’s considerable success in spurring artistic creativity and camaraderie. TOP
	Inspired Shapes: Contemporary Designs for Japan’s Ancient Crafts by Ori Koyama, 2005, Kodansha International, Tokyo, Japan, and New York, NY, 800-451-7556. 112 pages, translated by Charles Whipple, photographs by Mizuho Kuwata. $37.50. Ori Koyama, a noted Japanese interior designer, has assembled here some 50 objects by artists consummately skilled in traditional crafts but embracing the challenge of creating something new and suited to spare modern decor. The works—in bamboo, metal, washi, lacquer, textiles, wood, akebia vine, clay, paper mulberry, rice straw, stone, glass—are beautifully presented, each object shown overall opposite a dramatically enlarged detail. Among many striking works are a hempen tapestry dyed with marbling effects, tactile white-hued electroplated vessels and innovative lacquer pieces, including a saki set made from a recycled soda can. Artist biographies are included. TOP
	Quilt National 2005: The Best of Contemporary Quilts 2005, Lark Books and Dairy Barn Cultural Arts Center, Sterling Publishing, New York, NY, 212-532-7160. 112 pages, introduction by Hilary Morrow Fletcher, illustrated. $24.95. For nearly 30 years “Quilt National,” the international juried biennial touring exhibition organized by and shown at the Dairy Barn Cultural Arts Center, Athens, Ohio, has promoted aesthetic and technical innovation in the art quilt. This catalog of the 14th edition showcases 81 examples (accompanied by artist statements) chosen from 1,200 entries by jurors Mark Richard Leach of the Mint Museums and quilt artists M. Joan Lintault and Miriam Nathan-Roberts. TOP
	Furniture Studio 3: Furniture Makers Exploring Digital Technologies 2005, the Furniture Society, Free Union, VA, 434-973-1488. 128 pages, 12 articles, 4 reviews, illustrated. $30 paperback. In this third volume of the Furniture Society’s Furniture Studio series, several articles address technologies such as computer-aided drawing and computer-controlled cutting tools that are changing the way craftsmen approach the designing and making of fine furniture. Other articles deal with emerging artists, the commission process, a comparative view of the business aspects of furniture making in England, Scandinavia and the United States, and a survey of trends in the field based on interviews with 109 artists. Four recent exhibitions are reviewed. Starting with this publication, Furniture Studio will be the annual journal of the society, a benefit of membership. TOP
	TOP ARCHIVE Oct/Nov 2007 Aug/Sept 2007 June/July 2007 April/May 2007 February/March 2007 December/January 2007 October/November 2006 August/September 2006 June/July 2006 April/May 2006 February/March 2006 December 2005/January 2006 October/November 2005 August/September 2005 June/July 2005 April/May 2005 February/March 2005 December/January 2005 October/November 2004 August/September 2004 April/May/June/July 2004 February/March 2004 December 2003/January 2004 October/November 2003 August/September 2003 June/July 2003 April/May 2003 February/March 2003 December 2002/January 2003 October/November 2002 August/September 2002 June/July 2002 April/May 2002 February/March 2002 December 2001/January 2002 October/November 2001 August/September 2001 June/July 2001 April/May 2001 February/March 2001 December 2000/January 2001 October/November 2000