Member News: August/September 2012

Meet & Greet

You can’t miss the American Craft Council’s new director of education. Sporting his signature bow tie, Perry Price joined the Minneapolis staff in June. He most recently served as curator of exhibitions and collections at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Price holds a master’s degree in museum studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program (a partnership of the State University of New York College at Oneonta and the New York State Historical Association) and a BA in the history of art from Johns Hopkins University. Between earning his degrees, Price spent a year in Japan teaching and “exploring the intersection of art and material culture.”

It’s an intersection that has fascinated Price since childhood. “My aunt was a potter, and she made many of our everyday and special-occasion ware,” he says. “Art and its place in our lives was always an interest of mine.” The year he spent living overseas renewed and affirmed “the importance of craft and makers in our contemporary culture,” Price explains.

As the ACC’s director of education, Price will lead efforts to cultivate critical thinking about contemporary craft, steer the biennial ACC Awards and College of Fellows programs, and handle economic initiatives such as the ACC’s School-to-Market program. He will also work with ACC librarian Jessica Shaykett in the continued digitization of the unique resources of the ACC Library.

“There is no other organization like the ACC in the field,” he says. “I’m looking forward to bringing new initiatives in education to our friends and supporters, and excited to extend the reach of the Council and the importance of contemporary craft to new audiences, who may be equally excited about craft and who just don’t know it yet.”

Up on the Roof

More than 150 enthusiastic guests gathered on the ACC’s rooftop patio at the end of June for the last installment of the spring Salon Series, co-presented with the public design studio Works Progress. Artist Katie Hargrave, DIY enthusiast Mike Haeg (mayor of Mt. Holly, Minnesota, pop. 4), author Rebecca Yaker, and members of the Twin Cities Maker cooperative engaged the crowd on the subjects of nation building, writing a craft book, and the maker/hacker community. A performance by Twin Cities-based Prairie Fire Lady Choir capped the perfect summer evening of craft and community, in a beautiful setting overlooking the Mississippi River.