New ACC Library Books: October 2012

The American Craft Council Library has recently added a variety of books to its collection. From coffee table books to history that reads like a novel, there’s something for everyone.

The home and collection of Leonard and Adele Leight are featured in in The Leight House, with extensive photography by Ted Wathen and interviews by Peter Morrin. The Leights built a stunning exploded cube house, designed by Fred De Santo, in the woods in Kentucky, and then proceeded to fill it with art. The couple started collecting ceramics and then became drawn to the American Studio Glass movement, and now own one of the foremost studio art glass collections in the country. Morrin asked the Leights, “Which is more fun, pursuit or possession?” Adele: “Pursuit!” Leonard: “Possession!”

Frans Wildenhain, 1950-75: Creative and Commercial American Ceramics at Mid-Century by Bruce A. Austin was published to accompany the Rochester Institute of Technology exhibition of the same name, and explores Wildenhain’s role in mid-century studio ceramics, university education in crafts, and his innovative and entrepreneurial role in merchandising crafts. The chapters on craft education and selling crafts speak of the relationship that American Craftsmen’s Council, America House, and Aileen Osborn Webb had with RIT, Shop One, and Wildenhain.

Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay by Christopher Benley is subtitled “reflections on art, family, and survival,” and it is, following one incredible family and their craft traditions. Benley’s mother is a descendent of colonial explorers and Quaker craftsman. Benley’s father escaped from Nazi Germany, along with his aunt and uncle, famed Bauhaus artists Josef and Anni Albers. Under Josef’s leadership, Black Mountain College made a monumental impact on American culture. Near North Carolina’s folk potteries and brickyards, Black Mountain is an experiment unifying education and art, focusing on the natural world, innovative craftsmanship, and materials.

Enjoy more about Josef and Anni Albers in the recent video Josef and Anni Albers: Art is Everywhere. Produced in close association with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, the film includes rare footage of Josef and Anni Albers and features a number of new interviews with significant people in the Albers' lives who attest to the legacy and lasting importance of the their work.

Winfred Rembert is a self-taught artist who documents his life and the tumultuous moments of the American Civil Rights Movement in leather. Winfred Rembert: Amazing Grace is the exhibition catalog for the first major museum exhibition of his work, done by the Hudson River Museum. In more than 50 works on hand-tooled leather, Rembert stretches, stains, and etches scenes from the rural South where he was born and raised. His art tells his story, beginning with his mother giving Rembert to his great aunt to raise. Rembert picked cotton and said of it, “curved [cotton] rows make a beautiful pattern. But as soon as you start picking, you forget how good it looks and think how hard it is. There just isn’t anything you can say about cotton that is good.” Rembert’s depicted characters are joyous at church meetings and somber at events in the Jim Crow South. Rembert survived a near lynching and learned his craft while serving an unjust seven-year prison term. His work is a history of the segregated South, carved in leather.

In Sign Painters, Faythe Levine and Sam Macon document traditional sign artists who hand-lettered banners, signs, storefronts, and even street signs with brushes and paint. This first anecdotal history of the craft features stories and photographs of about 25 sign painters currently working in cities throughout the United States as part of a renaissance of those relying on paint rather than computer design.

Atlas Quarterly is a brand new magazine, and we recently received the premiere issue. Its letter from the editor says, “In your hands is a magazine designed to connect you to the craft makers and curio collectors of our country.” It was created to have the reader consider the stories behind the objects that surround them. This issue features a chocolatier, a crochet artist, and fashion designers.

If you find yourself in the Twin Cities, stop by the ACC Library to check out these and other amazing resources!

A weekly shout out to the printed word, From the Stacks highlights what's new and what's loved in the American Craft Council Library.