Heck Yes Craft

Last spring, I had the pleasure of chatting with furniture maker/designer Vivian Beer about new bodies of work she was developing - immediately followed by the challenge of writing a story that, in effect, was still unfolding.

I first became aware of Massachusetts artist Gail Crosman Moore through her lovely felt jewelry. Then I dug deeper and found she works in a remarkable range of materials: Felt, yes, but also metals, precious metal clay, beads, and glass. You see the same delicate aesthetic across the mediums she works with. "I believe that I am saying the same thing," she says, "just using different materials." Scroll through the 13 images above, and you'll get a sense of Crosman Moore's striking versatility.

There are so many conversations – and points of view – about craft's relationship to (and role in) a computer age. A common thread in many is digital technology complementing or otherwise consorting with, oh, let's call it hand technology.

Ever made beads with Sculpey or Fimo? If you have, you know polymer clay is an easy material to use. Alas, it's a hard material to perfect. If you looked closely at your beads, you probably saw fingerprints or fingernail indentations. Maybe, despite your best efforts, your beads were slightly out of round. Or the millefiori pattern you tried got smushed beyond recognition when you compressed it.

Visual artist and metalsmith Susan Myers plumbs our thoughts on consumption with her objects crafted from reclaimed sheet metal. Throughout her various series of works she uses discarded silver-plated serving trays, which she finds by scouring yard sales and thrift stores.