The Queue
Meet craft's movers and shakers and stay up on trends
A biweekly roundup for and by the craft community, The Queue introduces you to the artists, curators, organizers, and more featured in the current issue of American Craft. We invite these inspiring individuals to share personally about their lives and work as well as what's inspiring them right now.
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The Queue: Jennifer Bower
Jennifer Bower is a fine hand engraver based in Michigan. She enjoys engraving old hand tools and locks, making functional items into something very personal and inspiring to use. In The Queue, she shares what's inspiring her, what she's currently reading, and which blacksmith she'd like to one day own work from.
The Queue: Sylvie Rosenthal
Sylvie Rosenthal is an artist and educator based out of Madison, Wisconsin, "who has become known for sculptural pieces that are whimsical, often surreal, and always challenging." She shares her favorite go-to tools and how she's broken personal barriers as a queer, female-bodied craftsperson in The Queue.
The Queue: Yi Hsuan Sung
Yi Hsuan Sung is a textile designer who integrates craft and technology to create biodegradable textiles—and who enjoys discovering the littlest surprises from the natural world. She shares her favorite Instagram account for discarded NYC treasures and tells us which French ceramicist she'd like to start collecting work from.
The Queue: Pearl Dick
Glass artist, educator, and activist Pearl Dick is the co-founder of Project FIRE (Fearless Initiative for Recovery and Empowerment), a glassblowing and trauma recovery program for youth injured by gun violence in Chicago. An avid reader and social justice advocate, she has a handful of great book recommendations and current projects by like-minded artists she fills us in on.
The Queue: matt lambert
matt lambert is a trans, nonbinary craft scholar, metalsmith, and multidisciplinary collaborator currently living in Stockholm, Sweden. They reflect on the challenges this year has brought, what it means to “flourish” in their work and practice, and what barriers they’ve broken through in their career. Get to know lambert’s inspirations in The Queue as they introduce you to new podcasts and exhibitions they’re currently keeping up with.
The Queue: Sara Trail
Sara Trail is a quilter and educator and the founder of Social Justice Sewing Academy (SJSA). This grassroots organization facilitates workshops and projects that create community while addressing the consequences of systematic oppression. Read what Sara is currently reading and listening to and how her work with SJSA nourishes herself and her community.
The Queue: Ava Roth
Ava Roth is a Toronto-based encaustic painter, embroiderer, and mixed-media artist who works in tandem with honeybees to create art objects embedded in honeycomb. She lets us know what artists are really catching her attention right now, and how the idea of “nourishment” has changed for her over the past year.
The Queue: Dianne Nordt
Dianne Nordt is a textile artist based in Virginia who handweaves blankets using naturally dyed wool from sheep she raises on Nordt Family Farm. Nordt shares how keeping sheep year-round has helped her gain perspective, and tells us how her blankets provide nourishment for the land, her flock, herself, and the lucky people who have one in their homes.
The Queue: Michele Quan
Based in New York, Michele Quan creates ceramic art and objects for the home and garden. As a canvas for her love of drawing, painting, text, and color, her work often explores visual symbols of Eastern iconography and ideas of impermanence and interconnection. See what she’s reading and which podcasts are keeping her full of inspiration and energy.
The Queue: Sarita Westrup
Sarita Westrup is a sculptural basketry artist based in North Carolina. While making she reflects on her original home on the Texas-Mexico Borderlands, her Latinx identity, and considers themes like tension, movement, and portals. In this edition of the Queue, Sarita shares what her biggest barriers have been, what her go-to tool for weaving is, and more.
The Queue: Andy Li
Andy Li is a multi–media artist based in Boston whose work ranges from textiles to photography and illustration—all with a focus "on the power of now." In this week’s post, Andy shares about a public art project on view now as well as how he’s nourishing his creative practice during the pandemic.
The Queue: Megumi Inouye
Megumi Inouye is a northern California-based artist and educator who teaches workshops on sustainable gift wrapping and furoshiki wrapping. It’s her artistic vehicle for expressing a thought, an intention, and feelings of gratefulness. She has initiated a sustainability-centered social media challenge you can participate in this Valentine's Day. Learn how to get involved The Queue.
The Queue: Ian Petrie
Ian Petrie is an illustrator and a ceramicist based in Philadelphia. His interest in graphic novels have influenced his practices with clay. In the Queue, Ian lets us know what novel he's currently reading along with what unconventional tool he uses to keep his ceramics from warping before firing.
The Queue: Nneka Jones
Nneka Jones is a Trinidadian artist based in Tampa, Florida. She uses mixed media artwork as a vehicle for social change. In this latest installment of The Queue, she fills us in on her latest inspirations and projects including a recent commission from the Washington Post for a portrait of Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris. Find out how Jones has found power in creating unity during this lockdown.
The Queue: Dyani White Hawk
Up this week is Minneapolis-based artist Dyani White Hawk, who reflects on artistic practice and shares about the influences behind an exciting, ongoing collaboration. Plus, read up on the podcasts, books, and exhibitions inspiring Dyani right now.
The Queue: Alicia Goodwin
In this week’s post, Chicago-based jewelry artist Alicia Goodwin of Lingua Nigra shares how she’s staying connected to her community during the pandemic, exhibitions she’s excited about, what she’s reading, watching, and listening to lately, and more.
The Queue: Jennifer Younger
Our first post in the Gift series of The Queue features Tlingit jewelry artist Jennifer Younger, who is pictured on the cover of the issue. Read Jennifer’s personal reflections on the maker community and learn about the tools of her practice, work she admires, and more.
The Queue: A Letter to Joyce J. Scott
"At the same time that you refuse to look away from difficult subjects, you also refuse to be rendered invisible." In this week's Queue post, Louisiana-based artist Malcolm Peacock shares a letter to ACC's 2020 Gold Medalist, Joyce J. Scott. Malcolm reflects not only on Joyce's mastery of her craft but also on the unwavering focus and call to action in her work.
