Collect. Just before we started working on this issue on the theme collect, I visited a friend in Santa Fe. My first stop while wandering down gallery-filled Canyon Road was Hecho a Mano, which features prints from young Oaxacan artists. Inside, I was delighted to unexpectedly meet textile artist Nika Feldman, who appeared on the August/September 2016 cover of American Craft. My next stop was 4KINSHIP, a Native-owned retail business I’d been following online. I was moved by its collection of upcycled and dyed clothing—as well as jewelry, ceramics, blankets, and other craft by several Native artists—and by my conversation with founder Amy Denet Deal, who is committed to supporting not only artists whose work is in the store, but also Indigenous communities and future generations. We’re pleased to share a story about 4KINSHIP in this issue.

In these pages, you’ll also learn about 97-year-old craft collector Dorothy Saxe, who lives in San Francisco, and self- taught mosaic sculptor Chris Malone, who lives in Maryland. You’ll go behind the scenes at Benning Violins, a shop run by a family of luthiers in Los Angeles and favored by virtuoso violinist and social justice advocate Vijay Gupta. And you’ll take a look inside Claire Oliver Gallery in Harlem, which is forging new relationships around collecting, and the studio of sculptural ceramist, painter, and printmaker Jiha Moon.

After a long pause on travel due to the pandemic, we’re pleased to be out and about, discovering craft and meeting makers. Assistant Editor Shivaun Watchorn recently attended West Coast Craft in San Francisco. Senior Editor Jen Vogel visited New Orleans to present at the Furniture Society conference and report on the New Orleans craft scene for a story that will appear in our Winter 2024 issue.

I want to share another story about collection and connection with you. Longtime ACC member Galen Erickson recently wrote to let us know how he passes down craft knowledge to the next generation. He and his wife, Linda, have a wonderful collection, which lives on the hand-built “Craft Wall” in their Plymouth, Minnesota, family room. Every few weeks, as part of a News from Grandpa email newsletter, Galen includes an image or two of pieces from their collection and explains why they bought them and what makes them unique. “It’s very gratifying to hear the older grandkids (some in their twenties) explaining our various treasures to the younger ones,” he wrote. What a beautiful way to share the love of craft.

We hope this issue inspires you to think differently about craft and collection—about how and why you purchase the hand-made, seek out meaningful works in galleries and museums, or collect yourself before you begin making something new.

KAREN OLSON / Editor in Chief
 

American Craft Council publishes American Craft magazine on a quarterly basis but reserves the right to change the number of issues in an annual term, including discontinuing any format and substituting and/or modifying the manner in which the subscription is distributed.