Fall 2023
Fall 2023
![Cover of the Fall 2023 issue of American Craft magazine](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait_two_three_large/public/2023-09/Cover_F23_Final.png?itok=mphgkrHL)
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 signature](https://craftcouncil-images.imgix.net/website/issues/2021/fall/Karen_sig.png)
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.
Feature Articles
More from This Issue
![Misha Kahn's Harvest Moon. Photo by Timothy Doyon, courtesy of Friedman Benda and Misha Kahn.](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_large_5_4/public/2023-10/harvest-moon%403x.png?itok=wE9Rw544)
Assemblage
![Claire Oliver (left) with artist Simone Elizabeth Saunders, whose Unearthing Unicorns exhibition was held recently at Claire Oliver Gallery.](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_large_5_4/public/2023-08/Claire%20Oliver%20with%20Simone%20Saunders_1.png?itok=Vuwr92nP)
Come On In
![Detail of vinyl storage cabinet from Symbol Audio.](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_large_5_4/public/2023-09/BinDetail_2a%403x.png?itok=FOhy1Tbx)
Craft That Holds
![Virtuoso violinist and Street Symphony artistic director Vijay Gupta with a prized violin made by luthier Eric Benning. Photo by Kat Bawden.](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_large_5_4/public/2023-09/kat-bawden-vijay-gupta-47-2_2a_alt%20correct-01.png?itok=LSd_wT2H)
In Tune
![Art by Vaughan Nelson of One Blue Marble](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_large_5_4/public/2023-12/HH_2%403x.png?itok=YOSVjxCZ)
Market: To Have and to Hold
![Stack of niche magazine covers.](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_large_5_4/public/2023-10/niche-mag-cover-stack%408x.png?itok=MXBIyc88)
Niche Magazines
![Malone in his kiln shed and creative space working on the sculpture I Can Only Suggest, the Choices Are Yours. Photo by Steven M. Cummings.](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_large_5_4/public/2023-10/cm_1detail%403x.png?itok=JyKhkE6D)
Pieces of Life
![Made from kiln-cast glass, Viviano’s Recasting Detroit, 2021, combines imagery from the city’s manufacturing past and its current urban landscape, 11 x 16.5 x 13.5 in. Photo by Tim Thayer / RM Hensleigh.](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_large_5_4/public/2023-10/12_Norwood%20Viviano_Recasting%20Detroit_2a.png?itok=VAxVcq9_)
Seeing Is Believing
![Jiha Moon in her painting studio. For her new still life series, Moon mounted Korean mulberry paper, or hanji, on canvas, then used ink and acrylic to paint symbolic icons including the peach, peony flowers, and haetae, a Korean mythical creature that protects family and loved ones.](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_large_5_4/public/2023-08/Jiha%20Moon%20182_1.png?itok=X8nexizU)
The Night Owl Downstairs
![Anni Albers weaving at Black Mountain College, 1937. Photo by Helen M. Post Modley.](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_large_5_4/public/2023-09/06_Helen%20M%20Post%20Modley%20portrait%20of%20Anni%20Albers%20at%20BMC_1.png?itok=JTdSzz_X)
Weaving by Design
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