Wild. For me, the magic of craft is found in the way it connects us in our everyday lives to the beauty of nature, and the sense of freedom it brings by allowing us to experience human-scale ingenuity and creativity. In a world that can feel chaotic, it’s grounding to remember that with our own hands we can transform fibers from plants and animals, wood from trees, and the earth’s clay, sand, metals, and minerals into things we need and objects that bring us joy.

In this issue, you’ll find craft inspired by nature. You’ll explore outer space with glass artist Josh Simpson, and the sea with sculptural jewelry maker So Young Park.

You’ll learn about artists who incorporate foraged materials into their work, and makers whose handcrafted adventure gear helps move us outdoors. You’ll also discover up-and-coming artists whose love of the land shines through, such as Diné textile artist and sheepherder Tyrrell Tapaha and Florida-based designer Elle Barbeito, who makes fashion and furniture from the skins of invasive Burmese pythons.

Sometimes wildness is expressed through sheer daring and innovation. That’s certainly the case with Alison Elizabeth Taylor, who writes about creating hybrid marquetry portraits and landscapes from paper-thin wood in her Brooklyn studio, and Brie Ruais, who makes large-scale, heavy clay sculptures in a burst of rapid movement.

We hope this issue helps you feel connected to the wonder of the wild, grounded in earth’s materials, and awed by human creativity.

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.