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American Craft

American Craft

American Craft magazine celebrates the diversity of American craft and its makers.

From the handmade that we use in our homes every day to the fine craft honored in museums, we cover inspiring craft being made today. We also showcase craft organizations making a difference in their communities, thought leadership in the field, and the importance of craft in contemporary American culture.

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Cover of the Spring 2024 issue of American Craft magazine

American Craft’s Spring 2024 issue is focused on the theme ritual.

Craft and ritual go hand in hand. In all cultures, people create items to help celebrate and mourn, to tend to themselves, and to connect with others. In this issue, you’ll discover the kinds of objects artists make in order to help us reflect and relax, relate and heal; why nameplate jewelry is so important in Chicano/a culture; the role seder plates play in Jewish traditions; how a monastery is incorporating mentorship into a new center devoted to woodworking and pipe organ building, how the piñata form is being reimagined as high art; and the ways one artist explores spirituality through Egyptian and Islamic ceramic traditions.

We hope you discover new ways of thinking about craft and ritual in this issue, and that you’re inspired to look at their roles within your own life.

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Past issues of American Craft are still available to explore and for purchase. For older issues, including Craft Horizons, visit the digital collections. If you are unsure which issue you are looking for, contact the library.

 

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Whitney Sharpe of the Latch Key Ceramics. Photo by Hannah Thornhill.

The Queue: Whitney Sharpe

For Whitney Sharpe of the Latch Key Ceramics, clay is a collaborator and spiritual conduit. In The Queue, the Oakland, California–based ceramist shares about the impermanence of clay, explains why she uses chains in her work, and lauds two Bay Area organizations that empower disabled artists.

MICHAEL COFFEY: SCULPTOR AND  FURNITURE MAKER IN WOOD By Michael Coffey Pointed Leaf Press, 2023. Photo by Sarah Sampedro.

Spring 2024

Coffey’s bold combination of functionality and a sculptural freedom inspired by natural forms and forces is on lavish display in this large-format volume.

Whitney Sharpe chartreuse lace candelabra, 8.5 x 8 x 5.5 in. Photo by Whitney Sharpe.

Light My Fire

These four handcrafted candleholders—two in clay, one in metal, and one in glass—make the act of lighting candles an even more beautiful experience.

Ibrahim Said working on panels for On the Bank of the Nile. Its geometric shapes, colored Nile green, reflect patterned light. Photos by Dhanraj Emanuel, courtesy of The Clay Studio.

Inside Out

In search of hidden beauty and universal meaning, ceramic artist Ibrahim Said shatters technical boundaries with ingenious takes on ancient forms.

Seth Rolland at his work bench, 2024. Photo by Seth Rolland.

The Queue: Seth Rolland

Seth Rolland interprets the natural world as masterful studio furniture. In The Queue, the Port Townsend, Washington–based woodworker shares about his favorite tools, a family furniture project that became an anchor in his living room, and the cherished local craft school where he has taught.

Renowned organ builder Martin Pasi recently expanded the 1961 Hotkamp organ at St. John's Abbey to include 6,000 pipes. Photos by Caroline Yang.

A Higher Plane

The new 28,000-square-foot workshop at Saint John’s Abbey houses a 150-year-old woodworking program and one of the premier pipe organ builders in the country. Its mission is to teach the next generation.

Seth Rolland’s Salish Sea Bathtub, 2013, is made of sustainably harvested sapele mahogany, which is noted for its durability, 36 x 95 x 36 in.

Craft That Calms

The four craft artists we profile here make works that support more contemplative living, and all four understand the connections between that way of living and their own soulful, patient craft practice.

Roberto Benavidez with some of his piñata creations in his Los Angeles home studio. Photo by Roberto Benavidez.

The Queue: Roberto Benavidez

Roberto Benavidez sculpts piñatas that embrace the odd and fantastical. In The Queue, the Los Angeles–based piñatero shares about the piñata that first inspired him, John J. Audubon’s influence on his work, and the craft art in his home studio.

The Nameplate: Jewelry, Culture, and Identity

THIS IS WHO I AM

Chicana musician and fashion label founder LaLa Romero on the power of nameplate jewelry.