Craft Horizons

Last updated
Craft Horizons
Craft Horizons cover 1949 by Emile Norman.png
Craft Horizons cover featuring detail of work by Emile Norman, 1949
Former editors Aileen Osborn Webb, Mary Lyon, Belle Krasne, Conrad Brown, Rose Slivka
CategoriesArts and crafts
Publisher American Craft Council
Founder Aileen Osborn Webb
Year founded1941
First issueNovember 1941
Final issueMay 1979
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Website digital.craftcouncil.org/digital/collection/p15785coll2

Craft Horizons is a periodical magazine that documents and exhibits crafts, craft artists, and other facets of the field of American craft. [1] The magazine was founded by Aileen Osborn Webb and published from 1941 to 1979. It included editorials, features, technical information, letters from readers, and photographs of craft artists, their tools, and their works. The magazine both "documented and shaped" the changing history of the American craft movement. [2] It was succeeded by American Craft in 1979. [2]

Contents

History

Craft Horizons was founded and initially edited by Aileen Osborn Webb, who also founded the organization now known as the American Craft Council. [3] [4] Craft Horizons began as an untitled newsletter in November 1941, [1] sent out to artists who had purchased stock in, and consigned works to, America House. [5] One of Webb's earliest initiatives in support of craft, America House was a New York retail shop that featured pieces from artists around the country. [6] [5] The shop was intended to provide a marketplace for rural artists in particular. [7]

Among other content, Volume 1, Issue 1 featured an essay by Richard F. Bach, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, asking “What is a Craftsman?”. Throughout its nearly forty-year history, Craft Horizons sought to create networks of craftspeople and to stimulate discussion around the nature of craft as well as the work of craftspeople. [2]

The first titled issue appeared in May 1942, with a print run of 3,500 copies. [8] In 1947, Mary Lyon, a daughter of S. S. McClure, became the first professional editor of Craft Horizons. [9] [10] During the 1940s and 1950s, Aileen Osborn Webb still continued to write editorials. She often addressed professional and economic issues, such as the need for high standards of design, fair wages, education of the public, and craft-focused exhibitions. In 1951 Craft Horizons began working with Westbury Publishing and went from a quarterly periodical to publishing six times a year. [9]

Mariska Karasz, Detail of wall panel "Alchemy", from the front cover of Craft Horizons, 1953. Karasz-Alchemy.jpg
Mariska Karasz, Detail of wall panel "Alchemy", from the front cover of Craft Horizons, 1953.

From 1954 to 1955, Craft Horizons was edited by Belle Krasne, who left to marry Irving S. Ribicoff. [11] [12] She was succeeded by Conrad Brown. [13] From 1959 to 1979 the editor in chief of Craft Horizons was Rose Slivka, the associate editor since 1955. At a time when the field of craft was growing rapidly, Slivka is credited with helping to define its philosophy and terminology. She also moved the focus of the magazine away from an emphasis on traditional techniques, foregrounding artistic forms and innovative expression. [14]

Craft Horizons was innovative in its inclusivity of women. It was founded by a woman, its first board of directors included a majority of women, all but one of its editors-in-chief were women, and its editorial coverage was generally balanced in its presentation of men and women. [15]

It was also innovative in its breadth and focus. Previous craft periodicals were associated with particular movements or aesthetic points of view (e.g. Ver Sacrum , The Craftsman , Henry L. Wilson's The Bungalow). Publications in the hobby craft movement focused on do-it-yourself patterns, plans and techniques (e.g. Needlecraft , Stitchcraft , The Deltagram and The Home Craftsman ). Craft Horizons was the first periodical to put craft into a conceptual framework, addressing its meaning in society, and connecting aesthetic concerns and practical skills. [16] It became a public forum for debates and disagreements about the nature and practice of craft, documented in its editorials, reviews and letters. [17]

Craft Horizons cover featuring stencil by Joan Miro, 1950 Joan Miro 1950 Craft Horizons cover.jpg
Craft Horizons cover featuring stencil by Joan Miró, 1950

In terms of its design trajectory, photography began to appear soon after World War II and color photography was introduced in the late 1940s. The design of the early magazine and its covers was influenced by Sydney Butchkes. He began working with the magazine as early as 1947 and was the first credited art director as of November 1948. The first issue to appear in 1950 marked a major shift: rather than a traditional artwork, it featured abstraction, a stencil by Joan Miró. In 1956, the magazine's look and logo were redesigned by Ivan Chermayeff and Robert Brownjohn. [16]

Craft Horizons became a resource for scholars as well as for artists, enthusiasts, and casual hobbyists. [18] While it began with a focus on the traditional craftwork of the United States, Craft Horizons soon developed an international focus, driven in part by the many designers who left Europe due to World War II. [16] It reached an international audience as well as connecting far-flung members of the North American art craft community. [9]

As of 1960, Craft Horizons was officially incorporated as a publication of what was then the American Craftsmen's Council (ACC). In 1976, Aileen Osborn Webb stepped down from the chairmanship of the ACC and was succeeded by Barbara Olsen Rockefeller. [19] [20] Webb died on August 15, 1979. [4] Also in 1979, the ACC was rebranded as the American Craft Council, Craft Horizons became American Craft , and Rose Slivka wrote her last editorial for it. [8]

The Good Making of Good Things

The Good Making of Good Things: Craft Horizons Magazine, 1941 – 1979 chronicles the nearly 40 year history of Craft Horizons magazine. This exhibition presents objects created by makers in the context of articles, reviews, and letters from the magazine. It was curated by Elizabeth Essner, Lily Kane, and Meaghan Roddy. [15] It has appeared at the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design (CCCD) in Asheville, North Carolina (2017), the Ceramics Research Center at the Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe, Arizona (2018), and the Minnesota Museum of American Art in Saint Paul, Minnesota (2019). [2] [21]

The title of the exhibition was inspired by a quotation in an editorial by Rose Slivka, who wrote:

The meaning of the good making of good things by hand is a communicable act—valued and marketable—a palpable chain through which each human being touches the other and is known through hand and craft. [15] [22]

Archives

Related Research Articles

Arts and Crafts movement Design movement c. 1880–1920

The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America.

Paul Edmund Soldner was an American ceramic artist and educator, noted for his experimentation with the 16th-century Japanese technique called raku, introducing new methods of firing and post firing, which became known as American Raku. He was the founder of the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in 1966.

Gustav Stickley

Gustav Stickley was an American furniture manufacturer, design leader, publisher, and a leading voice in the American Arts and Crafts movement. Stickley's design philosophy was a major influence on American Craftsman architecture.

2 Columbus Circle Building in Manhattan, New York

2 Columbus Circle is a 12-story building located on a small trapezoidal lot on the south side of Columbus Circle on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. Bordered by 58th Street, 59th Street, Broadway, and Eighth Avenue, it stands on the site of the former seven-story Grand Circle Hotel. It opened in 1964, after A&P heir Huntington Hartford hired architect Edward Durell Stone to build a museum for him at the site. Controversy was sparked in 2002 after the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) purchased the building and planned to significantly alter its design, including modifying its facade. Calls had been made since 1996 for the building to be landmarked, so its proposed landmark status was brought into question with this renovation. The renovations were completed in 2008.

American craft Craft work produced by independent studio artists

American craft is craft work produced by independent studio artists working with traditional craft materials and processes. Examples include wood, glass, clay (ceramics), textiles, and metal (metalworking). Studio craft works tend to either serve or allude to a functional or utilitarian purpose, although they are just as often handled and exhibited in ways similar to visual art objects.

American Craftsman Architectural style

American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its immediate ancestors in American architecture are the Shingle style, which began the move away from Victorian ornamentation toward simpler forms; and the Prairie style of Frank Lloyd Wright. The name "Craftsman" was appropriated from furniture-maker Gustav Stickley, whose magazine The Craftsman was first published in 1901. The architectural style was most widely-used in small-to-medium-sized Southern California single-family homes from about 1905, so that the smaller-scale Craftsman style became known alternatively as "California bungalow". The style remained popular into the 1930s, and has continued with revival and restoration projects through present times.

Museum of Arts and Design Art museum in Manhattan, New York City

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the Museum celebrates the creative process through which materials are crafted into works that enhance contemporary life.

<i>The Studio</i> (magazine) English illustrated magazine of fine and decorative arts, 1893–1964

The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art was an illustrated fine arts and decorative arts magazine published in London from 1893 until 1964. The founder and first editor was Charles Holme. The magazine exerted a major influence on the development of the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements. It was absorbed into Studio International magazine in 1964.

<i>The Craftsman</i> (magazine)

The Craftsman was a magazine founded by the American furniture designer Gustav Stickley that championed the American Arts and Crafts movement.

William Henry Osborn was a 19th-century American businessman and philanthropist. He was a railroad tycoon who became one of the most prominent railroad leaders in the United States.

William Church Osborn American arts administrator

William Church Osborn was the son of a prominent New York City family who served in a variety of civic roles including president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, president of the Children's Aid Society, and president of the New York Society for the Relief of the Ruptured and Orphaned.

American Craft Council National non-profitable organization

The American Craft Council (ACC) is a national non-profit organization that champions craft based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1943 by Aileen Osborn Webb, the council hosts national craft shows and conferences, publishes a bi-monthly magazine called American Craft and a quarterly journal called American Craft Inquiry, maintains an extensive awards program, and is home to a comprehensive library and archives.

Tom Joyce American sculptor

Tom Joyce is a sculptor and MacArthur Fellow known for his work in forged steel and cast iron. Using skills and technology acquired through early training as a blacksmith, Joyce addresses the environmental, political, and social implications of using iron in his work. Exhibited internationally since the 1980s, his work is included in 30-plus public collections in the U.S. and abroad. Joyce works from studios in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and since 2012, in Brussels, Belgium, producing sculpture, drawings, prints, photographs, and videos that reference themes of iron in the human body, iron in industry, and iron in nature.

The World Crafts Council AISBL (WCC-AISBL) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that was founded in 1964 to promote fellowship, foster economic development through income generating craft related activities, organize exchange programs, workshops, conferences, seminars, and exhibitions—and in general, to offer encouragement, help, and advice to the craftspersons of the world. The organization is now formally registered in Belgium as an international organization and AISBL is there the French shortcut for an international association without lucrative purpose. The WCC is organised into five regions: Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America. The organization is affiliated to UNESCO.

Aileen Osborn Webb

Aileen Osborn Webb (1892–1979) was an American aristocrat and a patron of crafts. She was a founder of the organization now known as the American Craft Council, which gives an annual award named for her. She was considered a "principal supporter" of the American Craft movement during the Great Depression. She founded the School of the American Craftsman (SAC), which is now part of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

Paul J. Smith was an arts administrator, curator, and artist based in New York. Smith was professionally involved with the art, craft, and design fields since the early 1950s and was closely associated with the twentieth-century studio craft movement in the United States. He joined the staff of the American Craftsmen's Council in 1957, and in 1963 was appointed Director of the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, a position he held for the next 24 years. In September 1987, he assumed the title of director emeritus and continued to work as an independent curator and consultant for museums, arts organizations, and collectors.

Emil Milan

Emil Milan was an American woodworker known for his carved bowls, birds, and other accessories and art in wood. Trained as a sculptor at the Art Students League of New York, he designed and made wooden ware in the New York City metropolitan area, and later in rural Pennsylvania where he lived alone and used his barn as a workshop. Participating in many woodworking, craft, and design exhibits of his day, his works are in the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery, the Yale Art Gallery, the Center for Art in Wood, the Museum of Art and Design, and many private collections. Once prominent in midcentury modern design, Milan slipped into obscurity after his death. His legacy has been revived by an extensive biographical research project that has led to renewed interest in his life, work, and influence.

Rose Slivka was an American poet and writer for women's magazines in the twentieth century. From 1959 to 1979 she was the editor-in-chief for Craft Horizons.

Azalea Thorpe

Azalea Thorpe was a Scottish-born American weaver and textile designer. Known for her innovative experimentation with both natural and synthetic materials, Thorpe was a featured instructor and lecturer throughout the United States. She has weavings in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. An annual award given in her honor is presented by the Institute of American Indian Arts for fiber arts.

Adda "Andy" Thyra Elise Louise Husted-Andersen was a Danish-born American Modernist jeweler, silversmith, metalsmith, and educator. She was a co-founder and the president of the New York Society of Craftsmen from 1941 to 1944. She was a master of working with enamel, silver and gold. She was active in New York City and Copenhagen.

References

  1. 1 2 Zaiden, Emily (2011). "An unyielding commitment to craft: Aileen Osborn Webb and the American Craft Council". Archives of American Art Journal. 50 (3–4): 10–15. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Selected articles from Craft Horizons magazine". Minnesota Museum of American Art. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  3. ↑ "In Memoriam: Aileen Osborn Webb". Design For Arts in Education. 81 (1): 2–2. October 1979. doi:10.1080/07320973.1979.9939982 . Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Aileen O. Webb, Leading Figure In National Crafts Movement, 87". The New York Times. August 17, 1979. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  5. 1 2 Neyman, Bella (June 9, 2020). "The (America) House that Mrs. Webb Built". The Magazine ANTIQUESThe Magazine Antiques. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  6. ↑ "Craft Horizons, November 1941 (Volume 1, Number 1)". American Craft Council Library. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  7. ↑ Norton, Deborah. "The School for American Craftsmen (SAC)". Ganoksin. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  8. 1 2 Zaiden, Emily. "American Craft Council and Aileen Osborn Webb". Craft in America. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 Hintze, Stephen Brandon (2008). "Cultivating the crafts: Aileen Osborn Webb and the instituting of American Craft, 1934–1964". Corcoran College of Art & Design. Department of History of Decorative Arts (Click view/open). Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  10. ↑ "Mary Lyon". The New York Times. March 22, 1977. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  11. ↑ "Belle Krasne Ribicoff papers, 1942-circa 2010, bulk 1945–2004". Smithsonian. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  12. ↑ "Belle Krasne bride of Irving S. Ribicoff". The New York Times. June 28, 1955. p. 22. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  13. ↑ Koplos, Janet; Metcalf, Bruce (2010). Makers: A History of American Studio Craft. University of North Carolina Press. p. 225. ISBN   978-0-8078-3413-8 . Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  14. ↑ Johnson, Ken (2004-09-04). "Rose Slivka, 85, Writer and Champion of Crafts as Fine Art, Dies". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  15. 1 2 3 Moses, Monica; Shaykett, Jessica (January 26, 2017). ""The Good Making of Good Things" Opens at the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design". American Craft. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  16. 1 2 3 Archer, Sarah (2018). "Craft in the Abstract". American Craft Inquiry. 1 (2). Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  17. ↑ Moses, Monica (November 15, 2016). "Read. Roar. Repeat". American Craft. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  18. ↑ "The Good Making of Good Things: Craft Horizons Magazine, 1941–1979". Minnesota Museum of American Art. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  19. ↑ "Our History". American Craft Council. January 24, 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  20. ↑ "Barbara Rockefeller, Ex-Head Of Craft Council, Dies at 55". The New York Times. January 24, 1986. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  21. ↑ Haugen, Barbara (February 18, 2019). "The Good Making of Good Things". American Craft. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  22. ↑ Slivka, Rose (1975). "The Crisis of the Arts in Asia". Craft Horizons. 35 (2): 16. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.