Critical Craft Forum

Episode 3: Karl Fritsch defies preconceptions that production work is not creative. Internationally renowned for his rings, his exhibitions and books are as singular as each object. Namita Wiggers speaks with the artist in his studio (Wellington, New Zealand) about collaboration, process, materials, and how production and jewelry are anything but repetitive. Visit the blog at www.CriticalCraftForum.com for images and links. Sound: Seth Nehil; Music: Matt Marble

Aram Han Sifuentes uses needles and thread to explore the experience of being a first generation immigrant to the US. In this studio visit from Fall 2015, we spoke about politics and religion, “Forms in Japan”, and planning the exhibition “Everything has been Material for Scissors to Shape” (Wing Luke Museum, Seattle), and how her everyday materials and examination of immigrant labor connects to the dry cleaning and seamstress businesses of her Korean immigrant parents. From “A Mend,” a quilt constructed from jean cuffs gathered from Korean tailors in Chicago to her “US Citizenship Test Sampler,” and projects connecting embroidery histories in Seoul, South Korea and Chiapas, Mexico, Aram Han Sifuentes pushes consideration of what it means to be “American” and to pursue the “American Dream.” Visit www.criticalcraftforum.com for images and more. Sound: Seth Nehil Music: Calder Wiggers

The material turn in art is deeply linked to craft processes, materials and ways of making. For Book Talk, we invite people from different fields to read and discuss a single book. How might artists, curators, educators, and theorists respond to a book and potentially use as a tool in their own thinking? Join Stephen Knott, Sarah Margolis-Pineo, Rowland Ricketts, and Namita Gupta Wiggers for their discussion of anthropologist Tim Ingold's Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. This first episode was recorded at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine in person and via skype in July 2014. Special thanks to Brian R. Jones for sound editing and Calder Wiggers for the music. Visit www.criticalcraftforum for more information.