Craft in America

Arts and Music Series / 15 Seasons

Craft in America explores the vitality, history and significance of the craft movement in the United States and its impact on our nation's rich cultural heritage. Capturing the beauty, creativity and originality of craftsmanship, the film highlights artists and explores the inter-relationship of what they do, how they do it and why they have chosen a life of creating art.

53m 27s

PROCESS episode preview

30s

What inspires a person to choose a career in craft? And how does one acquires the knowledge and skills necessary to become a craft artist. Featuring the 92nd St Y, jewelers Dave & Roberta Williamson, ceramic artists Cary Esser & Nikki Lewis, Kansas City Art Institute, North Bennet Street School, book artist Julie Chen, printmaker Tom Killion.

ORIGINS episode preview

30s

Watch a preview of the Origins episode, which focuses on the origins of the American craft movement and features artists who tie their work to early craft techniques and pass these techniques to others in a continuum of creativity. Artists featured include blacksmith Philip Simmons, potter Vernon Owens, Kiowa beadworker Teri Greeves, weaver Jim Bassler, and glass artist Paul Stankard.

Jim Bassler on Peruvian textiles

57s

Jim Bassler, weaver and professor, talks to his students about a Nasca period (200 BC - 700 AD) Peruvian textile, a seemingly simple yet sophisticated process of weaving. ORIGINS episode PBS premiere: October 7, 2009.

Jim Bassler on being an artist in CA in the 60s

3m 16s

Jim Bassler, weaver and professor, talks about being an artist in California during the 60s. With his wife Veralee they made the decision to move to Oaxaca to begin a program which introduced U.S. students to the culture on Southern Mexico. The ethnic textiles that inspired him during his travels became the foundation for his work. ORIGINS episode PBS premiere: October 7, 2009.

Native Alaskan Aleut jeweler Denise Wallace

8m 58s

Denise Wallace is a jewelry artist of Native Alaskan Aleut descent, who worked with her husband, Samuel Wallace (1936-2010). She maintains and modifies a walrus-ivory carving tradition. Wallace is most well known for her elaborate belts which depict people, animals, symbols, and folk tales of her native culture.

Wasco basket maker Pat Courtney Gold

7m 42s

Pat Courtney Gold's baskets are based on the baskets of her Wasco ancestors using the full turn twine technique but she experiments with different materials and designs, with similar patterns and motifs. The materials she uses include cattail leaves, tule, dogbane fiber, cedar bark, tree roots as well as chenille, dyed wool, and other textured materials. Segment from the MEMORY episode

Mississippi Cultural Crossroads quilters

9m 32s

Mississippi Cultural Crossroads is an arts agency in Port Gibson, Mississippi, involved in documenting the culture of the community. It provides art programs, and is where MCC Quilters display and sell their hand made quilts. MCC Quilters is a group of women who create quilts, celebrating the traditional quilting heritage of their community, while creating educational and economic opportunities.

Basket maker Mary Jackson

5m 22s

Mary Jackson makes sweetgrass baskets that have been passed down to her from her ancestors. Originating in West Africa, this kind of basket making is an identifying cultural practice for people who were cut off from their own history, and has been a part of Charleston and Mt. Pleasant communities. Jackson uses sweetgrass, palmetto, pine needles and bulrush in her work.

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