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| View statements from Kathleen
Mundell and Jean
McLaughlin |
| Craftsmanship
draws on a complex set of skills developed over
a lifetime of practice. With “elegance and
authority,” the contemporary and traditional
artists featured in this exhibit have worked on
refining these talents into a body of work. But
such mastery involves more than just obtaining
technical proficiency. It also calls for an understanding
about materials, place, cultural practices and
connections to both local and global communities.
In the process, a foundation for creative work
is built, as well as an understanding of ways
of living in a particular place and time.
Some of the artists
featured in Tradition/Innovation are
rooted in a respect for traditional technique,
materials and a connection to a specific place
or culture. Others explore and expand ideas
of form, function and community. Whether it
be in the studio or at the kitchen table, each
artfully balances skill, vision and tradition.
Collectively, these works and their makers are
part of our living artistic heritage, reminding
us of the many creative ways to work and live.
Kathleen Mundell
Director, Cultural Resources, Inc.
Co-Curator: Traditional Arts
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The South has
attracted and nurtured hundreds of artists.
Its educational institutions, landscape and
community life have enabled creativity to flourish
and artists to dig deeply into imagination and
psyche to produce bodies of remarkable, original
works. Through this exhibition, the mastery
of craftsmanship is underscored, and individuality—the
voice and fingerprint of the maker—is
eloquently conveyed. Serious craftsmanship requires
many years of attention to acquiring technical
skills and facility with materials as well as
a profound grasp of history and tradition. The
works in this exhibition demonstrate the power
of objects to tell an artist’s story of
passion and commitment, of years spent mastering
material and process, of keen observation and
reflection, and a desire to bring others into
the process through use, touch and dialogue.
Jean McLaughlin
Director, Penland School of Crafts
Co-Curator: Contemporary Crafts
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Virtual
Galleries let you explore Tradition/Innovation
through several different “pathways.” “Meet
the Artists” lets you select particular artists
whose work and story you want to learn more about. The
Exhibit Section Galleries are virtual versions of the
actual museum installations, while the Medium Galleries
collect artists from the exhibit who use the same media
to create their artwork.
If you can visit the exhibit in a
museum in your state, these Virtual Galleries can add
to your experience with enhanced information about the
artists, and links to more interviews, images and stories.
If you’re not able to visit the exhibit in person,
we hope these Virtual Galleries, with their visuals,
stories and links, give you a meaningful experience
with these master artists and craftspeople.
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This
page contains an alphabetical list of the artists in
the exhibit. On each of the artist pages you will find
links to supplementary exhibit materials and websites
that provide more information as well as to the different
virtual galleries in which they are included. These
give insight into the personal aspect of art, and can
serve as springboards for exploration to learn more
about the individual artists and their artforms.
Continue
to Meet the Artists >
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The
Tradition/Innovation exhibit
is divided into sections in a rather unusual way. Rather
than using the characteristics of the objects themselves
as the criteria for creating the four sections, the
curators chose to consider how the different artists
exemplify the attributes the curators identified as
characteristics of a master artist, such as their commitment
to their artform, its history, and its future. The four
sections of the exhibit are:
In the virtual sections,
as in the actual exhibit, each section begins with a
“conversation” between the curator for contemporary
craft artists and the curator for traditional artists.
These “conversations” point out the differences
and the similarities between contemporary craft artists
and traditional artists and the way that they approach
their work.
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The remaining
virtual galleries are organized according to the media
used by the artists. For instance, because there are
many basketmakers, they are grouped in their own gallery.
If you are interested in exploring deeply the artist
and their medium, or you are a teacher or student seeking
learning activities, each medium gallery includes:
- Images of the artwork created in this medium, comments
by the artists about the medium, and links to the
artist pages in Meet the Artists;
- National Standards in Visual Arts addressed by the
activities and lesson plans in this section;
- Overview of the art included in this gallery;
- Curators’ statements on the medium;
- General resource websites on the medium;
- Guiding questions for a medium-based unit;
- Statement for students on the medium with critical
vocabulary;
- Media based activities and lesson plans;
- Cross-curricular connections with activities and
lesson plans; and
- PowerPoints™
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