PMA CONTEMPORARY CRAFT SHOW 2019 ARTISTS GALLERY
Nov. 8 - 10, Preview Party Nov. 7 | Pennsylvania Convention Center
12th and Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107
Visit these American craftspeople and learn more about how they create their work, whether through hammer and pliers or sewing needle and scissors. The Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show is a fundraiser for the museum, organized by the Women’s Committee and Craft Show Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The Pennsylvania Convention Center is centrally located, at 12th and Arch Street, bordering Philadelphia’s Chinatown and right across the street from the Reading Terminal. Snug and warm, the building houses one hundred and ninety-five American craft artists, and twenty two guest artists from another country, this year Israel.
Some of the finest in American craft is on display, and we are so glad to introduce you to a few. Philip Roberts uses his own lasercutting equipment to laboriously produce layered designs that are then sanded, stained and glued by hand, melding modern technology with traditional techniques. Martha Collins takes the approach of inlaying exotic hardwoods and dyed veneers into bracelets and vessels. Amy Roper Lyons is a master at enameling and metalsmithing, creating delicate goblets and wild jewelry, pairing enamel with semiprecious stone, depicting in miniature animal life and the cosmos. Heralding from New York, Biba Schutz freely associates materials in her jewelry, tangling wire and metal strips to form exciting kinetic sculptures to wear.
In love with the texture and feel of wool felt, Audrey Jung makes chic, classy handbags and purses which are sleek and fit the urban environment. Janice Kissinger creates seductive, sinuous forms from her handfelted merino wool fabrics and vintage Indian saris, producing dresses and garments that hug the body while flaring gracefully at the hips and the neckline. Tamar Navama views jewelry as an exciting conversation with the human body, making studded and spiked metal jewelry that leaves an impression upon the skin, or leather jewelry that echoes, from non-human animal to human animal, our primal connection.
For a taste of botany transmuted into treasure, look no further than Judith Kinghorn. Her many years of experience at fusing silver and gold comes through in stark golden and black brooches, bracelets and earrings, finding tender inspiration in the garden and the wilds. As a fellow explorer of the secret garden, K. Riley’s block-print clothes are delicately cut, flowing and with strong shapes. She cuts her blocks herself, engraving moths, vines and other denizens of the silent night. If Art Nouveau’s exquisite homage to nature resonates with you, seek out Thomas Herman’s immaculate jeweled creations. From inlaid bracelets to spectacular brooches, Herman (who is one of the two progenitors of this issue’s Matilija Poppy Project) takes a traditional style and reimagines it with grace and majesty.
As a master of the art of shibori, Amy Nguyen’s passion is textiles and dyeing. A lover of gradation, light and contrast, her clothing experiments with texture, while pairing opposites to create harmonious balances. Andrea Handy takes clothing in a very different direction, having her own paintings printed digitally on fabric, or knitting her own textiles. Modern, sleek and swinging, her garments invoke a playful mood. The jewelry of C. H. Mackellar pairs the rich dark of oxidized sterling silver with bright gold to create surface patterns. Shape and surface texture allows her to hint at the natural world, the forms of leaves and flowers.
We hope you enjoy these works in person at Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show 2019, showing November 8 - 10, Preview Party November 7.