PMA Craft Show 2023 Volume 44.2
ELIZABETH HOLLIDAY | FIBER WEARABLE
Elizabeth Holliday’s felted jackets can look demure and unassuming, or they can project boldness, with thick, pragmatic fabric cut into sharp lines. A welcome mainstay of the Philly show, this artist mom from Tennessee has raised her kid on the show circuit, making a living through the coats she’s made and sold by hand. Trucking across the country with a booth and load of coats isn’t for the faint of heart, and Holliday has worked hard to reach her level of refinement. She knows that solid, primary colors work best in highlighting the chic cut of her coats.
At its best, this subtle tension between tradition and modernity find its most remarkable expression here at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show. In 2023, there are marked examples which speak to the vast spectrum along which craft today resides.
Stephen Zeh has been exhibiting at the Philadelphia show for years now, and his take on Maine basketry is a formidable realization of this rare process; sturdy and graceful. Zeh and his wife, Tamberlaine, are both craft artists, with he and Tammy collaborating on jewelry design, again, playing upon the weaving techniques of Maine basketmaking. From there we arrive at Jill Heir, who has a background in engineering that has boisterously applied itself to basketry. Utilizing ornamental, structural elements, with sweeping unbound portions firmly attached in arcs further down, her basketmaking seeks to bend the lines, anchored in good form and design.
In the medium of ceramics, we find Larry Allen’s hand-textured surfaces, occasionally awash in a metallic glaze. The shapes are ancient and yet familiar, husks of corn still wrapped and, perhaps, ripening on the stalk. Rendered in a cloudy blue that is dreaming of Egyptian faience, the vessel features punctuations of crimson red, which calls into focus the slightly lighter, eggshell blue accenting the corn stalks.
We then step into a delicate homage to the creatures of nature. Shirley Gromen has employed the old technique of sgraffito to make portraits of wildlife; salmon dance between the fronds of aquatic grasses. From where the water meets the land, there Gromen derives her representations of creatures. The stark black and white palette, and profile views, have primal callbacks to ancient Greco-Roman pottery. While in different colors, this use of a stark minimalism to convey a vignette has old roots.
Paté de verre is an old root utilized to haunting effect in Anna Boothe’s cast glass. The technique is ancient, and applies principles seen in other casting arts; ground glass paste is inserted into a mold, then heated to a temperature where it fuses together. It is in that way like enamel, being a palette upon which you must carefully choose your composition. Mixes of bold and subtle colors, frosted into smoky obscurity, fill a bowl of gnarled, spiny branches, coiled upon one another.
This mischief between representational and mystique is enjoyed deeply by Boothe... and finds fraternal representation in the work of Jarrod Futscher, a graduate of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, and as refined an artisan as the glass arts can find.
Glass’s mysterious duality is found in its ability to mimic both the organic and the inorganic. It has been used to simulate gemstones, or other substances entirely. Some came from the living, such as shells and other materials. Some herald the presence of the living, as in Futscher’s grand sculptural duet of two black vessels with gold leaf trim. It’s not hard to give rise to the imagination of what these two sculptures represent, and somehow, while ineffably modern, they bear an ancient grace.
It’s lipstick, you silly goose! Futscher’s razor sharp straight lines take glass to its most incongruous state, beginning to bear the characteristics of another material. Are these hewn from obsidian, or are they massive pillars of jet? What is the truth behind these objects of subtle mimicry?
DEBRA ADELSON | JEWELRY
It is that which is essential behind any element of good art; beauty rendered from the careful application of time and effort towards either the successful execution of a planned result, or going with serendipity, allowing the material to play its part in guiding one home to a harmonious resolution. Debra Adelson has hewn her place with the contemporary jewelry art world, with her use of glass as a developed material. Coldworking small pieces of glass lets her texture it, and of course, the central attribute of glass above all others is luminosity. Playing into this quality, Adelson creates small, silver portraits of glaciers, waves, ice flows, and other natural vignettes. These you can wear, and with their bright tones compliment a variety of dress styles.
This abstract summoning of the landscape, or waterscape as the case may be, underlines the most important part of that landscape on the shoreside; the flora that fill it. One may remember Judith Kinghorn, recently retired from the show circuit, and her impeccable spirited depictions of flowers and other celebrations of the natural world. Her presence, particularly her energetic smile, will be missed. As a worthy successor though, we find Sophia Hu as growing into her own as a capable jewelry artist. A graduate of Texas Tech who was born in Beijing, this far traveling artisan practiced architecture for a span of twenty years, which as it so often does provided a fertile framework for Hu’s sense of design.
Having spent a number of years with repeating wire motifs suggesting flower petals opening, with earlier work using pleated twists of polyester fiber in gradient colors to draw stark contrasts between blacks and brighter colors, Hu has now outdone herself. Oxidized silver stands boldly aside rich, deep gold. Gemstone accents mimic flower buds, studding the brooch as it twists and uncoils like a living branch.
SOPHIA HU | JEWELRY
The result is dazzling, hovering on the cusp between abstraction and realism. It is a reminder of what the human hand is capable of, and the strength of our imagination. Not to be forgotten though is this brooch’s interdependency with us. While beautiful on its lonesome, it is made complete when worn. Function, heretofore absentmindedly considered, leaps into sharp focus; ah, this was meant to be worn.
This is the most delightful aspect of the Philadelphia Craft Show, as a participatory reminder that craft is inextricably intertwined with humanity... and that we can hold it, marvel at it and incorporate it into ourselves, even as a temporary but welcome guest. It is the reason why craft shows like the Philly show are so important. Not only is it a meeting place between person and object, it is also the nexus between maker and visitor. The relationships we have with the physical world extend to both the material as well as the social, and for a healthy life, one needs a balance. That is truer now, after three years of the covid-19 pandemic, than ever.
Craft tells the stories of human beings, and that story comes alive when you speak to the artist who made the object. Joy Stember is a metalsmith who creates finely wrought judaica. Here are functional and decorative wares that are intimately connected with Jewish culture. They come bearing an iconography that speaks directly to the life experiences of any Jew, a common vocabulary within which Stember makes her own mark by creating clean, bright and luxuriously textured designs. A pure expression of love for her heritage, these gorgeous works are full of conversations waiting to happen. If you ask Stember herself, a whole world is waiting to be discovered, whether you’re a fellow practicing Jew or simple admirer. From the history of these objects, insight into the techniques and materials used to make them, Stember’s personal connection to judaica (and perhaps, your own!), her life story leading up to becoming a master metalsmith and everything tangential to these lines of inquiry form a complex tapestry just waiting to be unraveled.
JOY STEMBER | METAL
The threads from these conversations become a part of us, and as you may be well aware of, are a delicious treat that expands our horizons. The words we share with each other are an ineffable sustenance that we’re all missing in the digital age, an era where miniature screens can show us the whole world, yet obscure the world around us from ourselves.
This push-pull between the digital realm and human life has been one we have been struggling with as a species, with craft and the people who make it navigating in these uncertain waters. So much has changed. Galleries and shows closed in the wake of covid-19, and the tender, comforting routines of yesteryear stand interrupted and in turmoil. Many artists are worried over what the future will bring. In that, they are no different than the rest of us, who hold our breaths as inflation, two major wars, extreme weather, and the rapid shifts of the internet age continue to uproot us.
The solution to this mélange of woes remains unclear. But what is clear is that life goes on, and finding pieces of the puzzle along the way seems to be a good approach. Biba Schutz and Petra Class, two master jewelers who have attended the Philadelphia Craft Show for years, recently collaborated with the Jewelry Library in New York to curate a hybrid physical/online exhibition about pearls (Ornament Volume 44, No. 1). Tapping into the stories that women especially have in regards to this unique precious material, Schutz and Class invited the exhibitors to tell their personal stories. Taking a page out of the lessons of the past three years, the organizers embedded a live audio file from each artist on the exhibition’s web page. What normally is missed in online presentations, the human element, was finally present in the diverse, strong voices who each brought with them their own pearl tale.
FRANCISCO BAUTISTA | FIBER DECORATIVE
The work of Schutz is quite different from the traditional confluence of austerity and opulence that pearls represent. Her jewelry makes nests of wire, in which unusual materials, or simple metal forms, act as the visual focus. Slices of mica or glass, antlers and leather are a few of the substances that are alchemically transformed through her designs. Within the seeming chaos of the myriad lines of metal wire reside a balance, a restraint that makes the loops and whorls feel full of potential energy.
Biba has been a long time New York resident, and Class, who has her studio in San Francisco, has recently joined her, with the purchase of an additional space right across the street. With the Jewelry Library inhabiting the same building as Class’s new East Coast outpost, a small intersection of Broadway is turning into a jewelry enclave.
Many craftspeople these days will tell you that they’re worried about the future, and how different things are now. They’re not alone. If you’re reading this, and feel anxiety about the world, how fast it seems to be changing, and perhaps not for the better, you’re not alone. The question we’re all asking is what do we do? What can we do?
No one person has the answer to that, but finding those answers is a process that takes everybody being involved. A cultural event, like the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, is a potential part of that answer. It has already stood the test of time, now in its 47th year, and every year, it raises funds through the Philadelphia Women’s Committee to support the museum, a pillar of the city’s community, and a priceless repository of knowledge and the beauty humanity is capable of creating. As the ground game shifts, the Philly Craft Show is well positioned to be an innovator and a partner to both craft artists and the public.
Times have changed. Travel and lodging expenses are up, inflation has made its dent in everyone’s pocketbooks and we live in a world of constant enervation due to social media. But people have not changed as much as we might think. The fundamentals of happiness remain the same. Faster and quicker and easier has not fed our spirits. But when we have a long conversation with a wonderful stranger; when we don’t have to hurry, but instead can be leisurely and enjoy the moment; when we learn something new that makes the world just that little bit larger; when we can hold and touch an immaculate vase, or a chunky, satisfying silver bracelet, that took personal skill to create, well, it is these points in time that ring true, that nourish our souls and calm our hearts.
Creating opportunities for more of these exchanges is hard work, and the Philadelphia Craft Show has been putting in that hard work for decades, as have the artists who have attended each year. We need more of that hard work, carefully and consciously placed. It is harder than ever for craft artists to sustain their costs; a new model for show fees could go a long way in keeping delightful shows like Philly filled with the best in American craft. With the closure of shows like the American Craft Exposition in Chicago, and the American Craft Council shows in San Francisco, Atlanta and St. Paul, there are less venues than ever. While a full-scale show is a big commitment, the Philadelphia Women’s Committee has shown themselves to be up to the task. What about PMA pop-up shows, in small, intimate spaces, either in Philadelphia, or further afield?
We’re all hungry for connection, community and conversation these days. Right now, you can find that at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show. Don’t miss your moment.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show hosts its forty-sixth annual event at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA 19107, November 5 - 7, 2023. Visit their website at www.pmacraftshow.org.
ELYSE ALLEN | FIBER WEARABLE
Click for Captions
Patrick R. Benesh-Liu is Coeditor of Ornament who has had the good fortune to be involved in his parents’ adventure. His mother, Carolyn L.E. Benesh, took him on his first visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show, often affectionately referred to as “the Philly show”. The deep red carpets, the exposed ducts of the heating and ventilation system running overhead, the brightly lit booths lining each row, and the quiet yet comforting murmur of conversation were his first impressions. From his meetings with Nancy O’Meara, Show Manager for the event, and the Philadelphia Women’s Committee, he has marveled at the strength and dedication required to organize the show. In 2023, he examines the past several years and how they have changed the landscape for the craft field, and the role played by in-person community events like the Philly Show in nurturing our social lives, and our spirits.
